| (a) | The Minister may from time to time, subject to the laws governing the public service, by notice in the Gazette— |
| (i) | establish or disestablish deeds registries; |
| (ii) | establish or disestablish subdeeds registries within the area of deeds registries; |
| (iii) | determine the names and situation of such offices, define the respective areas thereof, or amend any such determination or definition; and |
| (iv) | subject to the provisions of this Act or any other law, determine the registration acts or other acts which are required or permitted to be performed in any such registry, or amend any such determination. |
| (b) | Any area defined under paragraph (a) (iii), may— |
| (i) | consist of different non-adjoining regions; or |
| (ii) | partly consist of a portion of an existing defined area excised therefrom. |
| (i) | deeds registries mentioned in paragraph (a) prior to the substitution thereof by section 1(a) of the Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1984, shall at the commencement of that Act be deemed to have been established by the Minister by notice under paragraph (a) as so substituted; and |
| (ii) | areas of those registries as defined in the Second Schedule prior to the repeal thereof by section 8 of the said Act, shall so be deemed to have been defined by the Minister under the said paragraph (a), |
and every such deeds registry within such area shall at such commencement be a continuation of the registry which existed in its area immediately prior to that commencement.
| (d) | The registration office at Johannesburg shall be a deeds registry, but only in connection with the registration of documents relating to immovable property in any township in the area served by that registration office and the documents referred to in paragraphs (j), (j)bis and (k) of subsection (1) of section 3, and the registration of other documents relating to the aforementioned documents and which is authorized by this Act. |
| (e) | The Minister may at any time in a similar manner withdraw any notice published under paragraph (a). |
[Section 1(1) substituted by section 1 of Act No. 62 of 1984]
| (1A) | After the commencement of section 1 of the Deeds Registries Amendment Act, 1969— |
| (a) | any document affecting the title of the land included in a township referred to in subsection (1)(b) or of an erf in any such township shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other law contained, be registered only in the deeds registry at Johannesburg; |
| (c) | any such document registered in the deeds registry at Pretoria at such commencement and of which a copy has been furnished by the registrar at Pretoria to the registrar at Johannesburg in terms of any law repealed by section 10 of that Act or in terms of any other law, and has been entered by the last-mentioned registrar in his registers or is kept in his office, shall be deemed to be registered in the deeds registry at Johannesburg; |
| (c) | the copy of a document referred to in paragraph (b) shall for the purposes of any relevant law be deemed to be the registry duplicate of the document in question; |
| (d) | any entry made by the registrar at Johannesburg in the duplicate kept in his office of any register opened and kept in the deeds registry at Pretoria, and any entry in a copy of any such register furnished to that registrar in terms of any law, shall be deemed to be an entry in the register in question, and such register shall be kept by that registrar in so far as it may be relevant for the purposes of paragraph (a). |
[Section 1(1A) inserted by section 1 of Act No. 61 of 1969]
| (2) | [Section 1(2) deleted by section 1(b) of Act No. 62 of 1984] |
| (3) | [Section 1(3) deleted by section 1(b) of Act No. 62 of 1984] |
