Words and Deeds
Current news in the field of property law
An Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society

14 June 2006
9644/2004
Absa Bank Ltd v J L Erasmus
The plaintiff's case is based on money lent and advanced on an overdraft facility that is secured by a covering bond over the defendant's farm. The defendant pleaded that plaintiff fraudulently firstly, converted a loan on a first mortgage bond at an interest rate of not less than 17 per cent, to a loan on an overdraft facility to enable it to impose a higher interest rate ; secondly, included a costs clause of R52 000 without his knowledge and consent ; and thirdly, effected withdrawals, payments and unauthorized debits without his knowledge and consent. During the course of the trial, defendant introduced a further defence of prescription. He alleged that plaintiff's claim became prescribed by efflux ion of time. The defendant's counterclaim is based on pain and suffering, ill-health, emotional stress, financial ruin, domestic problems, loss of his multi-million project and black-listing of his name, which all resulted from the fraudulent conduct of plaintiff. The plaintiff denied these allegations and, more particularly, denied that its conduct was directly or indirectly the cause of defendant's problems. The plaintiff furthermore disputed that defendant suffered any damages and pleaded that if defendant succeeds in establishing such damages, plaintiff denies that there is a causal connection between the breach of contract alleged by him and such damages and/or that plaintiff is responsible or liable for the payment thereof. The defendant's counterclaim constitutes both the elements of a contractual liability and that of a delictual liability.

Committee Minutes

NCOP Committees

Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs

13 June 2006
Deeds Registries Amendment Bill, Sectional Title Amendment Bill : Adoption

Estate agents were instructed this week to pay particular attention to outstanding rates owed on properties being sold through their services.

Normally rates clearance certificates, which are essential to facilitate property transfers, only indicate the property is free of outstanding municipal services debts for the two year period immediately prior to the date of application for the certificate. But this, warns the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB), does not guarantee the property is without debt before that period.

Such debt, in terms of Section 118 clause 3 of The Local Government Municipal Systems Act, immediately becomes the responsibility of the new owner on transfer and is fully reclaimable.

Clive Ashpol, deputy manager of the EAAB told a packed estate agent gathering during his legal update seminar in Durban on Tuesday that while the act had been challenged in court a subsequent decision by the Supreme Court had ruled that local authorities could legally claim municipal debt arrears as far back as they wished.

The EAAB was aware of a number of cases involving local authorities demanding outstanding debt settlement from new owners after certificates had already been issued at the point of transfer.

The act, Ashpol noted, emphasised the preferred creditor status of the local authority for arrears of rates, taxes and services owing on the property. This right of claim over rode all other financial entitlement in terms of priority, including that of the bondholder.

He urged agents when conceptualising a selling price to establish any rates or tax arrears over the property. If so the agent should ascertain the full amount and include this into the price sought.

Especially vulnerable in terms of the act were buyers purchasing through sales in execution. Often these were perceived as bargains, but outstanding debts, could lumber the buyer with an unexpected financial burden.

Louis Kruger, Head of Income of eThekwini Municipality, confirmed debts owing on rates and taxes were "debts of the property" and therefore recoverable from that property's registered owner. He also confirmed that the municipality were recovering outstanding debts prior to the two-year clearance certificate period. However, it was unusual for such overdues to be recovered from new owners of properties.

In instances of outstanding debts over properties Kruger said his department insisted the seller advise the buyer of the situation and the two parties usually settled these through negotiation.

Municipal debts over extended period were not usual due to the council's diligence in debt recovery, but some instances had slipped through the system because no sales in execution had taken place in the past few years, Such long term debts normally come to light when there is a sale in execution.

Conveyancer Roger Green of Cox Yeats, says the section of the act allowing such recovery is a most regrettable development and that it adds considerable uncertainty to the acquisition of properties. He believes municipalities should be bound to inform the conveyancer and other parties of all outstanding debt at the time of the application. This would then give the buyer the opportunity to claim the full amount from the seller or set it off against the purchase price of the property.

