The Blueprint Survives the Architect

Owning land outright does not mean deciding everything about it. Older title deeds in Tzaneen and Polokwane often carry conditions from when the township was first laid out, such as a limit on the number of dwellings on the erf, a building line set back from the street, or a ban on running a business from the property. Some carry servitudes as well, giving the municipality the right to run a sewer across the back of the stand or giving a neighbour a right of way. The people who registered those conditions are long gone, and the conditions pass with the land to every new owner.

Most owners never feel them. They start to matter when someone wants to change what the land is used for, perhaps a second dwelling to rent out or a practice in the front rooms. Zoning is one question and the title deed is a separate one, and a restrictive condition generally has to be removed through a formal application before the plan can go ahead. That takes time and money buyers rarely budget for, and the whole problem was written into a document most of them received at transfer and never read.