How Much Do Solicitors Charge for Conveyancing In South Africa?

Conveyancing fees in South Africa are charged under the recommended tariff guideline published by the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA), as a stepped sliding scale against the purchase price or the bond amount — not a flat fee. One transfer produces a stack of separate charges: the transferring-attorney fee, the bond-attorney fee where a mortgage is registered, transfer duty payable to SARS, Deeds Registry fees, and clearance and compliance costs. Only the attorney components are professional fees genuinely open to discussion; the rest are fixed by statute or regulation. On most residential transactions the attorney component is a small single-digit percentage of the price, falling proportionally as value rises — and at or below R1 210 000, transfer duty is nil.

Note the terminology: South Africa does not use the title “solicitor.” A transfer here is handled by a conveyancer, an attorney who has passed the conveyancing examination and is separately enrolled as such with the Legal Practice Council. Under section 15 of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, no deed of transfer or mortgage bond may be registered unless it was prepared by a conveyancer.

What “Conveyancing Fees” Actually Covers

Most disputes over a conveyancing invoice start with treating the whole figure as the attorney’s fee. Most of it is not.

• Transferring attorney — drafts the deed of transfer, obtains clearance certificates, pays over transfer duty, lodges the transfer.
• Bond attorney — registers the buyer’s mortgage bond, instructed by the bank granting the loan.
• Deeds Registry fees of office — prescribed by the Minister by regulation under section 10(1)(b) of the Deeds Registries Act, and gazetted a month before taking effect. Neither you nor your attorney can influence them.
• Transfer duty — a SARS tax on acquisition above the threshold; the largest single item above it.
• Clearance and compliance certificates — rates clearance, electrical compliance, plumbing or gas where required, sectional-title levy clearance.
• Disbursements — deeds searches, courier and postage, FICA verification.

The LSSA Tariff: How Conveyancers Calculate the Fee

The guideline works in value bands. Each carries a base amount plus a further amount for every additional R100 000 (or part thereof) above that band’s floor, so the effective percentage falls as value climbs: a R1 million transfer costs more as a percentage of price than a R10 million one. For a bond registration, the same scale is applied to the bond amount.

So insist on a written quote split between professional fee, VAT, statutory charges, and disbursements — a lump sum hides which portion moves. Burger Huyser Attorneys quotes conveyancing files this way through its Notarial & Conveyancing services practice area.

Transfer Duty vs Conveyancing Fees: The Most Common Source of Confusion

Transfer duty is a tax on acquisition, payable by the acquirer and due within six months of the date of acquisition. The transferring attorney calculates it, collects it, and pays it to SARS before lodgement; no attorney can reduce it. These rates took effect on 1 April 2025 and continue unchanged for the 2027 tax year:

Value of the property	Transfer duty payable
R1 – R1 210 000	0%
R1 210 001 – R1 663 800	3% above R1 210 000
R1 663 801 – R2 329 300	R13 614 + 6% above R1 663 800
R2 329 301 – R2 994 800	R53 544 + 8% above R2 329 300
R2 994 801 – R13 310 000	R106 784 + 11% above R2 994 800
R13 310 001 and above	R1 241 456 + 13% above R13 310 000

A R1 000 000 purchase therefore attracts no transfer duty at all — worth stressing, because much commentary still quotes the superseded R1 000 000 and R1 100 000 thresholds. Attorney fees carry VAT at 15%, shown separately; transfer duty, registry fees, and municipal clearance figures do not.

The Two-Attorney Setup: Why One Property Transfer Involves Two Conveyancers

A bonded purchase needs two conveyancers because there are two registrations: the deed of transfer, handled by the transferring attorney usually appointed by the seller in the offer to purchase, and the mortgage bond, handled by the bond attorney instructed by the buyer’s bank. Each is separately prepared and examined, so each carries its own tariff fee and fee of office.

They cannot be collapsed into one file. Under section 13(1) of the Deeds Registries Act, registration occurs when the registrar affixes a signature, and where a deed forms part of a batch of interdependent deeds intended for registration together, none is registered until every deed is signed. Transfer, new bond, and cancellation of the seller’s existing bond are interdependent in exactly this way — they register simultaneously or not at all. Hence the files must be prepared in lockstep, and the work genuinely is duplicated rather than padded. Where the seller has a bond to cancel, a third attorney appointed by the seller’s bank joins the stack.

