Legal advice Needed – Property rights

[Hosehead]

Cape town has a 30 year prescription period. I don't know if the same applies to OP's city but since the house was built in the 1970's there's a very good chance OP can claim prescription If anything is remiss.
I applied prescription successfully on one neighbour to prevent a boundary encroachment and another neighbour who helped himself (indirectly) to 12 sq m of my AAA land claimed prescription after I discovered this and it could not be resolved amicably.

OP has been given good advice- but let it be a lesson - never admit liability ever. so sit and zip while the new attorneys untangle the mess which i suspect is going to involve the Pretoria lawyer again who claimed he was just doing the bond for the bank and neglected something important. You might want to contact Noseweek magazine if there are further developments as Noseweek loves this kind of stuff.

 

[bokka1]

Prescription is 30 years for the whole of the country.

The OP must prove that he bought the property as per the consolidated diagram from his seller.

So the first point of reference will be the Erf number on the Deed of Sale.

Secondly he will have to get someone to confirm the boundary lines as accepted by all parties when he bought the property.

Thirdly, the new neighbour is a dick who is taking a chance to abuse his upper hand.

You can PM me for some advice at no charge.

 

[Cius]

The property is either his or its yours. Simple as that. If its his give it to him and tell him seeing as its his property he can sort out new walls etc. First establish who's property it is and then only decide on settlement. Also, if it is his land is it legal for him to subdivide his property and sell that portion to you? That would be another legal process. You could well pay the dude hundreds of thousands of rands to purchase the land and cottage and find out he still owns it as it was not legal to subdivide his erf. Just be careful.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Wow, this thread is interesting - we are looking at buying our first place and while I'm aware of knowing your plot boundaries, this thread is going to make me get all the documentation just in case.

 

[ToxicBunny]

The property is either his or its yours. Simple as that. If its his give it to him and tell him seeing as its his property he can sort out new walls etc. First establish who's property it is and then only decide on settlement. Also, if it is his land is it legal for him to subdivide his property and sell that portion to you? That would be another legal process. You could well pay the dude hundreds of thousands of rands to purchase the land and cottage and find out he still owns it as it was not legal to subdivide his erf. Just be careful.

Unfortunately it seems this case is not that simple.

The SG records show differing boundaries, so therefore it comes down to which one is accurate, what the prescription laws state, what the current land occupier rights are in terms of eviction etc etc...

 

[bokka1]

Firstly the current Deeds Office records showing who owns what portion will be the prevailing evidence. The onus lies with the OP to prove that he bought the property as per the consolidated diagram. From his post I gather that according to the Title Deed he only purchased the smaller portion. His real problem is that everyone who were involved with the transaction have disappeared and he will have to try and get circumstantial evidence into play which may be a problem.

Secondly, prescription does not come into play here as he did not possess the property for 30 years.

Go see a lawyer who don't charge you those exorbitant fees to inspect the status of the property. That guy is the real thief here IMO.

Edit: The SG records are not always the correct records as diagrams that have been approved by them but not registered at the Deeds Office have no legal impact until registered.