Careful scrutiny of any existing or new town planning order is required (it is recommended that the project land surveyor and conveyancer be included to give input on this process).
The above will then clarify which conditions of establishment of the new or existing town planning order are required to be fulfilled/complied with before the Designated Officer of the Municipality’s town planning department will issue a Section 53 (SPLUMA) certificate.
The Section 53 (SPLUMA) certificate is the certificate, issued by the Municipality, which confirms that the conditions of establishment have been fulfilled and that registration of individual transfers can thereafter proceed in the applicable Deeds Office.
The Section 53 (SPLUMA) certificate is required by the Deeds Office for lodgement of transfers (or even the opening of the township register) and hence this is a critical step.
Often, the Section 53 (SPLUMA) certificate will only be issued once the Municipality’s designated officer is supplied with the appropriate “B certificates” which, in turn, confirm that services (ie: roads, water, electricity, stormwater, sanitation) have been properly installed. This will therefore also involve the project engineer.
Conditions of establishment differ with respect to conditions required to be fulfilled before a section 53 certificate is issued, hence, careful scrutiny and guidance by the project land surveyor, town planner, conveyancer and engineer is of critical importance.
There are two sub-steps in this phase:
NB : Step 2 and Step 3 may run concurrently but Step 2 cannot be concluded before Step 3 is concluded.
Record of Decision (RoD)
By whom and what budget is required to satisfy outstanding conditions of the SPLUMA and NEMA RoDs
The Audit will have fully identified the conditions that must be fully complied with prior to the SPLUMA Section 53 Proclamation Certificate (the ‘Proclamation Certificate’) being issued. The assumption is made that a SPLUMA Approval/Consent has been obtained.
The Audit will also have identified whether the SPLUMA and/or NEMA RoDs require to be amended.
Whilst the professional land Surveyor and conveyancer would have in confirmed what interventions, if any, may be required by the Municipality and/or Organ of State under step 2, it is the Development Project Manager(s) that must give effect to the RoDs.
The focus of this step is to deal with any RoD conditions that have been identified as ‘not yet’ complied with.
These must be budgeted for and urgently given effect to.
Once all SPLUMA Approval/Consent (this includes an amended approval/consent) conditions have been satisfied the process to obtain the SPLUMA Section 53 Proclamation Certificate may commence as per step 4.
Whilst the Land Assembly and Township Proclamation is informed by the SPLUMA RoD, the NEMA RoD determines the conditions under which all activities that will give rise to the Township Development are subject to.
The individual certificates that the Municipality and/or other Organs of State will be required to issue in relation to each infrastructure service will only be issued by the Municipality and/or Organ of the State if satisfactory proof is provided that the NEMA RoD has been fully complied with.
Under the earlier STEPS a Project Plan is recommended to be compiled which identifies ‘Critical Milestones and Tasks’.
This Project Plan will play a material role at this point in the eventual procurement of the Proclamation Certificate.
