“The property sector and the Cape Town economy simply cannot afford this additional cost and delayed revenue streams,” said the City’s James Vos.
“These delays, with a backlog of 14 000 deeds, which have been acknowledged by the Chief Deeds Registrar in the Cape Deeds Office alone, has an enormous negative impact on all participants in the property economy - from first time home buyers who are now forced to delay occupation and or pay occupational rent instead of making payment against their mortgage loans to all municipal property transfers which have also stalled."
He said: “While we do acknowledge that Covid-19 mitigation measures are having an impact on services, we urge the ministers and their teams to come up with alternative methods of working that can be used to navigate operations during the pandemic so that services at the Cape Town Deeds Office can continue while the safety of staff are being prioritised."
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