Specifics of the Operating Model Approach
Various enablers must be in place to result in the primary transfer of a property to subsidy beneficiaries.
The process described in the toolkit is not self-contained within the housing authority. It requires the active participation and collaboration of a number of other stakeholders including government departments across spheres of government (local, provincial and national) and private entities. Some of these stakeholders provide information or data (e.g. occupant households, other government departments), enable critical processes that provide a pathway to transfer (e.g. the Department of Justice with regard to deceased estates, provincial departments of human settlements with regard to application for subsidies) or participate directly in the property transfer process (e.g. conveyancers, deeds registry). It is very important that there is engagement with these stakeholders so that the roles that they play within the process are understood and supported as needed.
Key stakeholders are described in more detail in the Stakeholder Matrix.
Project managers who oversee titling projects, examine evidence of ownership and authorise signature of, or sign, sale agreements,
Analysts who review and analyse data to determine the pathway to transfer
Case administrators who follow up on cases
The team is supported by a number of service providers including:
Fieldwork teams
Conveyancers
In addition, the process requires that the housing authority establish:
An adjudication panel
An appeals panel
The toolkit presumes the development over time of an optimised environment that enables the secure and efficient administration of beneficiaries and transfer of properties to validated owners.
The experience of the Transaction Support Centre and the City of Cape Town demonstrates that it is possible to undertake this work in a less than optimal environment, albeit less efficiently, and with significantly more stress on the teams who undertake the work. Given that this work becomes harder to do the longer it is delayed, it is critical that it begins as soon as possible, even if processes and systems are not optimised.
That said, there are some requirements without which it is simply not feasible to commence the work. This includes the existence of a registered general plan, access to data from the HSS on the project beneficiaries, a dedicated project team and a rudimentary system to maintain data as it is collected.
In the longer term, there are specific interventions that would optimise the process significantly. This journey towards an optimised process supported by good systems is called the Maturity Roadmap.
The process should have key metrics measured so that the outcomes can be reported to stakeholders. Metrics include descriptive, throughput and cost metrics. Examples include
Number of properties to be transferred
Number of households enumerated
Number of households eligible to sign sale agreements
Number of sales agreements signed by households
Number of sales agreements countersigned by housing authority
Number of transfers lodged by conveyancers
Number of properties registered
Number of title deeds issued by the deeds registry
Number of title deeds checked
Number of title deeds with errors
Number of title deeds handed out to property owners
Number of wills signed
Number of households where a non-qualifier is the perceived owner
Number of estate late transfers
Number of informal sales
Number of renter / caretaker households
Number of properties where ownership is disputed
Average time taken from enumeration to title deed registration: self-classified owner = beneficiary (perfect match)
Average time taken from from household signature of sales agreement to deeds registration
Cost per household survey (including software, service provider, data etc.)
Conveyancing costs per transfer
Monthly operating costs: Project team
During the process, data and digital artefacts (images of documents) are collected from multiple sources including the HSS, occupancy surveys, home affairs and the deeds office. This data must be structured and analysed in order to identify a pathway to transfer.
When an occupancy survey is conduced, the occupant of the property is consulted in order to complete the survey. At the same time supporting documents are collected. Supplying the necessary documents is the responsibility of the occupant / beneficiary.
Should further information be required in order to move toward deed registration, it is the responsibility of beneficiaries or occupants to provide this information.
The recipient of the subsidy property must also sign the Sales Agreement and provide necessary documents and certificates to support lodgement at the Deeds office.
Once the title deed is issued the owner must accept the title deed for the property and is responsible for keeping the document safe. In addition, it is strongly recommended that the owner prepare a will if he or she does not already have one.
At the start of the enumeration process, the community must be made aware that enumerators will be going door to door in the area to collect data to enable the property transfer process. This may include informative meetings or distribution of notices in other media to let the community know what is happening and why. This step is aimed at getting community support for the project.
Where beneficiaries are alive but cannot be contacted, housing authorities may be required to advertise in a newspaper or on a digital platform to notify beneficiaries to come forward.
In some cases there may be a public event with a press briefing when title deeds are handed over. In other cases, housing authorities may issue a press release to inform the public that title deeds have been handed over in a given area.
The project team includes employees at the Housing Authority who are responsible for extracting, collating and overseeing the collecting data process, categorising, validating and following up on cases, preparing and signing sales agreements, engaging and managing conveyancers and handing out title deeds.
Ideally a dedicated, experienced team should conduct these activities. While the team structure and size may vary depending on the number of projects and properties to be transferred, it will typically include the following roles:
Team manager: Responsible for signing sale agreements, accountable for the process and the performance of the team and all service providers
Data manager: Responsible for extracting, collating and collecting all data required to support the process. Accountable for the performance of fieldwork teams who conduct occupancy surveys. The data manager is responsible for ensuring that all data is safely secured and accessible for analysis
Data analyst: Responsible for analysing data to categorise cases, preparing reports on throughput
Case worker: Responsible for following up on cases and ensuring that all necessary processes are followed to enable property transfer
This is an optional stakeholder that may be engaged in some cases. Housing Authorities may wish to partner with banks to trace or locate missing beneficiaries during the validation process.
In addition, the regularisation process may require non-qualifiers to pay the Housing Authority to formalise an informal purchase. Some households may require finance from a bank or other lender to raise required funds.
This is an optional stakeholder that may be engaged in some cases to trace or locate missing beneficiaries during the validation process.
The conveyancer is required by law to lodge the transfer. The conveyancer prepares transfer documents, lodges the matter with the deeds office, collects the issued title deed, confirm that all details on the title deed are correct and rectifies any errors prior to handover to the owner.
A summary of stakeholders and their roles across the process is illustrated in the Stakeholder Matrix below using the RACI framework. This framework identifies stakeholders who are either responsible for completing a task, accountable for ensuring the task gets done, consulted to get feedback or because the work will impact directly on them, or informed about the process and outcomes.
Stakeholders include:
Members of the public
Various government departments
Private sector players
The project team
Each stakeholder category is described in more detail:
The Housing Authority is the provincial or municipal entity (typically in the Human Settlements Department) that is accountable for the entire outcome of the process. That means that they have oversight over all the actors that are responsible for any step of the process and must hold them to account for key outcomes. The Housing Authority also makes decisions and offers guidance when required through all process phases.
The list of project beneficiaries is recorded on the Human Settlement System (HSS). This data must be extracted off the HSS during the data collection phase of the project.
In addition, new subsidy applications that are made during the process will go through the HSS.
Information from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is necessary to identify the respondent and match them to the beneficiary list. The ID number and proof of identity is always required. In addition, information and certificates are also required from the DHA to support the property transfer process. This includes data required to determine if beneficiaries are deceased.
When cases are validated, additional data or supporting documents may be required from the DHA.
In addition, given that a number of months may have passed between initial data gathering and lodgement at the deeds office, conveyancers must re-confirm that the transferees are still alive before they lodge.
This is an optional stakeholder that may be engaged where the process requires it. SASSA data may be useful to assist housing authorities in tracing and contacting beneficiaries during the validation phase. Ideally there should be an agreement (such as a Memorandum of Understanding) between the Housing Authority and SASSA on how beneficiary tracing will be conduced.
It is useful to have the support of local councillors who can assist with engaging the community at the start of the Data Collection phase of the project and support awareness raising activities that are conducted within the community about the project. In addition, the local councillor may wish to stay informed about progress throughout the project.
The Deeds Office is engaged once the property is read for transfer as a final steps in the Validation, Regularisation & Transfer phase.
When one or more beneficiaries is deceased, the estate must be reported to the master's office.