While some comfort could be derived from the act only be applied in a minority of cases Green still believed even one case was too many and unfair.

Rodney Hayter website

Homebuyers purchasing with the support of a mortgage can now shop around for their own insurance to cover the structure of the dwelling in terms of new legislation.

The National Credit Act, which came into effect on 1 June 2006 releases homebuyers from their previous compulsory commitment to take out insurance from the bank granting the home loan.

Successful mortgage applicants, according to a MortgageSA media release, have always been required by the banks to take out insurance on the structure of the dwelling they intended to purchase. This is in addition to life insurance on the outstanding balance of the mortgage, and the subsequent household contents insurance that homeowners traditionally secure.

In addition to making the insurance on the structure of the dwelling a condition to obtaining a mortgage, banks have, up until now, been able to force mortgage applicants to take out the cover offered by the banks chosen insurer, but the Act, according to MortgageSA, now compels banks to inform consumers of their right to take an insurance policy of their own choice.

Rhys Dyer, insurance director at MortgageSA, said the banks enjoyed a virtual monopoly on this corner of the insurance market before the Act.

He said many people were prescribed an insurance policy, often underwritten by the bank's own insurance company, which they were forced to accept and payments were then rolled into the monthly bond repayment.

Dyer says to allow banks time to make the required changes to their systems and processes to accommodate the provisions of the Act compliance is staggered. Some sections require compliance immediately, others by 1 September 2006. The section that compels banks to allow choice on house insurance has a 12 month window period before mandatory compliance must occur.

"It will be interesting to see how quickly banks will move to allow either their existing or new mortgage clients free choice now, or whether they will attempt to preserve the status quo for as long as possible," Dyer said. "Prolonging the status quo would clearly not be in the consumer's best interests".

"Historically, competition was virtually nil in this sector with the result that consumers paid more than they would have in an open market environment. We estimate that consumers will be able to get the same insurance up to 30% cheaper than they currently pay," he said.

"If your bank has your interests at heart, one would hope that they would be moving to offer you this choice sooner rather than later. All mortgage holders should therefore check their home insurance policies, find out what kind of premiums they are paying against the value of the asset, and shop around," Dyer said.

Dyer hails the act has a great step forward, not just in terms of consumer protection but in terms of promoting competition and consumer choice.

Rodney Hayter website

Important recent amendments to the Sectional Titles Act will have important consequences for those living in sectional title schemes, the developers of such schemes, for trustees and managing agents, banks financing sectional title development, as well as for auditors and accounting officers of bodies corporate said David Warmback, partner of Shepstone & Wylie attorneys, presenting a seminar on recent amendments to the Sectional Titles Act convened by the National Association of Managing agents (NAMA) on June 8 in Durban.

Warmback dealt with six amendments to the Act and 13 amendments to the standard management rules which all became effective during the past year.

Important changes to the Act include a provision making it easier and cheaper for owners to effect extensions to their sections, as bond holders consents are only now required if as a result of the extension there is a deviation of more than 10% (previously 5%) in the participation quota (PQ) of any section.

Tardy developers are also targeted in the new legislation. Many sectional schemes are according to Warmback, being developed under a real right system whereby the developer establishes the scheme with an initial minimum two units.

Real rights to develop are then sold and ceded to purchasers who are obliged to build a dwelling on the real right area. Once the units are completed, developers are often slow to register the required plan of extension, with the result that a unit is not immediately incorporated into the scheme from a legal point of view.

Until the unit is properly incorporated into the scheme, the developer usually contributes a much lower levy and the body corporate effectively subsidises the developer for those levies.

The amendment to the Act which addresses this problem now obliges the developer to register a plan of extension within 90 days of completion for occupation of a particular unit, failing which the developer is liable to pay levies for the unit as if the plan of extension has been registered. Furthermore a unit may not be transferred until the levies due have been actually paid to the body corporate.

Warmback believes that these amendments will be welcomed not only by members of a body corporate in a scheme developed on a real right basis, but also by the banks who finance the development of real rights and who would be concerned with their security where developers do not speedily comply with their obligations.