Who Pays What in a Typical Transaction

Allocation is contractual, set by the offer to purchase and negotiable before signature; Burger Huyser Attorneys publishes a separate guide on it. What matters for budgeting is the part statute makes non-negotiable, because registration depends on it:

1. Municipal rates clearance. Under section 118(1) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, a registrar may not register a transfer without a prescribed municipal certificate confirming that all amounts due for municipal service fees, surcharges, property rates and other municipal taxes, levies and duties during the two years preceding the date of application have been paid. Section 118(1A) makes it valid for only 60 days, so a stalled file needs a fresh application and a fresh figure.
2. Electrical certificate of compliance. Regulation 7(5) of the Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009 (GN R.242, Government Gazette 31975 of 6 March 2009, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993) provides that the user or lessor may not allow a change of ownership if the certificate is older than two years. Regulation 7(4) requires one covering any later addition or alteration.
3. Sectional-title levy clearance. Under section 15B(3)(a)(i)(aa) of the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986, the registrar may not register transfer of a unit unless a conveyancer certifies that the body corporate has confirmed all moneys due by the transferor are paid.

Typical Cost Stack at a Glance (Illustrative — Not a Quote)

Component	Usually paid by	Charging basis	Negotiable?
Transferring-attorney fee	Seller	LSSA guideline on price	Yes
Bond-attorney fee	Buyer	LSSA guideline on bond amount	Limited — bank panel
Bond-cancellation fee	Seller	LSSA guideline	Limited — bank-appointed
Transfer duty	Buyer	SARS scale above R1 210 000	No — statutory
Fees of office	Seller / Buyer	Prescribed, banded by value	No — regulated
Rates clearance (s 118)	Seller	Municipal figure; valid 60 days	No — statutory
Compliance certificates	Seller	Per accredited contractor	No — statutory
Levy clearance	Seller	Body-corporate figure	No — statutory

Cost Drivers: What Pushes the Fee Up or Down

• Property value — a higher price means a higher fee in Rand, a lower effective percentage.
• Bond amount versus price — a larger deposit shrinks the bond-attorney fee and the bond fee of office.
• File complexity — sectional title, undivided shares, deceased estates, agricultural land, and transfers needing consent or subdivision all add work.
• An existing bond to cancel — adds a cancellation attorney and a registry cancellation fee.
• Delay — the most avoidable driver. A rates clearance lapsing at 60 days, a compliance certificate ageing past two years, or one outstanding FICA document holding an interdependent batch converts straight into re-application costs.
• Distance from the relevant registry — a correspondent arrangement may add a modest fee.

Where the Gauteng Deeds Registries Fit

Every property is lodged at the registry serving the area where it is situated, and registries and their areas are established by the Minister by notice in the Gazette under section 1(1)(a) of the Deeds Registries Act. Government Notice 5416 in Government Gazette 51369 of 10 October 2024 renamed them: the former “Deeds registry: Pretoria” is now the North Gauteng Deeds Registry, seated at Pretoria, and the former “Deeds registry: Johannesburg” is now the South Gauteng Deeds Registry, seated at Johannesburg. Gauteng has these two and no others, and prescribed fees of office are identical at both — so the registry your file goes to affects turnaround, not price. The costlier confusion is a different one: clearance figures come from the municipality, transfer duty from SARS, and only registration from the registry.

Burger Huyser Attorneys acts on transfers, bond registrations, and cancellations for properties served by both Gauteng registries, with a qualified Notary and Conveyancer, Amanda le Roux, based at the Bedfordview branch.

Timeline, and Where Conveyancing Fees Sit in the Process

A straightforward residential transfer typically takes six to ten weeks from instruction to registration; sectional-title, deceased-estate, and subdivision files run longer. Fees are ordinarily invoiced in two stages — an initial amount on instruction, held in the attorney’s trust account and applied to disbursements such as deeds searches, clearance applications, and transfer duty, then the balance of the professional fee on registration. Because registration is the moment the registrar signs, the final invoice cannot fall due earlier. If the transaction is cancelled beforehand, the conveyancer is entitled to a fee for work actually done and the trust balance is reconciled against it — which is why honesty about costs is the theme clients raise most often in the firm’s 250+ Google reviews.

