Key Aspects of Conveyancing Fee Guidelines
Conveyancing fees in South Africa are governed by a guideline tariff published by the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, which sets a sliding-scale fee calculated against the purchase price or value of the property — with a separate, higher tariff where the purchaser or seller is a juristic person (a company, close corporation, or trust) rather than a natural person. The total cost of transferring property is not the conveyancing fee alone: it is a bundle that combines the conveyancing fee, transfer duty charged by SARS on a bracket basis, the Deeds Office registration fee, value-added tax at 15% on the attorney’s fee and certain disbursements, and a set of smaller disbursements (postage, FICA verification, inter-deeds office trace, certificates, electronic file fees). Transfer duty thresholds and the LSSA tariff are revised periodically — usually with effect from a published date each year — so figures pulled from older pages, including 2025 snapshots, should be checked against the current SARS budget bracket before being relied on in a binding cost estimate.
What “Conveyancing Fees” Actually Cover
The conveyancing fee is the attorney’s professional fee for attending to the registration of transfer of ownership of immovable property in the Deeds Office. It is the charge for the legal work that runs from instruction through to registration — drafting and lodging the transfer documentation, attending to FICA and compliance requirements, liaising with the bond attorney (where there is a bond), lodging the deed, and finalising the transaction once registration has taken place.
The fee is governed by the LSSA’s published tariff guideline issued under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014. It is a guideline tariff, not a fixed statutory fee — it sets the recommended benchmark that fee agreements, professional rules, and complaints processes reference.
The fee is the same in principle for buyer-side and seller-side conveyancing in a normal transfer: each side’s own attorney charges independently against the tariff.
The LSSA Tariff Structure
The LSSA tariff is a sliding-scale fee calculated against the consideration (purchase price) or value of the property. Two separate scales apply:
- Natural persons — the lower tariff, applied where the purchaser and seller are both natural persons (individuals).
- Juristic persons — the higher tariff, applied where either the purchaser or the seller is a company, close corporation, trust, or other legal entity.
The natural-person scale typically applies per band of R100,000 (or per fraction thereof) in the lower brackets, with a percentage-based step for higher brackets. A different (often simpler) scale kicks in above certain thresholds — commonly around R5 million — at which point a percentage-based formula replaces the stepped tariff.
The tariff is revised periodically; the latest revision is published with a definite “takes effect” date and is republished across conveyancing correspondent and law firm pages. The fee is exclusive of VAT, which is added on top of the calculated fee at the prevailing rate.
Transfer Duty (Charged by SARS)
Transfer duty is a separate tax charged by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on the purchase price of the property, paid by the purchaser. It is calculated on a sliding-scale bracket basis, with the threshold for the first R of duty determined by SARS in each National Budget.
Under the 2026 rates (effective 1 April 2025, with no changes announced for 1 April 2026), transfer duty for natural persons is structured as follows:
| Value of the property (R) | Rate |
|---|---|
| 1 – 1,210,000 | 0% |
| 1,210,001 – 1,663,800 | 3% of the value above R1,210,000 |
| 1,663,801 – 2,329,300 | R13,614 + 6% of the value above R1,663,800 |
| 2,329,301 – 2,994,800 | R53,544 + 8% of the value above R2,329,300 |
| 2,994,801 – 13,310,000 | R106,784 + 11% of the value above R2,994,800 |
| 13,310,001 and above | R1,241,456 + 13% of the value exceeding R13,310,000 |
A separate, less favourable transfer-duty scale applies where the purchaser is a juristic person (entity) — entities have not benefited from the same 0% threshold lift and historically pay transfer duty from a much lower base. Transfer duty is collected via SARS’s eFiling system; the conveyancing attorney calculates and pays it on the purchaser’s behalf as part of the registration process and recovers the amount from the purchaser.
Transfer duty is not part of the conveyancing fee — it is a tax charged in addition to the attorney fee.
