Why Home Sellers Should Care About the SPLUMA Act

Why Home Sellers Should Care About the SPLUMA Act

First of all, what is the SPLUMA Act and how will it affect home sellers?

Based on recent legislation, all municipalities will be required to be compliant with the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA) by October 2020.

Specifically, what does all of this mean for home sellers?

Well, from October 2020 onward, before any property transaction can be finalized, the National Deeds Office will require a SPLUMA certificate. This document will be issued by the local municipality in which the said property is located.

As a home seller, in order to get such a SPLUMA certificate issued, the following five things will need to be in place:

1. The home seller needs to submit a signed affidavit together with an application at the local municipality, which states that the relevant building plans of the property are in order, accurate and been filed with local municipality.
2. The home seller has paid all rates and taxes (and any other funds) related to the property at hand.
3. The home seller needs to have approved and submitted building plans for all buildings (including swimming pool and lapa) and if those aren't compliant, the seller will have a draftsman or architect assist with the preparation of such plans for lodgement with the local municipality.
4. The use of said property must be in accordance with local municipal zoning laws.
5. The said property should have no encroachments over the building lines and property boundaries.

It is highly advisable for the home seller to start this above process as soon as possible (i.e. the moment the decision has been made to sell one's property), as this anticipated time-consuming exercise might take up to three months. Any costs associated with obtaining such a certificate has not been finalised yet.

The main reason to establish this legislation was to create a uniform set of planning legislation for municipalities to apply land use control, to make sure that the respective property zoning laws match those of the land use, as well as determining that all buildings on the property have been approved and filed with municipality.

On a closing note, while the SPLUMA will be quite beneficial for home buyers and city councils alike, it will present some challenges (and extra time-consuming processes) for home sellers in order to obtain these SPLUMA certificates from their local municipalities. And especially when in-person inspections on-site might be required, one might require some extra patience with the already under pressure municipalities.