Conveyancing Guide for the Property Transfer Process in South Africa

Conveyancing in South Africa is the legal process by which ownership of immovable property is transferred from seller to buyer and registered at a Deeds Registration Office under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937 — and the underlying sale must be in writing and signed by both parties under the Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981. The buyer appoints a conveyancing attorney (typically recommended by the bond originator where the purchase is bond-financed) and pays the conveyancing fee, while the seller pays the estate agent’s commission and remains liable for any rates, water, and electricity clearance issues until registration. A clean transaction from signed offer to purchase to registration usually takes between six and ten weeks; bond-related transfers take longer because the new bond must be registered simultaneously with the transfer to protect both parties’ interests.

What Conveyancing Is and Why It Matters in South Africa

Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring ownership of immovable property from seller to buyer and registering that transfer at the Deeds Registration Office in the province where the property is situated. Only registered conveyancing attorneys — who are also Notaries Public — may prepare deeds for execution and lodge them for registration; non-conveyancers may not perform this work. The process gives the buyer a registered real right against the property, which is the only enforceable ownership interest in land in South Africa.

Without a registered deed of transfer, a buyer has no real right in the property — even if the sale agreement is valid and the purchase price has been paid in full. Registration at the Deeds Office creates the real right; the sale agreement itself only creates personal rights between the parties. That is why the conveyancing process is not optional: it is the legal mechanism by which ownership actually passes.

The Legal Framework Governing Property Transfer

Conveyancing in South Africa is governed by four interlocking statutes. Together they set out what must be in writing, what may be registered, who must be verified, and what tax must be paid before a deed can be lodged.

Statute	What it requires
Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981	Requires any sale of land or any interest in land to be in writing and signed by the parties or their duly authorised agents; an oral agreement to sell land is unenforceable.
Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937	Governs the registration of deeds, including transfers, bonds, and cancellations of bonds; all deeds must be examined and accepted by the Registrar of Deeds before registration.
Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA)	Requires the conveyancer to verify the identity and address of both buyer and seller before lodging the transaction, and to keep a record of the source of funds.
Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949 (as amended)	Imposes transfer duty on the buyer, calculated on a sliding scale above the statutory threshold; the transfer duty receipt must be obtained via SARS eFiling before the deed can be lodged.

The Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 sets the framework for conveyancers’ fees: conveyancing fees are charged on a guideline tariff published under the Act, and VAT is added on top.

The Conveyancing Process, Step by Step

The sequence below is the standard conveyancing process for a bond-financed transfer in South Africa. A bond-free cash sale follows the same steps with the bond-specific elements removed.

1. The parties sign a written offer to purchase / deed of sale that complies with the Alienation of Land Act.
2. The buyer applies for bond finance (where applicable); the bond is approved in principle and a bond attorney is instructed by the bank.
3. The buyer appoints a conveyancing attorney (often the bond attorney or one recommended by the bond originator) and signs a deed of execution with the conveyancer.
4. The conveyancer performs FICA verification on both buyer and seller — collecting ID documents, proof of physical address, tax numbers, and source-of-funds declarations.
5. The conveyancer drafts the deed of transfer, the bond (where applicable), and the necessary supporting documents (marriage certificate, antenuptial contract, divorce order, or deceased estate documents where relevant).
6. The seller obtains a rates, water, and electricity clearance certificate from the relevant municipality; this certificate confirms there are no arrears and has a limited validity period.
7. The buyer pays transfer duty via SARS eFiling and obtains the transfer duty receipt.
8. The conveyancer lodges the deed of transfer and supporting documents at the Deeds Registration Office; the new bond is lodged simultaneously to protect both buyer and bank.
9. The Registrar of Deeds examines the deeds; queries raised on examination are addressed by the conveyancer before the deed can proceed to registration.
10. The deed is registered in the buyer’s name; the conveyancer arranges final clearance, cancels any existing bond over the property, and hands over the new title deed to the buyer.

Who Does What: Roles in the Transfer

Conveyancing involves several parties, each with a defined function. The table below sets out who does what — and who pays whom.

Party	Role
Buyer	Appoints and pays the conveyancing attorney; pays transfer duty; provides FICA documents.
Seller	Pays the estate agent’s commission; provides FICA documents; obtains the rates clearance certificate; signs the deed of transfer.
Conveyancing attorney	Drafts and lodges the deed, performs FICA verification, attends to simultaneous registration of transfer and bond.
Bond attorney	Instructed by the bank to register the new bond; typically the same firm as the conveyancer.
Bond originator	Facilitates the bond application with the bank (where applicable); does not perform legal work.
Registrar of Deeds	Examines the deed for compliance with the Deeds Registries Act; accepts or rejects the deed; once accepted, registers the transfer and the bond.