If you are buying or selling property in Gauteng and need a conveyancer for the transfer, the bond registration, or the cancellation of an existing bond, contact Burger Huyser Attorneys on 011 888 0246 (head office, 49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 2194) or the Bedfordview branch on 011 201 7190 (45A Florence Avenue, Bedfordview, Johannesburg, 2008), where the firm’s Notary and Conveyancer, Amanda le Roux, is based. Offices are open Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:30pm, and instructions can also be taken at Sandton, Centurion, Pretoria (Menlyn), Roodepoort, Alberton, or Midrand. An initial consultation sets out the full cost stack against the current tariff guideline and the SARS transfer-duty schedule before a file is opened. The firm holds a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews and is Trustindex verified as a “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa.”

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the LSSA tariff and why does it control conveyancing fees?

It is the recommended conveyancing fee guideline published by the Law Society of South Africa, and the benchmark practitioners quote to on the attorney component. It applies a stepped sliding scale to the purchase price, or the bond amount for bonds, with the effective percentage falling as value rises. It is a guideline, not a statutory cap: section 35(1) of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 is not yet in operation, and section 35(3) allows fees to be agreed in writing above or below any tariff.

Do I pay transfer duty on every property I buy?

No. There is no transfer duty on the first R1 210 000 of the value of the property. Above that: 3% above R1 210 000, R13 614 plus 6% above R1 663 800, R53 544 plus 8% above R2 329 300, R106 784 plus 11% above R2 994 800, and R1 241 456 plus 13% above R13 310 000. These rates took effect on 1 April 2025 and are unchanged for the 2027 tax year. Duty is due within six months of the date of acquisition.

Why does one property purchase involve two conveyancing attorneys?

Because a bonded purchase requires two registrations: the deed of transfer, handled by the transferring attorney usually appointed by the seller, and the mortgage bond, handled by the bond attorney instructed by the buyer’s bank. Each carries its own tariff fee and fee of office. Section 13(1) of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937 makes interdependent deeds register simultaneously, so both files must be prepared in lockstep. An all-cash purchase of an unbonded property involves only the transferring attorney.

Who pays the conveyancing fees — the buyer or the seller?

The allocation is contractual, set by the offer to purchase, and negotiable before signature. The conventional Gauteng default is that the seller pays the transferring-attorney fee, the transfer fee of office, rates clearance, and the compliance certificates, while the buyer pays transfer duty, the bond-attorney fee, and the bond fee of office. The statutory certificates must be obtained regardless of who agrees to pay, because the registrar may not register the transfer without them.

Can I choose my own conveyancing attorney, or does the bank decide?

For the transferring attorney the appointment is usually made in the offer to purchase and is most often the seller’s choice, so raise it before signing. For the bond attorney the bank instructs an attorney from its own panel, because the bond secures the bank’s loan rather than the buyer’s purchase; a buyer may ask the bank to instruct a nominated attorney, but the bank is not obliged to agree. Burger Huyser Attorneys acts as conveyancer through its qualified Notary and Conveyancer.

Are conveyancing fees negotiable?

The professional-fee component is, in principle. The LSSA guideline is a recommended benchmark rather than a statutory maximum, because section 35(1) of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 is not yet in operation and section 35(3) allows fees to be agreed in writing above or below any tariff. The rest of the stack is fixed: transfer duty is set by SARS, fees of office are prescribed by regulation under section 10(1)(b) of the Deeds Registries Act, and clearance and compliance costs are set by third parties.

How long does a transfer take, and when do I pay?

A straightforward residential transfer typically takes six to ten weeks from instruction to registration, with sectional-title, deceased-estate, and subdivision files taking longer. Fees are billed in two stages: an initial amount on instruction, held in trust and applied to disbursements, then the balance on registration — which under section 13(1) of the Deeds Registries Act occurs when the registrar signs. If the transaction is cancelled beforehand, the conveyancer is entitled to a fee for work actually done.