We have all heard that it usually takes months before the seller of a property receives their money. Here are the steps involved in transferring a property successfully in South Africa:
Step 1:
Once the seller has signed the Offer to Purchase, the purchaser needs to obtain a home loan. Once the bank approves the home loan, they will appoint a bond attorney to draw up the bond documents for the purchaser to sign. The purchaser will be required to pay the bond attorney’s fees.
Step 2:
The seller has the choice of appointing a transferring attorney, who will obtain the FICA (ID and proof of residence) of both parties and then apply for the seller’s bond cancellation figures. Thereafter, the bank sends the original Title Deed to the bond cancellation attorneys.
Step 3:
After the preparation by the transferring attorney, the purchaser, and seller sign the transfer documents. The transferring attorney then requests figures from the municipality to ensure that all the seller’s rates and taxes are paid up to date before lodging a clearance certificate issued by the municipality.
Step 4:
The purchaser must pay the South African Revenue Services (SARS) transfer duty, a tax levied on property transfers, and the transferring attorney’s fees. The transferring attorney will request a transfer duty receipt on SARS e-filing and make the payment of the transfer duty on behalf of the purchaser.
Step 5:
The transferring attorney lodges all the required documents, together with the new bond and the old bond cancellation, with the Deeds Office. It takes 8 to 10 working days for these to be examined and, provided there are no changes, the transaction is registered. The purchaser is now the rightful owner of the property!
Each of these steps can take a lot of time…
We understand how valuable time is to you. And that is why QuickBridge provides short-term finance against the proceeds of a property sale before the registration process is completed.
Visit QuickBridge for more information.