Cost: Conveyancing Fees, Transfer Duty, and Other Charges

Conveyancing costs are not a single figure — they comprise a conveyancing fee, transfer duty, bond registration fees, FICA and administrative charges, and the costs of the clearance certificates. Each line item is paid by a different party.

Cost item	Who pays	How it is calculated
Conveyancing fees	Buyer	Set by the guideline tariff published under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014; sliding-scale percentage of the purchase price; VAT charged on top.
Transfer duty	Buyer	Paid to SARS via eFiling on a sliding scale above the current statutory threshold; lower-value properties may fall below the threshold and pay no transfer duty.
Bond registration fees	Buyer	Separately charged by the bond attorney for registering the new bond, also on the guideline-tariff scale.
FICA and administrative fees	Buyer and seller (per item)	Charged by the conveyancer for verification, drafting, and lodgement work.
Postponement / cancellation fees	Party cancelling	If the transaction is cancelled after work has commenced, the conveyancer is entitled to a portion of the fee for work already done.
Rates, water, electricity, and body corporate clearance certificates	Seller	Costs charged by the municipality or body corporate for issuing the clearance certificates.

Conveyancing fees are quoted per file after the conveyancer has reviewed the transaction, and the fee is normally confirmed in the deed of execution signed at the start of the engagement. Clients should expect an itemised quote rather than a single all-in figure.

Timeline and What Affects It

The time from signed offer to purchase to registration depends on whether the transaction is bond-financed and on how smoothly each prerequisite is delivered.

• Bond-free cash sale: typically registers within four to six weeks of the deed of sale being signed.
• Bond-financed purchase: typically registers within six to ten weeks, because the new bond and the transfer must be registered simultaneously.

The most common causes of delay are:

• Delays in obtaining the rates clearance certificate from the municipality.
• Bond approval delays at the bank.
• Deeds office examination queries.
• FICA documentation gaps.
• Delays in obtaining the transfer duty receipt from SARS.

Each of these can add one to three weeks to the file. The single biggest controllable factor is the quality of the FICA pack submitted at the start — an incomplete pack is the most common reason a clean-looking file slips.

What Can Go Wrong on Examination

Once the conveyancer lodges the deed at the Deeds Registration Office, the Registrar of Deeds examines it before registration. Examination is not a formality — it is the stage where most files pick up queries that have to be answered before registration can proceed.

• Rejected or queried deeds: the Registrar may reject or query the deed if supporting documents are inconsistent, missing, or outdated.
• Expired clearance certificate: a rates clearance certificate that has expired before lodgement must be reissued, delaying the file by at least a week.
• Incomplete FICA pack: FICA documentation that is incomplete, inconsistent with the deed’s details, or fails source-of-funds verification will halt the file.
• Uncancelled existing bond: an existing bond over the property that is not cancelled or postponed simultaneously exposes the buyer to risk; the buyer would take transfer subject to the seller’s bond unless cancellation is arranged.
• Errors in the deed: errors such as an incorrect erf number, wrong ID number, or misdescribed marital status are returned for correction and require re-execution.

Burger Huyser Attorneys fields conveyancing work through Notary and Conveyancer Amanda le Roux at the Bedfordview branch — so buyers and sellers in the East Rand, Johannesburg, and Sandton corridors have a single firm able to handle the transfer from FICA verification through to final registration.

Documents the Buyer and Seller Will Need

Most delays on a transfer file trace back to a missing or out-of-date document. The table below sets out what each party should have ready before signing the deed of execution.

Document	Buyer	Seller
ID document / passport	Yes	Yes
Proof of physical address (utility bill, bank statement)	Yes	Yes
Tax reference number	Yes	Yes
Marriage certificate and antenuptial contract (if married)	Yes	Yes
Divorce order (if divorced during the preceding three months)	Yes	Yes
SARS transfer duty receipt	Yes	—
Bond approval letter	Yes	—
Rates clearance certificate	—	Yes
Body corporate levy clearance certificate	—	Yes (if sectional title)
Existing bond account number	—	Yes (if bonded)

Filing at the Provincial Deeds Registration Office

Every property transfer in South Africa is lodged at the Deeds Registration Office in the province where the property is situated — not at the Magistrate’s Court and not at a uniform national office. Gauteng properties file at the Deeds Office in Johannesburg (for properties in the greater Johannesburg area, including Randburg, Sandton, Roodepoort, and Bedfordview) or in Pretoria (for properties in the northern Gauteng region, including Centurion, Pretoria, and Midrand).

