| (1) |
Whenever doubt or dispute has arisen in regard to any beacon or boundary of a piece of land, the diagram or general plan of which is registered in a deeds registry, and the position of the beacon or boundary has been determined by survey, any owner may, or the Surveyor-General may under the prescribed circumstances, in writing request that the position of the beacon or boundary be accepted by agreement between the owners concerned, and that request shall be accompanied by a notice setting out in full the provisions of this section. |
| (2) |
For the purpose of an acceptance contemplated in subsection (1), there shall be lodged with the Surveyor-General for approval a document, as far as practicable in accordance with the form contained in Schedule I to this Act (in this section referred to as the "agreement") specifying the beacons and boundaries concerned, and signed by— |
| (a) |
the owner of such land or his or her duly authorised agent; |
| (b) |
every owner of land contiguous thereto or his or her duly authorized agent; |
| (c) |
holders of real rights, other than a right to minerals, in the piece of land or in land contiguous thereto whose rights would be adversely affected by the position of the beacons or boundaries adopted; and |
| (d) |
two competent witnesses to each signature being persons above the age of 14 years, one of whom may be the land surveyor performing the survey: |
Provided that—
| (i) |
in respect of any beacon or boundary which is only common to that piece of land and to land outside the Republic, no agreement is necessary; |
| (ii) |
in respect of that piece of land, or any contiguous land, or any rights to minerals in that piece of land, or any other real rights which are held by two or more owners or holders in shares, it shall be sufficient if the agreement is signed by the owners or holders of not less than three-fourths of the shares in the piece of land or the rights, as the case may be; |
| (iii) |
in respect of any beacon or boundary which is not also a beacon or boundary demarcating an area in respect of which a right to minerals is held, the agreement need not be signed by the owner of that right; and |
| (iv) |
it shall not be necessary for a contiguous owner to sign the agreement if the Surveyor-General is satisfied that no prejudice will result to that owner from the acceptance of the agreement. |
| (3) |
Should any person referred to in subsection (2)(b) and (c) fail to sign the agreement within a period of two weeks from the date upon which he or she was requested to sign the agreement, the owner or the Surveyor-General, as the case may be, shall serve upon that person a notice in writing informing that person that if he or she fails, within a further period of one month from the date of service of that notice, to lodge with the Surveyor-General an objection to the boundaries or beacons of that piece of land as set out in the agreement, he or she shall be deemed to have agreed to the boundaries and beacons. |
| (4) |
Subject to subsection (8), the Surveyor-General shall approve the agreement if it complies with the requirements of this Act and no objection to any beacon or boundary adopted in the survey or resurvey of such land has been lodged by any of the persons referred to in subsection (2)(b) and (c) within the prescribed period. |
(5)
| (a) |
If any person requested to sign the agreement in terms of subsection (2)(b) and (c) has failed to sign the agreement, and has, within the prescribed period, lodged with the Surveyor-General, an objection to any beacon or boundary specified in the agreement, the Surveyor-General may in the prescribed manner serve a notice on every person affected by the objection to undertake, in the prescribed manner, to accept the award of an arbitrator or arbitrators as binding upon all matters in dispute in connection with that beacon or boundary and in regard to the costs of and incidental to the arbitration. |
| (b) |
If every person affected by the objection (in the case of joint owners or holders contemplated in subsection (2)(ii), the owners or holders of not less than three-fourths of the shares in that land) have so undertaken, the Surveyor-General shall after consultation with those persons appoint one or more impartial arbitrators to determine the matter and costs in the prescribed manner. |
| (c) |
If any person affected by the objection fails so to undertake, the Surveyor-General shall in the prescribed manner serve a notice on the objector informing him or her that within the prescribed period from the date of the objection he or she may— |
| (i) |
institute an action in the court to determine the matter; or |
| (ii) |
if the State is one of the parties affected by the objection, proceed to arbitration in terms of the Arbitration Act, 1965 (Act No. 2 of 1965), |
and should he or she fail to institute such action or proceed to such arbitration, he or she shall be deemed to have agreed to the beacons or boundaries specified in the agreement.
| (6) |
Subsections (1) to (5) apply also in the case of— |
| (a) |
a beacon which is erected to replace a beacon which has been destroyed or disturbed; |
| (b) |
a curvilinear boundary which is ill-defined or unsatisfactory and in respect of which the owners have agreed upon its substitution by a boundary of another character; and |
| (c) |
a curvilinear boundary where different opinions arise as to the correct position on the ground and the position of such boundary has been determined by survey. |
| (7) |
The Surveyor-General shall cause appropriate endorsements to be made on all affected diagrams and general plans upon the approval of the agreement. |
| (8) |
The Surveyor-General may, unless otherwise directed by a court, refuse to approve an agreement contemplated in this section if he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that any area which is not the property of the owner of a piece of land has been included within the boundaries as specified in the agreement or that payment of any rates or taxes has been or will be evaded by any registration in a deeds registry based upon the agreement. |
Older Persons Act, 2006
