Property practitioners may not proceed with the marketing of a property unless a mandatory disclosure form has been signed by a seller or lessor of a property, and this document must be disclosed to the prospective purchaser or lessee of a property and must be attached to any agreement for the sale of the lease of a property, and forms an integral part of that agreement.
Gerhard van der Linde, Managing Director of Seeff Pretoria East quotes from the Practitioners Act number 22 of 2019 that if such a disclosure wat not completed, signed, or attached, it may result in action taken by the Authority against the Property Practitioner.
It will also have severe implications for the owner of the property who did not disclose any latent defects that he or she was aware of, but failed to disclose if this document is not completed and attached to the agreement. This may be interpreted as if no defects or deficiencies of the property were disclosed to the purchaser.
This is particularly important when it gets to the question of approved plans of a property.
The mandatory disclosure form contains a declaration by the seller confirming whether the seller is aware that "any additions or improvements made to, or any erections made on the property, have been done or were made, only after the required consents, permissions and permits to do so were properly obtained.
Van der Linde cautions that it must be very clearly understood what is being disclosed, and if the seller is not aware of the true situation regarding the plans, then it must be disclosed as such. Frequently homeowners declare that to the best of their knowledge the plans have been approved, but when the bank or any other party calls for a copy of the approved plans, it unfortunately is only then established that changes to the property which required approved plans, were never obtained.
This will result in a dispute between the parties, which can result in costly delays in obtaining transfer of the property.