Developers are targeted further with increased sanctions in circumstances where they do not comply with the provisions of section 36(7) of the Act which obliges them to convene a meeting of the body corporate within 60 days after the formation of the body corporate, and to provide certain documents and information to members at this meeting which may include an obligation to make payment of monies to the body corporate.

Warmback states that developers often did not comply strictly with this requirement in circumstances where the previous maximum fee of R1 000 was not perceived to be particularly onerous. Amendments to section 37(7)(b) now delete reference to a maximum fine and provide the further sanction of imprisonment for a period of not exceeding two years.

Important amendments to section 47 of the Act give relief to owners in a scheme who regularly pay their levies in circumstances where their co-owners do not, and a judgment creditor such as a local authority takes judgment against the body corporate and applies to court for a joinder of all individual owners as judgment debtors.

Warmback explains that an owner could be required to "pay twice" and although the section allows him to obtain a refund from the body corporate, there may be practical difficulties in securing this.

New changes to the Act now make it clear that members who have paid their levies to the body corporate in respect of "the same debt" may not be joined as a judgment debtor for the same debt.

Various important changes to the standard management rules have also been made.

Any amendments, substitutions, additions or repeal of any body corporate rules are required to be registered in the deeds office so that they become properly binding on owners and in effect, become public documents.

Trustees are obligated to keep a complete record of all rules in force from time to time, and a new amendment places an obligation on the trustees now to "forthwith" submit any changes for filing to the deeds office.

Warmback also alerts auditors and accounting officers of bodies corporate that a few amendments to the management rules directly affect them. A new rule provides that an item in the AGM of the body corporate must include confirmation by the respective auditor or accounting officer that any amended rules have in fact been lodged with the Registrar of Deeds.

An addition to rule 40 also provides that the financial statements of the body corporate must be signed by the auditor or accounting officer.

Further new obligations on the auditor or accounting officer require them to provide "information and notes pertaining to the proper financial management by the body corporate which includes an analysis of the periods of debts, analysis of amounts owed by that body corporate to creditors and expiry dates of all insurance polices". Clearly these requirements, says Warmback, are an effort to ensure that important and relevant financial information is provided not only to existing owners, but also for those prospective purchasers who are looking at purchasing into a specific scheme and who clearly need to be appraised of the financial state of the body corporate.

Other amendments to the rules include the following :

1. it is now easier for bondholders in a scheme to insist that a managing agent is appointment to manage a scheme ;

2. clarity has been provided that a non owner, including the managing agent may be appointed to act as a chairman of a meeting if the chairman and chairman of trustees are not present ;

3. on a show of hands for voting purposes, an addition to a rule makes it clear that an owner has one vote for each section owned ; and

4. trustees must be careful in using management rule 68(vi) to give permission to an owner who wishes to "place any structure or building improvement" on an exclusive use area in circumstances where the owner is in fact extending the limits of his or her section, and where the more onerous procedure of section 24 of the Act, relating to extension of sections should be applied.

Rodney Hayter website

A meeting took place on 13 June 2006 at Elsenburg and was attended by among others, representatives from the Jonkershoek Crisis Committee, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Agri Western Cape, Mountain to Ocean (Pty) Ltd, Stellenbosch Municipality, Stellenbosch Landbou Genootskap, Women on Farms and the departments of Agriculture and Land Affairs and the Office of the Premier.

The representatives at the meeting all expressed appreciation for this, the first meeting of its kind, to resolve matters through dialogue and all gave a firm commitment to participate in the process to find solutions. All agreed and resolved to pin down the following key principles, which will form the basis of our planned discussions over the next three to six (3-6) months :

▪ A collective commitment to constructive engagement ;
▪ An agreement that the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) is inadequate
  and needs to be reviewed ;
▪ A moratorium on all evictions in this area, pending the conclusion of negotiations
  aimed at three to six months ;
▪ The setting up of Agri-villages ;
▪ The centrality of parastatal and private land in the engagement of transformation ;
▪ All levels of governance to be included in this process – i.e. local/municipal,
  provincial and national government ;
▪ An end to severing basic services to farm occupants ;
▪ Conducting an audit to provide common platforms of information ;
▪ Rooting out those bad apples violating human rights.

