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Approximately 8 000 Council-owned rental properties in various areas of the metro are still available to qualifying tenants for purchasing through the City of Cape Town’s Human Settlements Directorate’s rental sales programme.
 
These properties include free-standing and semi-detached houses, terraced or row houses and maisonettes that are located across the city in areas such as Gugulethu, Valhalla Park, Mitchells Plain, Heideveld and Nyanga, among others.

A renewed campaign was launched in 2013 to create further awareness of the City’s rental sales programme and a dedicated project team was established to fast-track the programme by encouraging qualifying tenants to make use of the opportunity to become the owners of the rental dwellings many of them had occupied for so many years.
 
Over the past six years, the City has sold approximately 6 000 units out of the approximately 14 500 saleable units that were initially identified in 2013.
 
‘The long-term benefits of tenants becoming property owners include having the security of owning their own property and not being limited by a lease agreement between a tenant and a landlord.

‘The rental sales programme, which is managed by the City’s Public Housing Department, is exciting because it affords qualifying tenants, who are some of our most vulnerable residents, with the opportunity to be empowered as property owners.
 
‘A house can be added to a property owner’s estate so that it can be included in their wills to secure their homes for their loved ones in future. The uptake has been slow but our efforts continue to educate current tenants about the potential and benefits of owning their own properties,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi.
 
Legal and qualifying tenants are encouraged to visit their nearest housing office or to look out for the MyEstate mobile housing office in their areas to learn more about this offering and to determine whether the rental dwelling that they occupy forms part of the remaining units.
 
To determine if they qualify to purchase a rental unit, tenants will need to produce the following documents when visiting the housing offices:

• A payslip not older than three months
• An affidavit should tenants be unemployed
• Proof of self-employment and six months’ certified income and expenditure statements
• A confirmation letter from the South African Social Security Agency if tenants receive a social grant
• Identity documents for the tenant and spouse if applicable
• A marriage certificate/divorce certificate/death certificate

 
‘We encourage our qualifying tenants to take this step toward owning their own property. This is an exciting opportunity for the City’s tenants. If our tenants have any questions regarding this opportunity, they are encouraged to visit their local housing office where they will be assisted,’ said Councillor Booi.
 
Multi-storey blocks of flats are not available for sale at present. The sale of blocks of flats can only happen through the implementation of a sectional title dispensation as set out in the Sectional Title Scheme Act (8 of 2011).
 
For more information also visit https://bit.do/Ownyourrentalhome
 
 
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