Residential Building Plans in South Africa: A Concise Reference

This reference guide is a short introduction to building plans and the building plan process, aimed at taking some of the anxiety out of the building plan process for home owners.
This is not a guide to building design. This is a reference guide to what you should and should not do if you own a home in South Africa - as far as building plans are concerned.
The guide was inspired by many home owners asking me the same questions, because they all run into the same problems. Too often they are asking those questions too late, when the damage has been done. A common scenario would be a carport. These are often built in the front corner of a property, usually over at least two building lines and one servitude.
This manual will explore what building lines, servitude and other building restricted areas are.
The scope of a reference guide like this cannot cover the whole of the law. This guide is an entry point, a ‘where to start’ for owners who want to build, or have built and need to get their building plans in order.