Once a property has been sold informally, it becomes ‘invisible’ to the formal market, where it is unable to be sold formally until previous informal transactions are regularised. This cycle perpetuates itself as regularising the irregular title is a complicated, time consuming and an expensive process for the individual.

Owning a home is more than just having a place to live, the value of the home is a critical component of household wealth and savings. It is therefore important to be able to transact with it formally as housing needs change over time. Over 60% of the population do not have access to formal property rights despite the available housing stock increasing, which negatively affects inclusive economic development.

Oppenheimer Generations has partnered with CAFH and 71point4 to test the TSC model which provides free, hands-on assistance and advice for individuals looking to regularise their properties, and then to buy and sell residential properties through efficient, safe and legal processes. The pilot aims to identify common problems, explore the mechanisms used to optimise processes and identify systemic constraints that impede formalisation. Once this information has been gathered the goal of the project is to scale the TSC and serve the breadth of South Africa’s affordable housing market by influencing affordable housing policy, optimise municipal and provincial processes and bring private sector providers such as lenders, conveyancers and other service providers into the fold.