Housing in Southern Africa April 2016

News

T he rates and brackets for trans- fer duty on the sale of property fromMarch 1, 2016 will remain unchanged on all property acquired up to a value of R2,25 million. Brackets for transfer duty on properties of a value of between R2,25 million and R10 million and above R10 million were introduced. The transfer duty rate on a prop- erty of above R10 million will be 13%, which will lead to an increase Adjustments to transfer duty on property in the 2016 national Budget are to impact only the upper end of the residential propertymarket, says Jacquesdu Toit, Absa Home Loans, Property Analyst. Transfer duty

to this tax. The maximum value of a property exempted from transfer duty was fixed at R100 000 in 2002/03; R140 000 in 2003/04; R150 000 in 2004/05; R190 000 in 2005/06; R500 000 in 2006/07 to 2010/11; R600 000 in 2011/12 to 2014/15 and R750 000 in 2015/16, with this amount to remain unchanged in 2016/17. ■

in transfer duty payable on property transactions above this amount. Due to government’s tight fiscal position, no transfer duty relief was given at the lower end of the market, with the exemption threshold un- changed at R750 000. The upper end of the market will have to pay more with regard

Sinkhole workshop

T heDepartment of Local Govern- ment and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima, through its Provincial Disaster Management Centre, held a workshop on how to raise awareness of sinkholes in the province. The workshops aim to as- sist municipalities on how to bemore resilient when handling disasters. As these disasters affect infrastruc- ture, such as housing and transport routes, it is very important that de- velopers, contractors and residents understand all the implications and measures that can be taken to mini- mise disasters. “It is imperative that a culture of risk avoidance is instilled in our people. It is important that leaking pipes are reported and that understanding safety drills can save lives,” says Eldridge Kgaswane from the Council of Geoscience. ■

Land claimants

T he Rural Development and Land Reform Deputy Minister, Mcebisi Skwatsha, handedover 32 title deeds to communities who lodged their land claims. Four claimants were given finan- cial compensation to the value of R50millionwhile five others received title deeds. All the claimants lodged their claims before the initial cut-of date in 1998. Skwatsha said the restitution process might be slow but eventu- ally all the claims will be attended to. He explained that the delays,

in some instances, were caused by some land owners who resisted sell- ing their land. According to the Department of Rural Development and LandReform, since the process of land claims start- ed in 1998, more than 13 000 claims received were from Gauteng. Of these, 450 have still to be processed. Skwatsha reminded land claim- ants who still wished to lodge their claims to do so before the cut-of date in 2019. “We want to make sure that after this process, there is lasting peace,” he said. ■

April 2016