When selling, buying and transferring property from the seller’s name to the purchaser’s name the process is dealt with by a conveyancing attorney.
All parties involved in the transfer process:
1- The Seller (The Transferor)
2- The Purchaser (The Transferee)
3- Estate Agents (Where Applicable)
4- Transferring Attorneys
5- Bond Cancellation Attorneys
6- Bond Registration Attorneys
7- The Banks
8- The Municipality
9- SARS
10 – The Deeds Office
The following are steps that will take place during the transfer process:
1. Signing the offer to purchase.
Before the transfer process commences and whenever a sale is to take place between two parties an offer to purchase and an acceptance must be made.
2. The signing of the sale agreement and bond approval.
Upon signing of the sale agreement the Purchaser is required to pay a deposit into the transferring attorney’s trust account which is held until registration is finalized. The bank will then approve the bond on behalf of the Purchaser.
3. Cancellation of the existing bond and registration of the new bond.
The existing bond cancellation under the Seller’s name and registration of the new bond on the Purchaser’s name takes place simultaneously with the registration of transfer.
Registration of the new bond is done by bond registration attorneys.
The bond cancellation attorneys have the duty to send a copy of the title deed and cancellation figures to the transferring attorneys for the Purchaser’s attorneys to issue guarantees to cancel the existing bond.
4. The signing of transfer and bond documents.
The transferring attorneys are responsible for drafting the transfer documents and for getting both the Seller and the Purchaser to sign the documents.
The bond registration attorneys are responsible for drafting the bond documents and for getting the Purchaser to sign the documents.
5. Requesting figures from the municipality.
The transferring attorneys will request figures from the municipality to make sure that all the Seller’s rates and taxes are paid and are up-to-date before a clearance certificate is provided by the municipality and lodged with the Deeds Office.
6. Payment of transfer duty.
Transfer duty is a levy or tax applied by SARS whenever you sell, buy or transfer property. Transfer duty is payable by the person acquiring the property (Purchaser), within six months of the date of acquisition.
7. Lodging of transfer documents at the Deeds Office
Once the transfer duty has been paid, the transferring attorneys are required to lodge all documents simultaneously with the new bond and old bond cancellation at Deeds Office.
8. Registration of the property.
If the Deeds Office is satisfied and has approved all documents lodged, the property then is registered in the new owner’s name. This approximately takes 8-10 working days provided there are no queries raised by the Deeds Office.
The rights of ownership of the property will then vest upon the purchaser as the new rightful owner of the property.
There is nothing more exciting – or daunting – than buying a home. It’s a passport to financial, emotional, social and family security. There are so many advantages to homeownership, but it’s a big step, so it’s worth planning carefully and helpful to understand the process.
For direct answers to your specific personal questions, please contact us directly.
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Author – Kate Bailey-Hill
