Protection for home-seekers

The High Court has called for an urgent reform of immovable property conveyancing laws to protect scores of home-owners and home-seekers who lose their cash to fraudsters and negligent lawyers.

Justice Nicholas Mathonsi said loopholes in the immovable property transfer and registration system, coupled with incompetency and negligence by some lawyers involved in conveyance work, had triggered a slew of lawsuits over property disputes.

Justice Mathonsi said the loopholes needed to be plugged urgently.

The judge said the courts were inundated with cases of home-seekers crying foul after paying for houses and residential stands without the knowledge of the owners.

Some property owners have sued after discovering that their properties had been fraudulently sold and that lawyers were engaged to effect transfer of ownership.