Good morning friends and colleagues. Today at NOH Architects we’re talking to architects, people in similar professions, students of architecture — and really anyone interested in property or who owns property. The question that was posed to me: what is a Surveyor General diagram, and how do you get one easily online? Boring stuff if you’re not in the profession, perhaps, but very useful if you are.

What Is an SG Diagram?

A Surveyor General diagram is the diagram that officially records — in terms of what’s registered at the Deeds Office — the exact coordinates of each of your boundary pegs. People in South Africa will know we have a Deeds Office; other territories around the world have something similar.

Your title deed refers to an erf number, and that erf number is referred to on the Surveyor General diagram. The two documents work together: the title deed tells you what you own, and the SG diagram tells you precisely where its boundaries lie.

Where I Find Them Online

There are other ways to get SG diagrams, but I’m telling you how I do it. There’s a very useful South African website called WinDeed (windeed.co.za). You’ll need to create an account, and each search costs a few rand — an SG diagram costs something like nine rand. Don’t be a cheapskate; do the sign-up. It’s a great site, and they simply bill your account monthly.

WinDeed can do a whole lot more than SG diagrams, by the way — you can find out who owns a property, what they paid for it, what bond is registered over it, who the previous owners were. But let’s stick with the SG diagram.

The Steps

First, know your Deeds Office. If you’re living where I’m living, in Nelson Mandela Bay, your Deeds Office is King William’s Town. Just Google “what is my deeds office” if you’re not sure.

Second, know your township. In surveyor language, “township” doesn’t mean what many South Africans associate with apartheid-era residential areas — it’s the official name given to an area when it was first established. People call the place where you live a lot of things, but you need to know what it’s officially called. There’s a map for this, called an allotment areas map. Follow me on this step — it’s confusing, made by government people who don’t really care whether it’s confusing or not. I’m not judging them; I’m just telling you how it is. In my example, the property is in Zwide, but according to the Deeds Office the township is called Ibhayi.

Third, enter the erf number and search. In my case, Erf 51169 Ibhayi. The search cost me 13 rand — half a cup of coffee. Out comes the property information: the current owner (my client’s company, as it happens), the previous owner, what each of them paid, and any bond registered over the property.

Fourth, request the SG diagram. On the results page, under “additional searches available,” you’ll see the option for the SG diagram. Click it and request. This is one of the documents that isn’t instantaneous — there’s some physical work behind the scenes, so it takes a day or two to come through. Your request shows as pending, and you’ll get a notification when it arrives as a PDF or TIFF.

What Does an SG Diagram Look Like?

For the uninitiated: it’s a diagram of a specific site. It gives you the erf number very specifically, then all the boundary points — A, B, C and so on — with the exact coordinates for each point, plus the angles of direction between them.

Back in the old days, architects would use this to physically draw up the site. (It’s also called a cadastral diagram — I’ll make another video about how to use these when you start a project.) And you’ll see the document is signed, approved and stamped — by the land surveyor, by the Registrar of Deeds, and with the stamp of the Surveyor General himself. That’s why it’s called an SG diagram.

That’s the Tip for the Day

How to find an SG diagram without having to go down to the municipal offices, without having to drive to the Deeds Office, without getting off your chair. There are physical ways to do all of this — you can go to the municipality, you can ask a land surveyor friend — but I’m telling you the easy way. I’m telling you the way I do it.

I hope that was useful. Let me know in the comments if you have questions or want to find out about similar things.

Video link