Answer to a question from a reader

Is it possible for my family and I to get an empty RDP house near us?

The short answer

You need to ask the municipality who owns the house.

The whole question

My family and I have been living in my cousin’s RDP house for more than five years, but she does not want to sell the house to me. I noticed an empty RDP house close to where we stay. As a community, we often maintain the yard of that RDP house and I’ve never seen anyone living in it. Since no one is living there, is it possible for me to get that RDP house?

The long answer

You would need to start off by asking the municipality who owns this empty RDP house, and why it has been standing empty all these years. You could tell them that you would like to buy it and ask if title deeds were issued for this house, and if they could assist you to contact the owner.

If the municipality does not know who the owner is, they must at least have some information about the house that you could take to the Deeds office to check if a title deed was issued. You would need the erf name of the plot, not the street name.

Answered on May 8, 2020, 11:07 a.m.

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