A follow-up meeting is scheduled for 26 June 2006 to take the process forward. This process of dialogue and constructive engagement in agricultural communities may very well be the first of kind and may serve as a blueprint for other similar areas in the province and South Africa.

Enquiries :
Alie van Jaarsveld
Telephone : 021-483 4700
Cell : 084-604 6701

Issued by : Ministry of Agriculture, Western Cape Provincial Government

SA Government Information website

The number of New York City apartments considered affordable to hundreds of thousands of moderate-income households - with incomes like those of starting firefighters and police officers - plunged by 17 percent between 2002 and 2005, according to a new report by researchers at New York University.

The report, to be released today, for the first time puts hard numbers on a cost squeeze that has intensified with the real estate boom. The researchers found that the number of apartments affordable to households earning about $32 000 a year, or 80 percent of the median household income in the city, has dropped by 205 000 in just three years.

While precise comparisons for earlier periods are not available, this appears to represent the sharpest decline in the number of apartments within the reach of such households since the mid-1990's.

The report also found that while the median rent for unsubsidized apartments jumped to $900 from $750 — a 20 percent increase in three years — the median household income in the city shrank to $40 000 from $42 700.

Whether the rising housing costs are seen as a sign of the city's economic vitality or a harbinger of trouble depends on who is talking. Several economists said they were proof of the city's success : Lots of people still want to live in New York. But housing experts warned that high rents could force workers out of the city or into overcrowded conditions and multiple jobs.

"The market will work through this, but there are people who really lose," said Chris Mayer, director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at the Columbia Business School. "Whether that's a city problem really depends on how much city government or residents feel this is an inevitable thing they can't fight, or whether they're going to try to do something about it".

City officials say the rapid rent increases may slow down in coming years as new construction adds more units to the market.

The study - by researchers at the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and based in part on the city's Housing Vacancy Survey, done by the Census Bureau every three years - found that the combination of stagnant incomes and rising rents had landed especially hard on households with incomes of $24 000 to $32 000.

The current minimum salary for a city firefighter is $32 700. Police officers start at the equivalent of roughly a $25 000 salary while in the police academy and jump to about $32 000 in their first year. Experienced home health aides, nursing aides, child care workers, bartenders, coffee shop hostesses, tour guides - who work in industries the city hopes will continue to grow - make similar amounts.

Two out of every five New York City households earn $32 000 or less.

In calculating the decline of units, the study's researchers assumed that the rent that is truly affordable to a household is no more than a third of its income. While the city lost 205 000 out of about 1.2 million units affordable to households earning $32 000, the number affordable to households making $24 000, or 60 percent of the median, declined by nearly 92 000, or 15 percent.

"We couldn't believe the numbers," said Vicki Been, director of the Furman Center and an author of the report. "It's pretty remarkable".

Ms Been said it was not possible to compare the rent increases between 2002 and 2005 with increases in the previous three-year period because of differences in the samples used by the Census Bureau. Adjusted for inflation, the increase in median rent between 2002 and 2005 was 8 percent. She said the median rent for all units increased 1.8 percent between 1996 and 1999, adjusted for inflation; for unsubsidized units, the increase was 5.6 percent.

There are multiple reasons for the recent rise in rents, economists and others say. The population is growing, and housing construction is only beginning to catch up. Many new arrivals make more money than people already here. Much of the new housing has been for people with higher incomes, and most of it has been for sale, not for rent.

Some housing experts say escalating rents pose a threat to the city's well-being. They say workers needed for crucial service jobs will move away, if they are not already doing so. Those who choose to stay will double and triple up in apartments, settle for illegal housing or scrimp on education and health care - investments that might help them get ahead.

