Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

6-2022

Abstract

Urban inequality in South Africa is a formidable problem that is linked to the injustices of its historical apartheid past. This paper identifies sectional titles, a form of property ownership where proprietors wholly own their apartment unit while co-owning the land and common property, as critical to providing more affordable housing. Sectional title schemes mitigate urban inequality by giving a greater proportion of the country the opportunity to own legally secure, well-located dwellings while serving as a platform where communal living could take place. Two suggestions how sectional title legislation can further alleviate aspects of urban inequality are made (1) Permitting a supermajority of sectional owners to terminate a sectional scheme prevents holdout and allows urban land to be redeveloped, providing an increase in housing. (2) Municipalities could consider mandating ethnic integration in sectional schemes to counter the organic formation of mono-racial residential enclaves which remain in present-day South Africa.

Keywords

Property law, sectional titles, urban inequality, apartheid, South Africa, law and regulation

Discipline

African Studies | Comparative and Foreign Law | Property Law and Real Estate

Research Areas

Asian and Comparative Legal Systems

Publication

Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

Volume

42

Issue

4

First Page

1012

Last Page

1039

ISSN

0143-6503

Identifier

10.1093/ojls/gqac013

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqac013

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