General Power?

It is common to use a General Power of Attorney or a Special Power of Attorney to sign documents - sale agreement and conveyancing documents if you want someone to step in for you if you are leaving for overseas, going on holiday etc.

However if you do intend to use this document to register a property transaction in the Deeds Office, the GPA or Special Power of Attorney needs to comply with certain criteria.

1. Grantor to be correctly described: the person giving the power of attorney needs to be correctly described, exactly as they would be on the Deed of Transfer for the property transaction concerned

eg

NAOMI TRUDY OLDFIELD
Identity Number 570823 0012 08 4
Married out of community of property  or

PETER GEORGE OLDFIELD
Identity Number 550324 5105 08 3
and
NAOMI TRUDY OLDFIELD
Identity Number 570823 0012 08 4
married in community of property to each other  or

PETER GEORGE OLDFIELD
Identity Number 550324 5105 08 3
Married, which marriage is governed by the laws of England and duly assisted herein as may need be by
NAOMI TRUDY OLDFIELD
Identity Number 570823 0012 08 4

These are just 3 examples and depending on how or where the parties are married, the citation of them on the document needs to be exact, failing which it will get rejected by the Deeds Office and will have to be redrawn, meaning a delay in the conveyancing process.

  2. The GPA either needs to get registered in the Deeds Office along with the related property transaction (and there is a cost involved), or, if used as a supporting document, it needs to carry a conveyancer's certificate that the GPA relates to the particular property transaction.

3. The GPA or Special Power of Attorney needs to carry a "Prepared by me" confirmation and signature by a Conveyancer.

4. If the power of attorney is signed outside of South Africa, the signature of the document needs to be properly authenticated for use in the Republic. There is also a set procedure for this and if you click on the following link, it will take you to an earlier blog article dealing with the authentication process.