The Registrar of Deeds examines every deed before registration, and a deed can be returned to the conveyancer for correction if any supporting document is inconsistent or missing — which is why experienced conveyancers lodge a complete pack the first time rather than relying on later supplementation. A second common point of confusion is the simultaneous-registration principle: where the buyer finances the purchase with a new bond, the transfer and the bond must be registered at the same time, because a buyer cannot safely take transfer of a property that still has the seller’s bond registered over it.

Within Gauteng, Burger Huyser Attorneys’ conveyancing intake sits at the Bedfordview branch — 45A Florence Avenue, Bedfordview, telephone 011 201 7190 — and serves the East Rand, Johannesburg, and Sandton property corridors. Related notarial services are available through Natasha van Deventer at Bedfordview and Chanté Marais at the Pretoria (Menlyn) branch for properties in the Tshwane region. The Deeds Registration offices’ published turnaround targets and any current backlogs are available directly on the Deeds Registration website and should be confirmed at the start of any transaction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does conveyancing take in South Africa?

A clean, bond-free cash sale typically registers within four to six weeks of the deed of sale being signed; a bond-financed purchase usually takes six to ten weeks because the new bond must be registered simultaneously with the transfer. The most common delays are obtaining the rates clearance certificate from the municipality, bond-approval processing at the bank, deeds office examination queries, and FICA documentation gaps — each of which can add one to three weeks to the timeline.

Who appoints the conveyancing attorney — the buyer or the seller?

The buyer appoints and pays the conveyancing attorney. In bond-financed purchases the bond attorney is usually instructed by the bank to register the new bond, and the same firm typically handles the transfer as well to enable simultaneous registration. The seller does not need to instruct the conveyancer, but remains responsible for providing FICA documents and obtaining the rates clearance certificate.

Who pays transfer duty in South Africa?

The buyer pays transfer duty, calculated on a sliding scale above the statutory threshold and paid to SARS via eFiling. Properties below the threshold pay no transfer duty. The transfer duty receipt must be obtained and lodged with the deed of transfer before the Deeds Office will accept the deed for registration, so this is a hard prerequisite — not an optional step.

What is FICA and why does the conveyancer need so many documents?

FICA is the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001, which obliges the conveyancer to verify the identity and address of both buyer and seller before lodging the transaction, and to keep a record of the source of funds. This is why the conveyancer collects ID documents, proof of physical address, tax reference numbers, and source-of-funds declarations from both parties; an incomplete FICA pack will halt the file until the missing information is supplied.

Can a buyer take transfer of a property while the seller’s old bond is still registered?

Practically, no — a buyer would take the transfer subject to the seller’s existing bond, which exposes the buyer to the bank’s claim against the property until the seller’s bond is cancelled. Standard practice is for the seller’s bond to be cancelled or postponed simultaneously with the registration of the new bond and the transfer, which is why the conveyancer, bond attorney, and Deeds Office coordinate lodgement to happen together.

What happens if the Deeds Office rejects the deed?

The Registrar of Deeds may reject or query the deed if supporting documents are inconsistent, missing, or out of date, or if the deed itself contains errors (incorrect erf number, wrong ID number, misdescribed marital status). The conveyancer is then notified, addresses the queries, and re-lodges the file; this typically adds one to three weeks to the timeline depending on the nature of the queries.

How much are conveyancing fees in South Africa?

Conveyancing fees are set by the guideline tariff published under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 and are calculated as a sliding-scale percentage of the purchase price; VAT is added on top. The conveyancer will quote on a per-file basis after reviewing the transaction and will typically confirm the fee in the deed of execution signed at the start of the engagement.

Does Burger Huyser Attorneys handle conveyancing?

Yes — the firm fields conveyancing work through Amanda le Roux, a Notary and Conveyancer based at the Bedfordview branch, with related notarial services available through Natasha van Deventer at Bedfordview and Chanté Marais at the Pretoria branch. Instructions can be opened at the Bedfordview office (45A Florence Avenue, 011 201 7190) for properties in the East Rand, Johannesburg, and Sandton corridors, or at the Pretoria Menlyn branch (012 471 5700) for properties in the Tshwane region.

Conveyancing involves a series of legal steps that have to land in the right order — FICA, transfer duty, clearance certificates, simultaneous bond and transfer registration — and small errors early on can delay registration by weeks. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ conveyancing team, led by Notary and Conveyancer Amanda le Roux at the Bedfordview branch (45A Florence Avenue, Bedfordview, 011 201 7190), handles transfers across Gauteng with related notarial services available through the Pretoria branch for Tshwane-region properties. Get in touch at the Bedfordview office to open a file; the firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews and was recognised as Commercial Law Firm of the Year 2025 by the 5 Star Lawyers Awards.