"So this disparity between income and rent is worrisome from a public policy perspective," said Elaine Toribio, a senior policy analyst for Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a policy research group. "At the high end, you could reach a point where the Goldman Sachs employee says, 'I'm going to Hoboken.' And at the lower end, you force people to make unsound decisions".

But some economists say high housing costs go hand in hand with economic growth, not stagnation. Andrew F Haughwout, a research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, studied 25 metropolitan areas in various time periods including 1980 to 2005 and 1990 to 2005 and found the fastest growth in places where housing prices rose the most.

"You might expect in places where housing gets really expensive, it will have a negative impact on economic growth," he said in an interview. "That's a kind of received wisdom : If a place gets too expensive, people move out and it shuts down. The logic doesn't hold together too well. Because why does a place get too expensive? It's typically because of high demand for that place".

In New York, the availability of more expensive apartments rose significantly between 2002 and 2005. The number of unsubsidized apartments, including rent-regulated apartments, renting for $1 000 and $1 200 a month rose by 58 000, or nearly 34 percent ; the number renting for $1 200 to $1 400 rose by 57 500, or 52 percent ; and apartments for $1 400 and above rose by 74 432, or 31 percent.

City officials say they believe that the rapid escalation in rents may be slowing and that they will continue to do so over the next few years in part in response to the current housing construction boom. Last year, the city issued permits for the construction of nearly 32 000 new housing units, a 34-year high ; the number of permits issued in the first quarter of 2006 was up 27 percent over the same period last year.

Even if most of those new units are for relatively well-off people, city officials say, some existing housing will in turn become available as lower-priced apartments. At the same time, they say, the Bloomberg administration has continued to pursue its goal of creating or preserving 165 000 units of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income people.

"Clearly, one solution to the problem is increasing the housing supply over all," said Shaun Donovan, commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. "Through rezonings, revising the building code, a range of initiatives, we're focused on trying to make sure that the current level of housing starts continues. On the other side, though, we do also clearly want to increase the number of subsidized units through the mayor's housing plan".

The Furman Center's report, called State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods 2005, ranked the five boroughs and 59 community districts in terms of 30 indicators like median monthly rent, income diversity and overcrowding. Rents were highest in the district that incorporates Greenwich Village and the financial district and lowest in Mott Haven, Hunts Point and central Harlem.

The study found that the rental vacancy rate rose slightly in the city as a whole but declined in much of the Bronx. The percentage of household income spent on rent was lowest on the Upper West Side and highest in Highbridge in the Bronx.

"We're an economy that has a great addiction to low-wage labor," said John H Mollenkopf, director of the Center for Urban Research at the City University Graduate Center. "To the extent that we want low-wage labor, we have to make housing available for low-wage people to live in".

New York Times website

Q : For 30 years, I have leased commercial property and the lessee has been renewing the lease regularly. Three years ago, we agreed to rewrite the lease on a more modern Auckland District Law Society standard form. Recently, the lessee gave notice that it intends to vacate the property at the end of the current period. Both the modern and original leases contain clauses that the lessee has to make good any damage done to the property. The lessee is arguing that it only has to make good damage done in the last three years (since the signing of the modern lease). I think the lessee needs to make good any damage done since the commencement of the original lease 30 years ago. The long-term damage to the property has been significant, including contamination and damage to floors and walls from heavy machinery. Who is right in this situation?

A : Without reviewing the lease documents it is difficult to say with any certainty. It is unclear whether the modern lease incorporates or supersedes the original lease. If the modern lease incorporates the original lease (including the covenant to repair damage), it is likely that the lessee will be required to make good any damage done since the commencement of the original lease. The exception to this is any damage caused by fair wear and tear through reasonable use of the leased property.

What is deemed "reasonable use" is generally contingent on the nature of the commercial property, and the permitted use of that property as contained in the lease.

If the modern lease supersedes the original lease, which we anticipate it may well do, and it excludes section 106 of the Property Law Act 1952, it is likely that the lessee will have to repair damage only since the commencement of the modern lease, three years ago.

