The Implications of Selling a House Without Approved Plans
If you are selling your house, and don’t have approved plans, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble. And if you are buying a house, and don’t ask whether the seller has approved plans, you might end up inheriting some very expensive problems.
The law requires everybody to have plans drawn up in a particular manner, and approved by the local authority in their area, it stands to reason that every house will have plans. As Built plans will have to be produced and submitted to the local Municipality.
“As Built” is a term used when submitting plans for a building that is already built. The cost of the plans will be the same. There might be an additional administrative penalty fee from the Municipality for “Late Submission” of building plans.
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How the Issue of “Voetstoets” Affects Building Approval and Plans
Essentially this clause indicates that the purchaser accepts the risk relating to defects existing at the time of the sale, patent or latent (but not visible). The exceptions to this clause are instances where the seller deliberately and fraudulently conceals latent defects from the purchaser, that he or she was aware of at the time – in which case the seller will remain liable for these defects. But of course the purchaser will have to provide evidence that the seller knew what was wrong.
Our law takes into account that any property with buildings erected without municipal approval is a property with a latent defect. The voetstoets clause will normally cover latent defects and a seller will not automatically attract liability if he sells a property with unauthorised building works. But if the seller knows that there are no plans and he organized and did the renovations himself, and he deliberately does not disclose this fact (with the intention to defraud the purchaser), the seller cannot hide behind the voetstoets clause.
Building Plans Approval Time Frames
Draughting of Building Plans For Submission : 1 - 6 weeks (project depended).
Administrative Penalty Application : 1 - 3 months
Heritage Application : 1 - +3 Months (Structural Grade depended).
Land Use Management Application : 2 - 4 Months
Building Development Application : 2 - 4 Months
Municipality time lines are dependent on the type of application, circulation periods, comments and work flow.