The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements runs its public contact through separate help desks rather than one general enquiry line. The head office switchboard is in Pietermaritzburg, but the numbers that actually resolve a subsidy, title deed or rental dispute are Durban based and are listed per programme.
Official contact channels
- Head office switchboard: 033 392 6400
- FLISP help desk (Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme): 031 336 5444, email [email protected]
- Title deeds help desk: 031 319 3800, email [email protected]
- KZN Rental Housing Tribunal: 031 372 1800, also published as 031 372 1804 and 031 372 1806, email [email protected]
- Anti-corruption hotline: 0800 701 701, email [email protected]
Two cautions on the published numbers. The department lists two facsimile numbers immediately below the head office telephone number, 033 392 6454 and 033 392 6457, and neither is a voice line. Separately, the link behind the title deeds help desk address on the department site is mis-wired and opens a message to the FLISP mailbox instead. The address shown on the page, [email protected], is the correct one for a title deed query.
Services and responsibilities
- Government housing subsidies and the provincial housing waiting lists, which are administered with local municipalities
- FLISP, the subsidy for households that can secure a home loan but need help closing the gap
- Serviced sites, advertised through notices in local newspapers calling for potential beneficiaries
- The Title Deeds Restoration Programme, including transfers where the original owner has died
- The KZN Rental Housing Tribunal, which hears landlord and tenant disputes
- Social housing, special projects and EPWP work
Office and address information
- Head office: 203 Church Street, Pietermaritzburg, 3201
- Postal: Private Bag X9157, Pietermaritzburg, 3200
- Telephone: 033 392 6400
- The department also publishes a separate contact list for chief directors, regional directors and district managers, which is the route for a district level matter rather than the head office switchboard.
Applications and escalation
To qualify for a government housing subsidy the department requires that you are a South African citizen, contractually capable, and either married, habitually cohabiting, or single with financial dependants. Household income must be under R3 500.01 per month, and you must be a first time subsidy recipient and a first time home owner. Single military veterans and single aged persons without financial dependants also qualify.
- Bring the identity documents of the applicant and spouse, birth certificates of children, and proof of income such as a salary slip.
- Apply either to the KZN Department of Human Settlements or to your local municipality. Waiting lists are locally driven, so the waiting period differs by municipality, and the department states that a house in a new area normally takes at least two years to be ready for occupation.
- FLISP has different requirements: you must be actively looking for a house and able to secure a home loan, must not have owned fixed residential property before, and must be competent to contract, meaning over 18 or legally married or legally divorced and of sound mind.
- A title deed transfer where the original owner has died needs certified copies of the death certificates of the original owner, spouse and children, identity documents, and an affidavit confirming whether the owner had children.
- A Rental Housing Tribunal complaint must be in writing on the prescribed Tribunal Complaint Form. Lodge it at the Information Office in the local authority where the dwelling is situated, or at the Tribunal offices. The complaint is deemed lodged on the date the Tribunal receives it, not the date you posted it.
- Report housing scams, fraud or corruption on 0800 701 701 or to [email protected]. The department publishes scam alerts because subsidy fraud is common.
Sources
- kzndhs.gov.za (labelled help desk numbers and mailboxes for FLISP, title deeds, the Rental Housing Tribunal and anti-fraud, plus subsidy and FLISP qualifying criteria and tribunal lodging rules)
- kzndhs.gov.za Contact Us, Head Office page (street and postal address, switchboard, facsimile numbers)