Helpful tips when Purchasing Property
July 23, 2023
What happens after you sign the sale agreement...
A Step-by-Step Guide
- The appointed conveyancers will attend to the transfer of the property into your name. (You can elect LAUBSCHER ATTORNEYS INCORPORATED as the appointed conveyancer if the seller has not specifically requested another conveyancer.)
- Once we have received and checked the signed sale agreement you will be sent an Initial Letter setting out the specific requirements for your transaction according to the agreement.
- You will be requested to pay the deposit and to fulfil any suspensive conditions according to the agreement, if you are applying for a bond you will do so at this stage. You will also be requested to provide us with certain information as required by FICA.
- Once your bond is approved (if applicable), all the suspensive conditions have been fulfilled and the purchase price of the property is secured the necessary transfer and bond documents will be prepared for your signature.
- You will be contacted to sign the documents and on signature you will be given a statement of account for the transfer costs, if there is a bond involved there will be a separate statement of account for the bond registration costs. You will be required to pay these costs before we can proceed any further.
- Once the costs have been paid we will proceed to obtain the necessary clearance certificates and transfer duty receipts or exemptions, the seller will also be signing documents and attending to various other formalities at this stage.
- When all the documents have been signed, all the necessary certificates have been obtained and all other formalities have been completed, the documents will be sent up to Pietermaritzburg to be lodged at the Deeds Office for registration. From the date that the purchase price of the property is secured until lodgement at the Deeds Office usually takes approximately 6 – 8 weeks.
- From lodgement to registration usually takes 10 days. On registration YOU WILL BECOME THE OWNER OF THE PROPERTY, your bond will be registered (if applicable) and any existing bonds over the property will be cancelled.
- You will be notified of the registration and issued a Final Statement of Account.
- Approximately six weeks after registration the registered title deed from the Deeds Office will be sent to us, if there is a bond we will send the title deed to the bank and if there is no bond we will send it directly to you.
More detailed look at the process
- There are usually three transactions happening at the same time – registration of transfer of the property, registration of the bond and cancellation of any existing bond over the property – and there are often three sets of attorneys, who are all referred to as Conveyancers.
- The seller appoints the transferring attorneys and instructs them to transfer the property to the purchaser. The transferring attorneys basically ‘drive’ the whole process.
- The bank appoints the bond attorneys who are instructed to register the bond.
- The cancellation attorneys, appointed by the respective bank, are instructed to cancel the seller's bond.
- Where there is a bond currently registered over the property, the bank holding the bond will send the title deed and cancellation figures to the transferring attorneys. Where there is no bond registered, the seller will provide the transferring attorneys with the title deed.
- The transferring attorneys will prepare transfer documents and will send a draft deed of transfer and the guarantee requirements to the bond attorney to prepare the bond documents.
- The transferring attorneys will contact the buyer and seller to sign the transfer documents. The buyer pays the TRANSFER COSTS and the transferring attorneys then pay the relevant costs, the rates and the transfer duty if applicable.
TRANSFER COSTS: Transfer costs need to be paid prior to lodgement. Transfer costs include transfer duty which is linked to the value of the property. In addition, transfer fees are payable to the transferring attorneys, these fees are set according to a tariff issued by the Law Society and vary depending on the price of the property.
- The bond attorneys will contact the buyer to sign the bond documents and will issue the buyer with an account in respect of the BOND REGISTRATION COSTS (see below). The bond attorneys arrange the guarantees, sends them to the transferring attorneys and prepares the bond documents for lodgement at the Deeds Office.
BOND REGISTRATION COSTS: Bond costs are set at a tariff and are variable depending on the value of the bond, there are also various fees and other related costs which are payable to the bond attorneys. (There will be charges for costs such as FICA fees, electronic instruction fees, postage and petties etc.)
- The transferring attorneys will forward guarantees to the cancellation attorneys where applicable. The cancellation attorneys will then obtain consent to cancellation from the bank which holds the seller's bond.
- Once all the documentation has been signed and the costs paid, the transfer, new bond and cancellation bond documents are sent by the respective attorneys for lodgement and registration at the Deeds Office.
