Sale of Immovable Property on Installments Should the Contract be registered?

The recent Constitutional Court judgment of Amardien and Others v Registrar of Deeds and Others [2018] ZACC 47(case attached for ease of reference) enunciates the following principles regarding instalment agreements:

• The seller has an obligation to record the agreement with the Registrar of Deeds within the period stipulated by the Act.
• The instalments only become due and payable upon the purchaser gaining knowledge that the agreement has been recorded with the Registrar of Deeds.
• If the agreement has been recorded late by the seller, the seller cannot retroactively claim payment of the instalments.

It is unlawful for the seller to exercise the remedy of cancellation when the purchaser has fallen into arrears under an agreement which was not recorded with the Registrar of Deeds.

Allen West
Tonkin Clacey (PTA)
Tel: 012 346 1278