Deeds Office Registration Fees
Deeds Offices in South Africa charge a registration fee for the examination, lodgement, and registration of the deed of transfer. The fee is set by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, and is published in a national Fees Schedule. The fee varies modestly between deeds offices — Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and others each publish their own fee within the national framework — and is paid at lodgement and recovered from the parties as a disbursement.
The schedule effective from 1 April 2026 for transfer of immovable property is:
| Immovable Property Purchase Price (R) | Transfer Fee (R) |
|---|---|
| Does not exceed 100,000 | 50.00 |
| Exceeds 100,000 but ≤ 200,000 | 114.00 |
| Exceeds 200,000 but ≤ 300,000 | 727.00 |
| Exceeds 300,000 but ≤ 600,000 | 956.00 |
| Exceeds 600,000 but ≤ 800,000 | 1,346.00 |
| Exceeds 800,000 but ≤ 1,000,000 | 1,546.00 |
| Exceeds 1,000,000 but ≤ 2,000,000 | 1,738.00 |
| Exceeds 2,000,000 but ≤ 4,000,000 | 2,408.00 |
| Exceeds 4,000,000 but ≤ 6,000,000 | 2,922.00 |
| Exceeds 6,000,000 but ≤ 8,000,000 | 3,480.00 |
| Exceeds 8,000,000 but ≤ 10,000,000 | 4,068.00 |
| Exceeds 10,000,000 but ≤ 15,000,000 | 4,844.00 |
| Exceeds 15,000,000 but ≤ 20,000,000 | 5,818.00 |
| Exceeds 20,000,000 | 7,751.00 |
A lodgement fee of R52.00 per deed or document (excluding RDP Housing) applies separately, and other registry fees (withdrawals, certificates, certified copies, electronic copies) are charged per published schedule item.
The Deeds Office fee is a small line item relative to the conveyancing fee and transfer duty for typical residential transfers, but rises for higher-value transactions.
Common confusion to avoid: the Deeds Office fee is not the same as the conveyancing fee, and it is not the same as transfer duty. Three different charges, paid to three different parties — the conveyancing attorney, SARS, and the Deeds Office respectively.
VAT and Disbursements
VAT at 15% is added to the attorney’s professional fee and to most reimbursable disbursements. Disbursements are out-of-pocket costs the attorney pays on the client’s behalf and recovers at cost. Common examples include:
- Postage and petties
- FICA verification costs
- Inter-deeds office trace fees (where the property is registered in a deeds office other than the office where the transaction is being attended to)
- Electronic file fees charged by some deeds offices
- Rates clearance certificates and other municipal certificates
- Bond cancellation figures where a seller’s existing bond must be cancelled
Disbursements are recovered at cost, plus VAT where VAT-bearing, without mark-up. The published “conveyancing fee” on most firms’ websites almost always quotes the professional fee only — the total cost to a client is the professional fee plus VAT plus disbursements plus transfer duty.
Natural Persons vs Juristic Persons: Why the Tariff Differs
The LSSA tariff applies a separate, higher scale where either party is a juristic person (company, close corporation, trust, or other entity). The higher tariff reflects the additional compliance and procedural work typically required in entity-to-entity transfers — for example, resolution authentication, directors’ authorisations, inter-company arrangements, trust documentation, and FICA on beneficial owners.
For trusts, the trustee’s authority and the trust deed’s terms must be confirmed before lodgement; for companies, the CM46 directors’ record and board resolutions are required. The natural-person scale is the one most often quoted on conveyancing fee pages and is the appropriate benchmark for ordinary residential transfers between individuals.
