The City of Cape Town recently launched a homeownership drive, enabling qualifying city tenants to become owners of the homes they previously rented.
The No Cost Transfer Programme is backed up by a R38 million budget, allowing 22 000 tenants to become homeowners over the next three years.
The No Cost Transfer Programme forms part of the Mayor’s Priority Programmes (MPPs). These MPPs focus on key service delivery in areas such as housing, safety and energy. In this case, the MPP is the Land Release for Affordable Housing.
In the December 2022 edition of the Mayoral Minute, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis explained the motivation for the programme:
“We believe no one should be a permanent tenant of the state, so we have introduced the ‘No Cost Transfer’ programme. This will make it as easy as possible for tenants to become owners of their council housing without having to pay anything towards the transfer costs. Thousands of tenants are now eligible to become homeowners for the first time in their lives, at no cost.”
Operation
According to Cape Town’s Acting Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Alderman James Vos, properties that could be eligible for this free title deed initiative include:
- About 7 500 city-owned rental units.
- 13 000 delayed transfer units.
- 1 400 historical serviced sites.
As part of the No Cost Transfer Programme, the City will:
- Approach the provincial and national authorities to deviate from the national housing code provision forcing beneficiaries to settle outstanding debts on a property before ownership can be transferred.
- Fund the payment of transfer fees on behalf of beneficiaries, and fix these fees at R2 500 regardless of the property value.
- Write-off rental and municipal services arrears on rental units that exceed the relevant national housing subsidy.
Who qualifies?
According to the Cape Town City website, legal city tenants in good standing currently occupying the following properties stand to qualify:
- Free-standing houses
- Semi-detached houses
- Terraced houses (row houses)
- Maisonettes
- Historic site and service units
- Delayed transfer units
“We encourage residents to reach out so that they may become property owners. Please approach us by visiting the local housing office in your community or by contacting us via the Human Settlements Call Centre on 021 444 0333 or by WhatsApp on 063 299 9927,” said Vos.
Additional
Also forming part of the MPPs, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently launched the City’s Land Release Priority Programme at an Affordable Housing Indaba in Cape Town.
This programme encompasses fast-tracking state land release for affordable housing and greater ease of doing business for development applications. More than R17 million has been allocated to fast-track land release in the City's new draft budget by cutting out the red tape.
“We are committed to doing more to release state-owned land to develop well-located affordable housing close to public transport and economic opportunities. This includes releasing land for social housing projects in the inner-city and well-located nodes elsewhere," said the Mayor.
Writer: Sarah-Jane Meyer