Editor LauraDue to all the confusion surrounding the RDP Houses, and how to check your RDP house status online, it has become necessary to make some information available on the subject in order to bring about some clarity. If you have properly registered for the RDP Housing scheme, and you meet all the requirements, then all you need is some patience, and to check the status of your application from time to time.
To check the status of your RDP house send an email to email [email protected]. You can also get this information by calling 0800 146 873. Alternatively, you can check the status by going to your nearest Housing Provincial office with Form C.
The scheme is completely genuine, and nearly 3 million families have already benefited so far. Therefore, there is nothing to be worried about; the pace of the work is quite good, and so it is only a matter of time before it reaches your turn to become a proud homeowner; for the RDP scheme to award you with a house of your own.
How To Check Your RDP House Status Online
You can check the status of your RDP house by
1. Send an email to email [email protected]
2. You can also get this information by calling 0800 146 873.
3. You can check the status by going to your nearest Housing Provincial office with Form C.
However, please note that successfully filling in the application form does not mean that you will be handed the keys to your new home immediately. Housing units are built ground up, and this process could take several months or years to complete. With that in mind, it may be better to have some patience of maybe 6 months to one year before starting to worry about checking the status of your housing application.
When the house is ready for occupancy, the housing department will contact you so that you can sign a happy letter; and then receive the deed and keys to your beautiful new house. Please ensure that you inform the Satellite Office of any change in your Residential and postal details, or of any change in your health status, or if there is any change in your employment status.
But in order to increase your chances of successfully getting a house through the RDP Housing Scheme, you should probably learn a thing or two about the scheme; and what it takes to get a house allocated to you.
What Is RDP Housing?
RDP Housing stands for Reconstruction and Development Programme. This programme was instituted by the father of the nation; former president Nelson Mandela in 1994. Since its inception, the RDP Housing scheme has built between two to three million houses for low-income earners. This has therefore been a successful housing program that has lived up to its billing, and all that was promised when it was instituted.
The purpose of the RDP houses is to provide homes for poor families. This program provides the homes as permanent residences for the poorest of South Africans who would otherwise be unable to afford decent accommodation. Some of the beneficiaries of these RDP houses are known to have lived in shanties, informal settlements, and homeless shelters.
The RDP houses are simple structures built by the government for low-income families. Beneficiaries of the houses are poor people in need of housing, in most cases, this would be their only chance of a good accommodation; which is why the government prefers the beneficiaries to actually live in the houses after they have been given the houses, rather than rent them out.
Who Qualifies For An RDP House?
Because the RDP Houses are classified as government property; and issued to homeless families, low-income families, and people with disabilities, there is a rather specific list of people who can qualify to receive an RDP house in South Africa. The criteria for eligibility for RDP houses are set out by the National Housing Subsidy Scheme. To qualify for one of these houses one must:
Be a South African citizen.
One must also be married or living with a partner, or single and have dependents.
Applicants should also be over 21 years old and mentally competent to sign a contract.
Applicants must not have acquired a house before.
Applicants must not have received any form of government subsidy before this.
Applicants must be earning less than R3,500 per month per household.
Can One Rent Out His RDP House?
The purpose of the RDP House is to provide succor to families who would otherwise not be able to afford decent accommodation. The government is trying to save families (including those with small children) from being vulnerable to the cold weather, and other problems that can come with not having proper and decent accommodation.
When your application is successful, the housing department hands you the keys and title deed to the house. You automatically become the owner. However, you cannot rent it out. The purpose of giving you the house is so that you and your dependents can live there. The housing department will add your name and details to the list of families that have been saved from such dire situations.
Can You Sell Your RDP House?
The government encourages only people who actually need the RDP houses to apply for them. When a person attempts to sell an RDP house it indicates that the person did not really need the house in the first place. Selling an RDP house is illegal because the purpose of the scheme is to provide very poor people with homes of their own. These beneficiaries are vulnerable individuals who cannot afford a decent shelter. If they sell the housing units then they could go back to the state of being without homes; probably living on the streets again.
Related:
Closing
The RDP housing program is for poor and vulnerable families who would be unable to get decent accommodation. To Check Your RDP House Status Online you just need to send an email to email [email protected] or to call 0800 146 873. If you are successful in applying for the RDP house, the housing department will call you to sign the happy papers and to receive the keys and deed to your house. Please note that you cannot sell or rent out the house.