How the Fee Is Quoted to the Client
A conveyancing attorney typically quotes a single bundled estimate or invoice covering:
- The professional fee (calculated against the LSSA tariff)
- VAT at 15% on the professional fee and on VAT-bearing disbursements
- Transfer duty (paid to SARS on the purchaser’s behalf)
- The Deeds Office registration fee
- Estimated disbursements (postage, FICA, certificates, inter-deeds office trace)
The professional-fee component is the only part of the bundle that follows the LSSA tariff; transfer duty, the Deeds Office fee, and disbursements are pass-through items. Estimates can change between quote and registration because transfer-duty brackets depend on the actual purchase price, disbursements depend on external charges (e.g., municipal certificate costs), and bond figures and cancellation penalties can shift between quote and registration. A quote is therefore an estimate until the transaction is registered; the final invoice reconciles to actual amounts paid.
When asking for a conveyancing quote, request a bundled total rather than a tariff-only line — a fee quote that excludes transfer duty, VAT, and disbursements is materially incomplete. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ conveyancing practice issues bundled quotes after the transaction details have been confirmed, so the figure reflects the actual deeds office, the parties involved, and the disbursements the transaction is expected to attract.
Are Conveyancing Fees Negotiable?
The LSSA guideline is a tariff guideline, not a fixed fee — it is the recommended fee schedule. In practice, attorneys may depart from the guideline: most commonly by discounting in slower market conditions, for repeat-instructing clients, or where the transaction is straightforward. Charging above the guideline is less common but permissible in defined circumstances.
Fee agreements must comply with the rules under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 and its regulations, including the requirement for written fee agreements and the disclosure rules that govern how the fee is presented to the client. A buyer is entitled to ask whether the fee follows the LSSA guideline, whether any discount applies, and what the disbursement estimate excludes.
What the Conveyancing Attorney Actually Does (Service Scope)
The conveyancing attorney carries out the full transfer process from instruction through to registration. The work includes:
- Confirming the FICA status of the parties and the source of funds
- Preparing and lodging the transfer documentation with the Deeds Office
- Liaising with the bond attorney (where there is a bond) and ensuring simultaneous registration of bond and transfer
- Paying transfer duty on the purchaser’s behalf to SARS via eFiling
- Attending to rates clearance and municipal compliance certificates
- Confirming the seller’s title, any inter-deeds office trace, and the cancellation of the seller’s existing bond
- Registering the transfer, releasing the original deed to the purchaser (or to the bondholder where there is a bond), and finalising the transaction
Comparison: Where Each Cost Goes
| Cost Component | Paid to | Basis | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conveyancing fee (attorney’s professional fee) | The conveyancing attorney | LSSA sliding-scale tariff (separate natural-person and juristic-person scales), plus 15% VAT | All transfers |
| Transfer duty | SARS (paid by the attorney on the purchaser’s behalf) | SARS sliding-scale bracket, recalibrated each Budget; purchaser entity vs individual | All transfers |
| Deeds Office registration fee | The Deeds Office (national schedule) | Per published fees schedule (set under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937) | All transfers |
| Disbursements (postage, FICA, certificates, inter-deeds office trace) | Various, recovered at cost | Pass-through, plus VAT where applicable | All transfers |
Conveyancing Fee Guidelines in Gauteng
The LSSA tariff that governs conveyancing fees in South Africa is a national tariff, and the transfer-duty brackets that SARS applies are set nationally in each annual Budget, so the substantive conveyancing-cost framework is the same for a transfer in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, or Durban. Where the costs diverge by region is at the Deeds Office: the Johannesburg Deeds Office and the Pretoria Deeds Office each publish their own fees schedule within the national framework, and transfers lodged at one office pay the fees of that office. A buyer whose property is registered in Johannesburg but whose bond is registered in Pretoria will see an inter-deeds office trace disbursement added on top of the standard fees — an item that is easy to miss on a tariff-only fee page.
