Land Registration Use: Sales in a State-Subsidised Housing Estate in South Africa

Abstract

The objective of this investigation is to develop land registration usage theory based on an in-depth exploration of how and why property buyers decide to transact within or outside the land registration system. If buyers decide not to register transactions, significant implications arise; for buyers, who may be vulnerable to eviction by the previous owner or the state, and for the integrity of the registration system which does not reflect the actual ownership of parcels.

Despite these implications, the current understanding of land registration usage is limited, even though it is recognised that land registration may fail, particularly in development projects, because transactions are not registered. To address the limited understanding of land registration usage, a qualitative case study was conducted of a state-subsidised housing estate in a rural town in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The case study was analysed using a theoretical framework which incorporated the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

The theory that emerged explained that buyers evaluate transaction-securing strategies in a transactional environment which included behavioural, power and regulatory structure components. The behavioural component included the transacting off-register and registration behaviours, which are partly complementary and mutually influential. These behaviours are evaluated by buyers in terms of their personal and social beliefs, and the factors which they believe control the performance of the transaction-securing strategies. Buyers may also select a particular transaction-securing strategy based on their perceptions of the level of tenure security and threats associated with loci of power. Furthermore, the relation of time to the transactional environment was incorporated by including a time component. Contextual characteristics, such as the housing history, population changes and migratory behaviour of residents, as well as the land records, also shaped the transactional environment.

The study contributes to the understanding of land registration usage by describing how and explaining why buyers decide to use transaction-securing strategies based on their experiences. This understanding provides new insights that may change the design and implementation of land registration systems, to ultimately better serve the people whom these systems are intended to benefit.