However, even if the modern lease supersedes the original lease, you may still be able to bring a claim against the lessee under the Property Law Act (provided it was not excluded in the lease documents) and/or under the common law doctrine of tort.

Section 106(b) of the Property Law Act implies into every lease the obligation on the lessee to keep the premises in good and tenantable repair. This obligation applies to the state of repair during, and at the expiration of, the term of the lease. When determining what constitutes "good and tenantable repair" regard will be had to the condition of the premises at the start of the lease. Provided the original lease does not exclude section 106(b) of the Property Law Act, it may be arguable that at the expiration of the original lease the lessee was obligated to yield up the premises in good and tenantable repair, and that it failed to do so.

If the original lease was by way of a deed, the statutory limitation period of 12 years is likely to apply to any such claim. Although it has only been three years since the expiration of the original lease, and therefore it would appear you would still be in time in bringing such a claim, the lessee may be able to argue that, in not enforcing this obligation on it until now, you have waived your right to do so.

Whether the modern lease supersedes or incorporates the original, you may still be able to bring a claim against the lessee in tort. You may have grounds for actions in negligence and/or against the lessee for committing waste.

However, if the long-term damage to the property was caused by reasonable or authorised use of the property, then the lessee's liability in negligence or waste may be difficult to prove.

In the end, who is correct in these circumstances will depend upon whether the modern lease supersedes or incorporates the original lease, and also on how the damage to the leased property occurred.

New Zealand Herald website

Combined 5th Trans Tasman Survey Conference and 2nd Queensland Spatial Industry Conference 2006

Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns, Australia

September 19 - 23 2006

The combined Conference will be of interest to all practitioners in the spatial industry including the professional disciplines of surveying, mapping, engineering and mining surveying, remote sensing and photogrammetry, and spatial information. Young professionals are strongly encouraged to get involved in the Conference and to submit abstracts for consideration in the Conference program. Our fellow industry professionals from within New Zealand, South East Asia, the Pacific Rim and other regions of the globe are also welcome, and are encouraged to participate in the Conference.

The theme of the Combined 5th Trans Tasman Survey Conference and the 2nd Queensland Spatial Industry Conference 2006, Land and Sea Spatially Connected - In a Tropical Hub, aims to demonstrate initiatives across the spatial industry, providing a forum for ongoing discussions and interaction relating to their applicability to the community.

In keeping with the theme, the Conference will draw together spatial professionals from the host state and nation, as well as those from across neighbouring seas. To that end there will be a strong emphasis on the spatial industry's activities and achievements in both the land and marine environments. Young professionals from across the industry will also be actively involved in the Conference, sharing their ideas and experiences as the future of our industry.

Land and Sea Spatially Connected - In a Tropical Hub will address many of the challenges faced by today's spatial professional :

▪ Dividing and measuring the landscape
▪ Charting, monitoring and managing our rivers and oceans
▪ Exploring and developing our oil, gas and mineral resources
▪ Developments in Land Rights, Cultural Heritage and Native Title
▪ Monitoring and protection of the environment
▪ Data management, integration and ownership
▪ Land and Water Administration and Governance
▪ Natural Disasters - advance warning and the aftermath
▪ Beyond 400 years of mapping in Australia
▪ Satellite navigation and geodetic frameworks
▪ Opportunities and alliances within our community and those of our neighbours
▪ Looking outside the square - unique experiences and ingenious solutions
▪ The future for the Spatial Sciences - what lies ahead?

In addressing these challenges, the Conference will draw on experience from a broad representation of the spatial professions. The Conference offers the opportunity for the spatial community to actively participate in a range of organised activities including presentations, poster exhibitions, trade displays, technical tours and workshops. In keeping with the relaxed tropical atmosphere of the host city, the Conference will also provide excellent opportunities for social interaction, networking and relaxation.

ICMS website

The Government's planned home information packs, which it claims will speed up housing transactions and stop money being wasted on surveys, were condemned last night as "expensive, deficient and dangerous".

The pack, which it is estimated will cost the vendor as much as £1 000, will be compulsory for anyone selling a home after June 1 next year.

