New property exchange policy for houses, land applicable as of August 1 |13 July 2020
From left to right: PS Albert, PS Barbé and CEO Antha
A new property exchange policy for houses and land owned by the government will be applicable as of August 1, 2020 it has been announced.
Principal secretary for housing Denis Barbé gave details of the policy during a press briefing last week. Principal secretary for lands Fanette Albert and the chief executive of the Property Management Corporation (PMC) Evelina Antha were also present to answer questions from the media.
PS Barbé noted that the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport (MHILT) has started a comprehensive exercise to relook at all the written policies and those that are followed through the ministry’s day-to-day practices.
“We have prioritised the policies that we wanted to put in writing, focusing on the more important requests. As we go along we will address the others,” PS Barbé pointed out.
He said throughout the years, the ministry has received and handled many requests for property exchanges in various shapes or forms. He also noted that the existing policy addresses only the financial aspects of the exchange for such transactions.
PS Barbé added that the ministry has recognised the need to further refine and update the existing policy to render the process and decision-making more transparent and clear.
The new policies will cover the following transactions:
- Exchange of government houses managed by PMC for government land;
- Exchange of government house managed by PMC for government house managed by PMC;
- Selling of previously purchased government houses to government;
- Exchange of land bought/obtained privately for houses;
- Exchange of land for land;
- Exchange of land plus house for land or house.
The policies for the various transactions are as follows:
Exchange of government house for government land
Who can apply? An individual who has purchased a house/unit from the government including condominium and wishing to sell the unit back to government in exchange for a plot of land.
Application must be directed to the housing department which will process the same in conjunction with PMC and the lands department. Such an application is subject to availability of land and the land policy.
To be eligible, applicants must not be in arrears and must satisfy the following validating requirements for:
- Medical conditions / specific illness – non-curable and abuse of children.
The request will be subject to: availability of land and specific requirements, financial ability to develop the land, medical condition certified by occupational health with recommendations for a change in location, confirmed abuse cases by the director of social services, must be a condition diagnosed in the last 24 months, condition and cost of the current house and the applicant should not be in arrears.
For this category the type of defaults include construction defects outside the control of the tenants but not life-threatening.
Structural defects types of defects and cause:
This will be subject to: instability as a result of force majeure and un-repairable defects not more than 10 years or less.
- Extended family/severe overcrowdings as a result of natural growth: This will be subject to financial ability to develop the land in line with the land point system, condition of semi-permanent nature which can be verified, must be a condition not self-inflicted by other members joining the family on a temporary basis, condition of the current house, the applicant should not be in arrears or clear the same.
Exchange of government house for government house
Who can apply? The following applies for applicants who are living in a government house and wants to exchange the same for another government house, preferably for a bigger unit. All such applications must be directed to the housing department which will process the same in conjunction with PMC.
Only applicants who fall within the following justification categories and satisfy the validation requirements shall be eligible for an exchange. The applicants must not be in arrears.
Justification validation requirements to consider are: medical conditions / specific illness – non-curable and abuse of children. Requests falling under this category will be subjected to a medical condition certified by occupational health with recommendations for a change in location, condition diagnosed in the last 24 months, abuse confirmed cases by the director of social services, maintenance cost after family moves out should not be more than R100,000.
Structural defects will be subject to an engineer’s report certifying the extent of the defects.
Downsizing or natural growth of the family: This request will depend on the gender and age of the dependents/children, condition and value of the current house, the applicant should not be in arrears unless for justifiable reasons and repayment ability based on the difference in value. The types of houses applied for – social housing only.
The terms of the exchange of the above categories shall be in accordance to the scenarios set by the MHILT that can be found at the ministry.
Selling (not exchange) of previously purchased government house to government
Any individual wishing to sell a previously purchased government/PMC house (any house sold under social housing, condominium or self-finance), the terms as per scenarios B and C of section 3.2 above shall apply.
However, upon execution of the sale, the government will not be required to provide any kind of assistance (land, housing or loan under the housing scheme) to the respective owner in the future.
All such requests must be directed to PMC.
Exchange of land bought/obtained privately for house
Who can apply? Individuals who have obtained land other than from the government but who want to exchange the same in return for a house, to satisfy their housing need, must however meet the justifications. All applicants must also meet the validation requirements to be eligible for an exchange.
Exchange of land for land
Who can apply? A private land owner who has either obtained land from the private market or through government but who wants to exchange the same in return for bare land. Applications must be directed to the lands department.
Applicants shall only be eligible for an exchange if they fall within the category and meet the validating requirements.
Exchange of land plus house for bare land or for a house
Who can apply? Property owners who have purchased the property on the private market or who has bought land from the government with a house subsequently built thereon. Applications must be directed to the lands department.
PS Barbé concluded that government reserves the right not to proceed or undertake any exchange should any of the justifications not be met.
Compiled by Vidya Gappy