Burger Huyser Attorneys attends to transfers through its Notarial & Conveyancing services practice. Amanda le Roux (Notary & Conveyancer) is based at the Bedfordview branch (45A Florence Avenue, Bedfordview, 2008 — 011 201 7190), and Chanté Marais (Notary) is based at the Pretoria branch (Unit 4, Block 5, Glen Manor Office Park, 138 Frikkie De Beer Street, Menlyn, Pretoria, 0063 — 012 471 5700). The firm’s conveyancing work covers transfers across Gauteng — including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Centurion, Midrand, the East Rand, and the West Rand — and the right branch for a specific instruction depends on which deeds office the property is registered at and which party the attorney is acting for. For the current tariff figures, the Deeds Office Fees Schedule at deeds.gov.za and the SARS transfer-duty rates at sars.gov.za are the controlling public references, and any binding cost estimate should be requested from the firm after the property details have been confirmed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are conveyancing fees in South Africa based on?
Conveyancing fees are based on the LSSA guideline tariff, which is a sliding-scale fee calculated against the purchase price or value of the property. There are two scales: one for natural persons (individuals) and a higher one for juristic persons (companies, close corporations, trusts, and other entities). VAT at 15% is added on top of the fee.
Are conveyancing fees regulated by law?
The fee is governed by a guideline tariff published by the LSSA under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014. The tariff is a recommended fee schedule — it is not a fixed statutory fee — but it is the benchmark that fee agreements, professional rules, and complaints processes reference.
Is transfer duty the same as conveyancing fees?
No. Transfer duty is a separate tax charged by SARS on the purchase price of the property and paid by the purchaser. Conveyancing fees are the attorney’s professional fee under the LSSA tariff. They are bundled into one estimate for the client’s convenience, but they go to two different parties (SARS and the conveyancing attorney).
How do I know which tariff scale applies to my transfer?
The natural-person scale applies where both the purchaser and the seller are natural persons (individuals). The juristic-person scale applies where either side is a company, close corporation, trust, or other entity. The attorney will confirm the applicable scale from the parties’ identity and the entity documentation at the start of the transaction.
Are conveyancing fees negotiable?
The LSSA tariff is a guideline, and attorneys may depart from it (most commonly by discounting in slower markets or for repeat-instructing clients). Fee agreements must comply with the Legal Practice Act’s rules around written fee agreements and disclosure.
What is the difference between the LSSA conveyancing tariff and a fee-only quote?
A fee-only quote typically refers to the LSSA professional fee on its own. The total cost to a client is the professional fee plus 15% VAT, plus transfer duty (SARS), plus the Deeds Office registration fee, plus estimated disbursements (postage, FICA, certificates, inter-deeds office trace). A bundle estimate covers all of these; a fee-only quote does not.
Does Burger Huyser Attorneys handle conveyancing?
Yes. The firm fields conveyancing through its Notarial & Conveyancing services practice, with Amanda le Roux (Notary & Conveyancer) based at the Bedfordview branch and Chanté Marais (Notary) based at the Pretoria branch. Quotes are issued after the property and transaction details are confirmed.
General Information Disclaimer: This article is general information about how conveyancing fees are structured in South Africa and is not legal advice for a specific transfer. Conveyancing fees, transfer duty thresholds, and Deeds Office fees are revised periodically — the LSSA publishes the current conveyancing tariff, SARS publishes the current transfer-duty brackets in each National Budget, and the Deeds Office publishes the current registration-fee schedule. Any binding cost estimate should be requested from the conveyancing attorney after the transaction details are confirmed, and any party to a transfer should consult a qualified attorney and, where relevant, a tax adviser about the costs and implications applicable to their own transaction.
Conveyancing fees follow a published guideline tariff, but the final cost depends on the transaction — purchase price, transfer-duty bracket, deeds office, and the disbursements the transaction actually attracts. For a worked quote, contact Burger Huyser Attorneys’ conveyancing practice via the Bedfordview branch (Amanda le Roux, Notary and Conveyancer, 45A Florence Avenue, Bedfordview, 011 201 7190) or the Pretoria branch (Chanté Marais, Notary, Unit 4, Block 5, Glen Manor Office Park, 138 Frikkie De Beer Street, Menlyn, 012 471 5700). The firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”) and attends to transfers across Gauteng through its Notarial & Conveyancing services practice.
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