If the home is off the market for more than 28 days, the pack will have to be updated, involving more expense.

The scheme's opponents also fear that some people could face bills of many thousands of pounds if they try to sell property without a pack, or HIP.

There will be a fine of £200 a day for any property that is on the market without one, even if it is advertised on a private website or simply by a board in the garden. A Law Society survey last month showed that most people had never heard of the packs.

They will contain a mini survey, called a home condition report, searches and a report detailing the energy efficiency of the building.

However, Nick Salmon, a London estate agent who runs the anti-HIP pressure group Splinta, said that most buyers would still commission their own survey.

"A home condition report paid for by the seller raises conflict of interest issues," he said. "In Denmark, where they have had the packs for 10 years, 80 per cent of buyers have their own survey done".

The Government slipped out details this week of what would be in the packs. It emerged that they would not need to include information on flood risk, natural subsidence, radon gas or land contamination, leading to fears that many people would either not trust the packs or be left without vital knowledge about their prospective homes.

Mr Salmon said there were also fears that there would not be enough inspectors to carry out the home condition reports, because many people who had registered to do the job had not started training.

The job is expected to be popular with retired people and mothers returning to work but, because details about the packs have been so late in coming, many have delayed starting the courses.

Michael Gove, the Conservative spokesman on housing and planning, said the packs would cost nearly £1 000 for a detached home and £800 for a semi, compared with the Government's original estimate of about £600.

"If a sale falls through, sellers face being charged a second time to produce a new pack," he said. "Buyers will still need to purchase additional valuations, especially if, like most first-time buyers, they have a loan-to-value mortgage of 80 per cent or more.

"Their refusal to tell families whether the back gardens will be safe for their children or about potential flood risks delivers a serious blow to the credibility of these so-called information packs. The Government would be better to scrap the scheme than deliver expensive, deficient and dangerous information to potential home-buyers".

Mr Gove's view is shared by many estate agents, who will have to administer the new selling regime.

Jeff Doble, the managing director of Dexters agency, in Teddington, south-west London, said : "I am going to have to put my fees up and I don't like doing that because I don't think this is giving my clients value for money.

"You would be hard pushed to find an estate agent who supports the packs. The Government has not listened to any of the committed people in this industry".

The home condition report section of the pack will expire after six months. If a property is taken off the market for more than 28 days and is then placed back on the market, the pack creation process must start again.

Documents, including searches, cannot be more than three months old when they are created at this "first point of marketing", requiring the seller to pay for a new or updated pack.

The Government has also admitted that the home condition report is likely to replace valuation surveys in only about half of sales in the early stages. Critics say that is a gross underestimation.

If the loan-to-value ratio exceeds 80 per cent - around 40 per cent of cases in which a mortgage is required - a separate valuation is still likely to be required. That would mean most first-time buyers still having to pay for valuations.

Telegraph website

Lawyers and agents quizzed

Nine people have been charged by police over an alleged £10 million property scam.

Fraud squad detectives have spent more than two years investigating the financial affairs of a group of businessmen in Aberdeen.

The long-running probe focused on lawyers, surveyors and estate agents.

A specially-created Grampian Police team looked into a series of loans and mortgages taken out on a large number of properties in the Aberdeen area.

Part of their inquiry focused on claims that the values of certain properties were allegedly artificially inflated.

A Grampian Police spokesman said yesterday: "We can confirm that following lengthy investigations eight men and a woman have been reported in connection with a fraudulent scheme. A report has been forwarded to the Crown Office for their consideration".

The police are refusing to name those charged, but the men are aged 58, 49, 46, 45 and 43, with two 39-year-olds and a 28-year-old.

The woman is aged 38 and believed to be the girlfriend of one of the other accused.

No details of the inquiry have been made public but the Record understands it follows a Law Society of Scotland investigation into an Aberdeen solicitor who was struck off two years ago.

The society appointed a judicial factor to take control of the lawyer's one-man business and investigate his tangled finances.

A specialist unit at the Crown Office, which deals with major financial investigations, is now studying the police report.

