Property chaos as syndicates raid abandoned City of Joburg plans archives

While the City of Johannesburg battles to get its digital land service systems back online, Joburg’s property market remains paralysed by a different crisis – millions of missing physical building plans still locked in the condemned Metro Centre basement.

Since the offices were condemned after a 2023 fire, an estimated two million records have been sealed off as unsafe. What should be a routine request for plans has become a journey into Joburg’s administrative paralysis.

At the City’s new Development Planning offices in Newtown, I tested the system myself, requesting plans for a residential property where I wanted to convert a lounge window into a sliding door – a R15,000 job. It should have been simple. Instead, it became a glimpse into dysfunction.

There were no queues. Everyone already knows: the plans are missing.

A polite clerk pointed me to a sign: “Email Patrick Kgoloko (PatrickK@joburg.org.za),” with a WhatsApp number. I emailed immediately. “Three to five days,” said the clerk.

I followed up the following Tuesday. Patrick’s reply, two words: “Not yet.” When I asked if I should have the plans redrawn, he said simply: “Wait for now.” More than a month later, I’m still waiting, despite a few follow-up emails.

If I pursue the small alteration legally, the R15,000 construction job will balloon to R30,000 in redrawing and approval fees, simply because my plans are missing.

Fraud and fees

Across Joburg this scenario is repeating. Homeowners are losing sales, conveyancers are rewriting contracts and banks are refusing bonds because plans cannot be retrieved. Architects are redrawing “as-built” plans for up to R100,000 a set, depending on the size of the building.

The vacuum has spawned an underground market. Syndicates, insiders say, had been slipping into the Metro Centre basement to retrieve and sell plans despite armed patrols. One such scheme was recently exposed by the Sunday Times and shut down.

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“Allowing submissions without original plans opens the door to fraud,” warns Chrissie ten Krooden, a former City of Joburg planning department employee now in private practice.

“People are supposed to produce proof of identity when collecting plans to ensure they are handed to the rightful owners. Anyone can now claim they had prior approved plans, and no one can prove them wrong. This can lead to unsafe construction and additions, and opens the door to fraudulent sales conditions. These fraudsters are also handing over original building plans which will disappear forever.”

She also warned that illegal construction won’t be awarded occupancy certificates and insurance companies might refuse to pay out claims. “Residents should also ensure they have their own copies. Ultimately, the City is not responsible for individual plans,” she said.

Added to that is the fact that there are very few building inspectors in Joburg to check new additions and alterations, so “it’s basically a free-for-all”.

Developers are adapting by adding “document fees” to budgets, but ordinary homeowners are being crushed. Banks increasingly refuse to finalise home loans without approved plans. Conveyancers demand them before transfers; buyers walk away if they aren’t available.

Denese Zaslansky, CEO of Firzt Realty, says the inability to access building plans has become one of the biggest obstacles in property transactions.

“Banks are increasingly insisting that sellers produce accurate and up-to-date building plans to ensure that all structures on a property are legal before they will grant a bond. Buyers wanting to renovate also require plans. But in Joburg right now, thousands of approved plans are simply inaccessible,” she said.

The total? R50,000 to R100,000, often more than the cost of the renovation. The approval process for new drawings can take months, sometimes longer than the transfer of the property itself.

“This is why many sale agreements now include annexures to delay transfer until approved plans are secured,” Zaslansky says.

“Alternatively, if the seller cannot afford the costs, they can agree to allow the conveyancer to withhold money from the sale proceeds to cover the plans post-sale.”

Any structural changes – even converting a garage to an office or adding a pool – require plans. “If you don’t have them now, you may be forced to spend R25,000 to R100,000 later,” she warns.

Lawyers are inserting retention clauses, allowing buyers to hold back part of the price until approved plans are provided. Some conveyancers privately admit that syndicates monitor sales, swooping in with “stamped” plans for a fee.

A heritage crisis 

The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation (JHF) warned that the archives include irreplaceable records dating back to the city’s founding.

