South African Age Of Majority Changed

The children’s act of 2005 (Act no 38 of 2005) determines at which age a person becomes a major and thus has the right to enter into a legal contract. Certain amendments have now been made to this Act.

In the past, a person became a major at age 21 in South Africa. Chapter 2 section 17 of the Act now states that a child, male or female, becomes a major at reaching the age of 18 years.

The impact of this change as far as the property market is concerned, is that people can now legally buy a property without their parent’s consent, at a much younger age. Since the property market and our environment changes constantly, and people are interested in property investment at a younger age these days than in the past, this is a very good move by government.

In fact, statistics show that the average age of first time buyers in South Africa, has decreased significantly over the past decade. It is clear that property investments are getting more and more attractive to the younger generations.