GRAHAM NORRIS

Property Editor

HECTARES of valuable land in Upper Constantia have been virtually abandoned and overgrown with invasive aliens like black wattle because archaic title deed restrictions prevent their owners from subdividing and selling off part of their properties.

The massive size of the plots makes them very difficult to maintain and presents a security risk, say property owners.

Two owners in Hohenort Avenue described the frustrations of dealing with local authorities who refused to allow them to subdivide after three years of applications and appeals.

Michael Doyle, who has lived in the area since 1961, said the original title deed restrictions of the Hohenort Farm, subdivided about 50 years ago, stipulated a minimum plot size of one morgen - about 9000m2, then the minimum agricultural plot size.

This was still being enforced in Upper Constantia, although slightly further down the valley the minimum plot size was 4000m2.

Doyle's property is 9000m2 and he wants to subdivide the lower section - 4000m2 - which he says has a market value of R2.5 million.

Margit Hofer owns a 1.3ha property nearby and she also want to sell the lower portion of the land, about 6000m2, which is overgrown.

Both approached the local council, now part of the South Peninsula Administration, in September 2000 with their subdivision applications.

When the applications were turned down in August last year, they appealed to the provincial government, again without success.

Doyle said the council officials he had spoken to had refused to even have a look at the property. "They just look at maps and say they can't make ad hoc changes to the zoning scheme, which place my property in the zone with a minimum size of 8000m2," he said.

But he pointed out that there were anomalies in the town planning system.

The developers of High Constantia, near the entrance to Groot Constantia, for instance, were allowed to sell 1000m2 plots in an area zoned for 4 000m2 plots.

Doyle said another reason given for refusing his subdivision was the property's proximity to Kirstenbosch, although he said he was more than 2km from the top gate of the botanical garden.

Hofer said the costs of maintaining a large property in Constantia were becoming prohibitive.

"My municipal rates have more than trebled since June 2002, from R800 a month to R2 964 a month," said Hofer. "I feel so helpless, so left behind, I don't know which way to turn. "When I speak to estate agents about selling the property, they say 'forget it - nobody wants to buy such a big place, especially when they can't subdivide it'."

Doyle added that security in Upper Constantia was becoming a major concern.

A Belgian couple who owned a house near the top of Hohenort Avenue left the country after a break-in, he said. "This is a major problem. How do you secure a property as large as this?" Doyle, who is a property valuer by profession, said the importance of security could be seen in the value of land in gated villages like Steenberg Golf Estate, where an 800m2 plot could cost up to R2.5m, making it the most expensive land in Constantia.