“These plans are a priceless civic resource,” the JHF said in June.

“They are vulnerable to damp, fire, vandalism and theft. Once they leave official custody, they may never be recovered. Leaving them in a condemned building is a recipe for cultural amnesia.”

Activists have urged relocation to Museum Africa, which once housed the records.

The City responds

City of Joburg spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the City has restored its online Construction Permit Management System (CPMS), bringing relief to developers and homeowners who were unable to submit building plans for nearly a month after the system went offline due to an expired IBM support contract.

He confirmed that the licence lapse caused the disruption and said the City has since renewed the system’s support and stabilised the platform to prevent future outages.

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However, the City’s Land Information System (LIS), which manages rezoning and land-use applications, remains offline, meaning new township, rezoning or consent-use applications are still delayed.

The City’s development approvals depend on two connected systems: CPMS, which governs how a structure is built – covering technical drawings, safety and compliance – and LIS, which governs what can be built – the zoning rights, density and permissible land use. Normally, these work in tandem: before a building plan is approved, LIS must verify zoning and land rights.

A technical fault in LIS triggered a wider shutdown in mid-September 2025, making it impossible to process new building or site development plans. On 14 October, the City introduced an interim fix, decoupling CPMS from LIS so that plan submissions could resume independently.

While developers can again submit building plans online, LIS, which also powers the Town Planning Application System (TAS), remains offline, halting new rezonings and township establishments.

Since CPMS was reactivated, 319 new applications have been submitted, including 312 building plans and seven site development plans. Another 100 site development plans were lodged manually. Officials are also clearing a backlog of 1,114 applications stuck during the outage.

Modingoane said LIS restoration is the department’s top IT priority, but gave no completion date. Once fixed, the systems will be reintegrated. The new configuration ensures that if LIS fails again, CPMS will keep running independently to avoid another city-wide construction freeze.

He confirmed that most residents’ building plans remain stored in the condemned Metro Centre basement.

“Given the vast number of records, a suitable alternative facility has yet to be identified, and no date has been set for relocation,” he said. For safety reasons, public access to the Metro Centre and Metro Link (to which queries relating to building plans and approvals are directed) remains suspended.

Residents can request approved plans via email or walk-in applications at the Newtown offices. All plans approved after 2021 are accessible electronically via CPMS. To ease disruptions, the building control officer temporarily allows submissions of new plans without attaching previously approved ones – though property owners remain responsible for accuracy. 

“No cases of fraud have been reported as a result,” said Modingoane.

He added that a digitisation programme is under way to make all approved plans accessible online. Residents can email KgolokoPatrickK@joburg.org.za (Patrick apparently has two email addresses) with proof of ownership and ID to retrieve old plans within three to five days.

He also said the City is unaware of any illegal sales of plans.

“Anyone with evidence of such activity should report it directly to the Office of the Executive Director for urgent investigation,” he said.

Governance crisis

The DA’s development planning spokesperson, Daniel Schay, blames years of neglect: “Instead of maintaining or rehabilitating the Metro Centre, the City abandoned it until it was declared unsafe. Now the archives are compromised, and residents are paying the price.”

The City promised that by July 2025 a service provider would begin scanning and digitising every plan and transferring originals to the provincial archives. Three months later, little is visible. The online portal is dark; the basement remains sealed.

In June, the City “committed to safeguarding these records”, saying long-term plans include redeveloping the Metro Centre precinct with National Treasury. A transactional adviser was meant to be appointed by June 2025 – this is yet to happen.

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Meanwhile, 35 armed guards patrol the site on 12-hour shifts and a new fence has been erected. Still, insiders say syndicates continue to access the basement.

What began as a facilities-management problem has become a governance crisis. Promises of digitisation and security mean little to those trying to sell a house or fix a roof.

In the absence of transparency, Joburg’s missing plans have become a metaphor for the city itself: essential records locked away, inaccessible, while the metropolis above them continues to crumble. DM