If your immovable property ( land and buildings) doesn’t have title deeds you are missing on wonderful opportunities that can take your life to a whole new level of economic prosperity. Title deeds are the only form of security that can facilitate a hassle free access to any form of credit which many people across the world uses to make life’s dreams come true. Take real estate wealth creation itself for example, say you already have a house with a title deed this allows an individual to use other people’s money (mortgage finance) to purchase another house whose rent will in turn assist in the servicing of the loan. So there are a lot of opportunities you are missing right now. This article therefore, finds it imperative to give critical education on how you can get title deeds because this information can help you to cash in on a gold mine that is lying idle.
By Cain Ndhlovu of PROPERTY MATTERS NEWS
Parent title deeds
There are five things you should try to remember as critical in as far as getting title deeds is concerned. These are parent title deeds, agreement of sale, proof of payment, rates clearance certificate and tax clearance certificate. I will therefore start with parent title deeds.
A parent title deed is the title deed of the greater piece of land from which you are purchasing a part and this term is usually used in situations were you are purchasing a subdivision. For purchases of property that are not part of a bigger piece of land there must be also a title deed bearing the name of the seller. The critical yet simple thing to remember about this point is that the seller’s title deed MUST be available in order for you to have your own.
Agreement of sale
After title deeds there must be an agreement of sale between yourself and the seller because transferring title from one person to another simply means two parties in AGREEMENT sold to and purchased from another immovable property therefore, the deeds office will require to see proof of this.
Proof of payment
After an agreement of sale there must be proof of payment because in order to be confident the deeds office must see proof of payment so that its sure that indeed the individual from whom title is being transferred was paid his or her money. An agreement of sale in itself is not proof that a sale was concluded between the parties mentioned in it because it can be breached. Real estate transactions are critical so the deeds office will not leave anything to chance !
Rates clearance certificate
A rates clearance certificate is another critical document in the quest to secure title deeds for immovable property because its also important that a new property owner should not be allowed to inherit the previous owner’s municipal debts. A rates clearance certificate is therefore, mandatory and is only issued when a landlord who is selling has cleared all his debts incurred at the municipality.
Tax clearance certificate
According to the Capital Gains Tax Act a tax must be charged on a person who sell immovable property. He or she can be exempted under the required circumstances. After this a tax clearance certificate is issued by ZIMRA as proof that the requirements of the aforementioned law have been met and transfer of ownership to the buyer can be effected. The tax clearance certificate is mandatory and without it there are no title deeds one can get.
The problem of land that isn’t fully serviced.
When land isn’t fully serviced according to the demands of a land development permit people will have challenges obtaining rates clearance certificate because the issuance of this certificate is subject to its own conditions and one of them is this that the land should be fully serviced. As a result people will be unable to get title deeds. My advice with regards to this issue is that the only way you can avoid this predicament is avoiding purchasing such a piece of land from the word go unless the seller factor in the reality that the stand isn’t serviced in the pricing during negotiations. This means he or she will deduct the cost of servicing the land from the price. This is necessary because this will enable the buyer to finish up the servicing on his own as required by the permit and get title deeds. The problems people face in as far as title deeds are concerned vary from person to person, individuals are therefore welcome to make inquiries in line with their situation. For the purposes of this article the problem tackled however, is suffice for now.
Acknowledgement : Image from https://citizentv.co.ke/
DISCLAIMER : THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT REPLACE IN ANY WAY THE ADVICE THE READER SHOULD GET FROM HIS REAL ESTATE ADVISERS.
