Extension of Validity Period of Approval application in Johannesburg.

Validity periods exist because an approval is granted against the circumstances of the time: the spatial framework, the services capacity and the surrounding land uses that applied when it was assessed. A municipality is entitled to reconsider whether those still hold before the right is exercised years later, and the validity period is the mechanism.

What counts as implementation depends on the application type. A rezoning may be treated as exercised when the use commences or building plans are approved; a subdivision when the general plan is approved and the portions are registered. Establishing the correct trigger and the exact lapse date is the first step, because the extension must be lodged before the approval lapses, not after.

Extension is substantially cheaper and faster than re-applying, and it preserves the original approval and its conditions. A lapsed approval has no residual value at all - the property reverts to its previous rights and a fresh application starts from the beginning, including fresh public participation, against whatever policy framework then applies.

The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013 (SPLUMA) is the national framework: it requires every municipality to adopt its own land use scheme and municipal planning by-law, and it makes the municipality - not the province - the authority of first instance on land development applications.