Johannesburg - The City of Ekurhuleni on Tuesday reiterated that the selling of a government RDP house within eight years of receiving it is prohibited.
“The reason for this is because a title deed is issued to the legitimate beneficiary with an endorsement that it will require an exemption or government rejecting the mandatory buy-back offer for that property to be transferred to another person. If you buy the house within the eight years of allocation, it will not be easy to change the title deed,” MMC for Human Settlements Lesiba Mpya said.
City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Nhlanhla Cebekhulu said the selling of RDP houses undermined the government’s intention of eradicating homelessness.
"It is so because those beneficiaries who sell RDPs are vulnerable persons who may not be able to acquire a home of their own after selling their RDPs. They, therefore, resort to returning to shacks and other informal settlements after selling the government-provided houses. In terms of the Housing Act 107 of 1997, a beneficiary may not sell the house within the first eight years of having taken occupation."
Cebekhulu said if the beneficiary of the RDP house wished to sell the house, the government had first preference to buy it and reallocate it to persons on the government-housing waiting list.
"Many people also rent out their RDP house to others prior to the eight-year period. This is also discouraged, as the law prohibits letting out an RDP for remuneration."
The city said if a beneficiary wished to sell their RDP house after the eight-year period, they needed to ensure that the sale was done legally through a lawyer qualified to handle deeds of property transfer, commonly known as conveyancers.
"Failure to follow that process has, in many occasions, resulted in descendants of the supposed sellers claiming back the RDPs that would have remained in the names of their parents," said Cebekhulu.
The city urged beneficiaries of RDP houses who faced circumstances that compromised their welfare to approach them for social relief packages such as enlisting on the city’s indigent database.
"The benefits of registrations are, among others: 100% rebate on assessment rates, free refuse removal, the first 100kwh of electricity per month and the first 9kl of water and sewer per month (free)," Cebekhulu said.