Recently, the Tenure Support Centre (TSC) has collaborated with Hlano Financial Services (formerly Khayalethu Home Loans) on a groundbreaking initiative in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha. Our joint efforts are geared towards addressing persistent issues with title deeds, offering hope and security of tenure to numerous families and individuals in the area who have been waiting for this resolution for many years, and unlocking a significant amount of dead capital.
In the early 1990s, Mandela Park experienced rapid development. Many property owners turned to Hlano for mortgage bonds to finance their dream homes. Unfortunately, a significant number of these loans defaulted over time which meant property owners faced the constant threat of eviction and repossession of their homes.
In a bid to stop evictions of defaulting property owners by mortgages and sales in execution of the affected properties, the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements undertook to settle these Hlano loans over a 10-year period. However, due to a number of reasons, this has not happened, leaving some 1,200 property owners in the Western Cape without access to an unencumbered title deed for their homes. The TSC is working with Hlano, property owners and the Department of Infrastructure to find a solution for these cases.
In addition, there were some mortgages loans that were settled, but given the extensive time period since the loans were initiated, Hlano has struggled to arrange the cancellation of the bonds and the handover of title deeds. The TSC has helped, bringing clients to the TSC offices to sign documents and funding bond cancellation costs for pensioners.
Together with ward Councilor Mkutswana, we handed over the first title deeds to property owners last week.
The TSC is currently actively working on another 105 cases as a result of its collaborative effort with Hlano. This is a significant step towards providing homeowners in Mandela Park with formal security of tenure and peace of mind.
The first five Hlano clients holding their title deeds