It is the same unit which looked at the case of award-winning Edinburgh bank manager Donald MacKenzie, 45, who earlier this month admitted a £21million fraud at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Last night, a Crown Office spokeswoman said : "We have only received this report recently and it is still in the early stages of consideration".

Oil-rich Aberdeen has had a booming property market for years, with the North Sea wealth fuelling a huge demand for homes in the area.

The Granite City has consistently been one of the UK's top property hot spots with flats and houses selling for anything up to 40 per cent over valuation estimates.

The Daily Record website

Mankind has used buried infrastructure for eight millennia, stemming from the prerequisites for development of a civilisation - clean water and safe disposal of sewage. Over more recent centuries our society has added enormously to this infrastructure, particularly to cater for our modern desire for energy and telecommunications.

This infrastructure can now be found hiding beneath our feet in the unseen maze of pipes and cables, most of which have never been accurately mapped or recorded - making them difficult to find when repairs are necessary, or excavation is required around them. The result of this is a large social cost associated with the need for intrusive excavation to locate the services, such as where their position needs to be known for repairs, new service connections and health and safety of construction workers.

A four-year EPSRC funded initiative, originally instigated by UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) on behalf of the utilities, aims to solve the problems associated with the difficulty in finding buried infrastructure. Five integrated research projects have been funded to lay the foundation for the programme of work that will ultimately need direct stakeholder involvement in developing and proving the system. Details of the individual projects can be found here. If you are interested in any of the work or in attending the workshops, please contact Dr Nicole Metje

Mapping the Underworld website

The government came under fierce attack yesterday after quietly bringing in measures to give councils the power to seize the homes of the dead from bereaved families.

Ministers were also accused of "burying bad news" by publishing details of the rules while the nation's eyes were trained on the World Cup.

The measures, released by Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, on Friday afternoon, give local authorities the power to confiscate homes that have been vacant for six months and rent them out to the homeless.

From next month councils will be able to break into, alter or refurbish the properties and let them out to tenants of their choice for up to seven years.

Exceptions include second and holiday homes and the homes of people working away temporarily.

Ministers said the measures, passed in 2004 by John Prescott, Ms Kelly's predecessor, were aimed mainly at run-down and abandoned inner-city properties that were magnets for crime and could be used instead for social housing.

But the Conservatives, housing experts and bereavement charities reacted furiously, arguing that the Empty Dwelling Management Orders left bereaved families facing the appalling prospect of having deceased relatives' homes confiscated unless they rushed through a quick sale.

Michael Gove, the shadow housing and planning minister, accused the Government of releasing details of the orders when the nation was still mulling over England's World Cup match against Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday night - and without informing MPs or the media.

Mr Gove claimed that Labour had "scored an own goal by using the World Cup to bury their bad news".

Bureaucrats would be able to take over "private homes in perfect condition", he said. "Seizing homes of the rec-ently deceased is particularly disturbing. This is a stealthy new form of inheritance tax".

A spokesman for Cruse, a charity that helps the bereaved cope with their loss, said that the pressure of having to sell a house within six months would add to the grief.

"People don't always want to sell the house quickly," a spokesman said. "Often it's where they grew up and there are sentimental attachments".

Robert Whelan, of the think-tank Civitas, said the "outrageous" confiscation of property ran "right against the ancient common-law principle of private property, which is as fundamental as habeas corpus.

"The right to private property is the Englishman's right to his castle". Labour was "behaving more like a dictatorship than a democratic government", he said.

Yvette Cooper, the housing and planning minister, said, however, that it was an outrage that empty properties were not being used to tackle housing shortages.

"There are all kinds of safeguards for owners who leave properties empty through no fault of their own," she said.

"But local councils should be able to take action to deal with the outrage of properties which are abandoned and ignored but blight local communities and deny people needed housing for their area".

A spokesman for Ms Kelly denied that the powers would be used to seize homes inherited by relatives. If the issue was not resolved in discussion with the council, he said, it would go to a tribunal.

Telegraph website