How we help
The Tenure Support Centre takes on individual cases in Khayelitsha and works them through formal, legal channels. This page explains the four situations we deal with, what we actually do in a case, and how to start one.
01 — Start here
You do not need to know what your problem is called, and you do not need to have the paperwork in order before you come. Working out which kind of problem it is comes first.
Tell us what happened to the house — who bought it, who lived in it, whose name is on the papers you have. We go through the documents with you and work out what the deeds registry is likely to hold, and what is missing from it.
If it is one we can help with, we open a file. That means preparing the legal documents needed for transfer, and working with our partner conveyancers on the lodgement itself.
A transfer that stalls usually stalls at a specific desk. We follow up with the City and with the other offices involved, and we keep the file moving rather than leaving you to chase it.
You should know where your case has got to and what happens next. We walk through the formal transfer process with you as it runs — what each stage is for, who is responsible for it, and what it means for you once it is done.
The TSC is not the deeds office, the City, or the conveyancer. We cannot decide the outcome of a case, and we cannot make a registration happen faster than the law and the offices involved allow. What we can do is make sure the right steps are taken, in the right order, by the right people — and tell you honestly where things stand.
02 — The four situations
Most of what comes through our door is one of these four. If yours does not look like any of them, bring it anyway — the first task is always working out which one it is.
Service 01
You have the house — you were allocated it, or you have lived in it for years — but there is no title deed in your name. The property may not be registered at all, or it may be registered to somebody else.
This is the case that most needs the formal route, because until the deed exists in your name there is nothing to sell, to leave to your children, or to borrow against.
Service 02
The house changed hands informally at some point — a cash sale, a family arrangement, a handover between neighbours — and the deeds registry was never told. On paper, the previous owner may still own it.
These cases turn on evidence: who paid, when, and who has been living there since. We help assemble that record and put it through the formal process.
Service 03
The person named on the title deed has died. Until the estate is wound up and the property transferred to the heirs, the house is effectively locked — the family can live in it, but cannot deal with it.
We work on transferring properties out of deceased estates, including where the death was long ago and no estate was ever reported.
Service 04
The house came from a government subsidy programme, and the transfer from the state to the household was never completed. The household has the house; the registry still shows the state or the developer.
We work on securing that primary transfer — the first one, from the state to the person it was meant for.
03 — Behind the casework
One case at a time is how the problem is solved for a household. These three areas are how the same problem gets solved for everyone else.
The casework itself: getting households to a title deed they can hold, and keeping the file moving until registration happens.
Using real cases to show exactly where an administrative process breaks down, and working with service providers on the fix. A case study is more useful to an official than a complaint.
Making sure people know how a formal property transaction is supposed to work — and how to buy or sell a house the right way, so that the next one does not become a case.
04 — Before you come
Bring whatever papers you already have about the house. You do not need to have everything ready before you come — nobody arrives with a complete file, and starting from an incomplete one is entirely normal.
If you are not sure whether a document matters, bring it. An old receipt, a letter from the City, a copy of somebody else's deed, a death certificate from years ago: all of it helps us work out what the registry holds.
This work involves identity documents and original paperwork, so it is easiest to start face to face. Our office is in Khayelitsha — see where to find us, or send us a message first if you would rather ask a question before travelling.
If the property belonged to somebody who has died, it also helps to know who the surviving family members are and whether an estate was ever reported. If you do not know, that is fine — it is one of the things we will try to establish.
Next step
The first conversation is where we work out what kind of problem it is, and whether it is a case we can take on.
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