Durban – Businessman Lance Chalwin-Milton, author and entrepreneur GG Alcock, and Afrirent executive group chairman Senzo Tsabedze have created E-DEED, a high-tech solution to evaluate rural and township property.
The co-founders of the groundbreaking property evaluation system estimate that as much as R3-trillion worth of real estate has transformed the rural and township property landscape “right under the noses of financial institutions or big corporates”.
Without access to title deeds, pay slips, or even formal jobs, the co-founders estimate that 90% of South Africans have cash-built homes “one brick at a time without access to formal credit”.
Driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain, E-DEED provides a 97% accurate evaluation and an associated non–fungible token (NFT), a crypto asset that accurately reflects a property’s value.
The co-founders believe that using E-DEED will enable “unbanked” homeowners, who had little chance of accessing title deeds for their properties, to be catapulted into the formal economy, and families’ legacy investments will be recognised.
Informal sector guru GG Alcock explains that the complexity of ownership of township homes, RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) houses, and tribal land means the chance of securing title deeds remains extremely slim.
“The reality is that millions of homes will never get title deeds, especially in tribal and Ngonyama Trust areas,” said Alcock.
“Township and RDP houses have their own complexities related to historical and cultural issues.
“This is why, in the absence of a title deed, we need to find ways to help owners with no hope of title deeds to realise the value of the asset in which they have invested.”
Chalwin-Milton said putting meaningful property ownership and wealth into the hands of all South Africans has long been on his entrepreneurial radar.
“We want to make the unwealthy, wealthy,” Chalwin-Milton said.
“When we say ‘unwealthy’, that is a misnomer. These assets can be worth R1 to R2 million or more.
“This is a 100% equity asset.
“When we did our homework, we encountered an estimated 20 million homes in South Africa. Only 10% – 2 million of them – are classified as ‘shacks’.
“There are about nine million deeded homes, and the remainder are the invisible but significant structures within townships or on tribal trust land in rural areas.”
Tsabedze believes that traditional property wealth processes have been marred by inefficiencies, paperwork, and a lack of transparency.
E-DEED, which requires no more than a smartphone, will also enable the uninsured and underinsured to cover their homes at their true values, as the certificate creates insurable interest.
“We are heavily invested in driving innovation and inclusion within the property sector,” he observes.
“E-DEED opens up opportunities for homeowners in townships and rural areas, enabling greater financial inclusion and wealth creation.
“This platform provides a secure, efficient, and transparent solution, ensuring that homeowners are no longer excluded from the financial system.”
Currently, just 11,54% of South Africa’s homes are insured.
Chalwin-Milton notes that insured mansions in Umhlanga were covered during the KZN floods, while large family homes in Umlazi were destroyed.
“That is absolutely criminal,” said Chalwin-Milton.
“This is about creating value where there was no perception of value.
“Why should these families be denied the dignity of insurance when their brick and mortar is worth exactly the same as others.
“By creating the insurable interest, insurance will be available for the first time ever.”
It will certainly be a game changer for the property and insurance industries, Alcock agrees.
“I think that this will fundamentally reshape our financial sector when it comes to asset finance and how we look at housing,” Alcock said.
“The large portion of our population who have been left out have managed to do amazing things.
“There is a moral prerogative as well as a business opportunity in changing this.”
Alcock said the overall aim is not only to show institutions how they can use E-DEED to access an untapped market, but to ultimately move beyond South Africa into at least six additional African geographies by the end of next year.
