For decades, millions of South Africans have lived in homes they don’t legally own, even though they’ve raised families there, repaired leaking roofs, and painted the walls year after year. These are homes filled with memories but lacking one vital thing: a title deed.

That could change for 1,000 families in the foreseeable future.

Through a partnership with the Khaya Lam Initiative, a national project working to transfer home ownership to those who’ve lived without formal recognition, a major title deed drive is underway, bringing long-awaited legal ownership to residents of municipal housing across South Africa.

These title deeds come at no cost to the recipients. But the impact is priceless. “These are not high-profile or high-value properties. It’s municipal homes that house many vulnerable, low-income families. They are occupied by pensioners, child-headed households, and multi-generational families,” explains Toni Anderson, Head of Home Services at Standard Bank.

Standard Bank will match every employee donation rand-for-rand to accelerate progress towards the 1,000 title deeds target.

Why Clearing the Title Deed Backlog Matters

There are an estimated 5 to 7 million municipal homes in South Africa, housing more than 20 million people. Many of these homes were never formally transferred to the families living in them, often due to lack of capacity in local municipalities or the cost of the legal process.

That’s where Khaya Lam steps in, identifying homes with potential for transfer, verifying rightful occupants, and coordinating with local attorneys to finalise the paperwork. Each transfer costs R3,750, a small amount in bureaucratic terms, but a significant hurdle for families living on the margins.

The current initiative, enabled by donations from the bank and its employees, aims to cover these costs for 1,000 families. For many recipients, this will be the first legal recognition that the home they’ve long known to be theirs, is legally recognised as such.

“When you hold your title deed, you hold more than paper, you hold the key to your family’s future,” explains Anderson. “You can pass it on, improve it, and most importantly, it becomes an asset these families can leverage when looking for funding.”

In 2018, a similar drive by Standard Bank and Khaya Lam saw 100 title deeds handed over to families in the Free State. Now, Standard Bank has invited its employees to help fund the initiative, with the company’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) unit matching their contributions rand-for-rand.

“The goal this time is to make the impact ten times bigger. Our hope is that this will spark a much larger movement, one that encourages more partners to step in and help close the massive title deed gap in our country,” adds Anderson