Conveyors Meaning | What is the Role of Conveyancing in Property?

Conveyancing in South Africa is the legal process by which ownership of immovable property is transferred from a seller to a buyer, and the work is performed by a Notary/Conveyancer — a specially qualified attorney admitted by the Master of the High Court to prepare and lodge transfer deeds, mortgage bonds, and other real-rights documents at one of the country’s Deeds Offices. The role spans everything from drafting the offer-to-purchase compliance under the Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981 and conducting a title deed search, through preparing the transfer duty declaration (the SARS “IT(fig)(b)” process under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949), to lodging the deed for registration and effecting simultaneous bond cancellation or registration. A typical transfer takes six to ten weeks from the date the offer to purchase becomes unconditional, with most delays caused by municipal rates clearances, bond cancellation figures, or Deeds Office queries rather than by the conveyancing work itself.

What Conveyancing Means in South African Law

Conveyancing is the legal process that gives effect to the transfer of ownership of immovable property — it culminates in the registration of a new deed in the buyer’s name at a Deeds Office, which under the Constitution and the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937 is the only event that actually passes ownership. Until that deed is registered, the seller remains the registered owner, the transaction is “pending,” and the buyer’s protection is contractual rather than proprietary.

The term “conveyancer” in South Africa refers specifically to a Notary/Conveyancer — an attorney who has undergone additional notarial practice training and been admitted by the Master of the High Court to practise as a conveyancer. The UK “Licensed Conveyancer” concept does not apply in South Africa and the two roles should not be confused. The field is governed by the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, the Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981, the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986 (which covers sectional-title and residential estate schemes), and the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949 (which governs transfer duty computation and declaration).

Why a Conveyancer Is Required (Not Optional)

Only a Notary/Conveyancer registered with the Master of the High Court may prepare and lodge deeds for registration at a Deeds Office; a deeds registry will reject any deed that has not been drawn and signed by a registered conveyancer. The requirement exists because the State guarantees the contents of the registered deed — the conveyancer’s signature on the deed is what links the registered document back to the real transaction parties and binds third parties.

Estate agents, financial advisors, and ordinary attorneys may all be involved in a property transaction but none of them may sign deeds. Once an offer to purchase becomes unconditional, the buyer typically appoints the conveyancer (the “transferring attorney”) and the seller appoints a separate cancellation attorney — often, but not always, the same firm — for the bond cancellation work.

Burger Huyser Attorneys lists Notarial & Conveyancing services as a formal practice area, with a Notary & Conveyancer (Amanda le Roux) on staff at the Bedfordview branch, so the firm meets the requirement in-house rather than outsourcing the conveyancing desk.

The Conveyancer’s Role, Step by Step

1. Receive instruction. The transferring attorney (acting for the seller or the buyer, depending on appointment) opens the file once the offer is signed and the bond attorney confirms the buyer’s finance.
2. Pull the underlying documents. The conveyancer requests the existing title deed from the Deeds Office, the rates clearance figures from the municipality, the body corporate levy clearance (for sectional title), the existing bond cancellation figures from the seller’s bank, and the purchase price and bond amount disclosures.
3. Compute and pay transfer duty. The conveyancer drafts the transfer duty declaration using the SARS eFiling “Transfer Duty” form, calculates the duty payable under the current schedule, and obtains SARS’s transfer duty receipt — the IT(fig)(b) compliance step.
4. Prepare the transfer deed. The Deed of Transfer is drafted in compliance with the Deeds Registries Act‘s formatting rules on margins, numbering, annexures, and identity verification.
5. Prepare or accept bond documents. Where the buyer is registering a new mortgage bond, the bond documents are drafted or accepted and held for simultaneous lodgement.
6. Coordinate simultaneous lodgement. The transfer, the cancellation of the seller’s existing bond, and the registration of the buyer’s new bond are lodged together so the seller’s payout and the buyer’s registration happen on the same day.
7. Receive the registered deeds, verify, and close the file. Once the Deeds Office returns the registered deeds, the conveyancer confirms registration, hands the original title deed to the new owner (or to the bondholder’s attorney where there is a bond), settles the transaction account, and closes the file.

The Documents the Conveyancer Produces and Files

Document	Function
Deed of Transfer	The document that conveys ownership from seller to buyer.
Mortgage Bond	Secures the buyer’s loan against the property where the bank finances the purchase.
Cancellation of Bond	Releases the seller’s existing mortgage from the title.
Transfer Duty Receipt	SARS’s confirmation that transfer duty has been paid (or that none is payable).
Rates Clearance Certificate	The municipality’s confirmation that rates, water, sewer, refuse, and other municipal charges have been paid up to the clearance date.
Body Corporate / HOA Levy Clearance	Confirmation from the body corporate or homeowners’ association that all levies and special contributions have been paid up to the clearance date (for sectional-title or estate schemes).

The Deeds Offices and Where Documents Are Lodged

South Africa has multiple deeds registries, each with a defined territorial reach:

Deeds Office	Territorial Reach
Johannesburg	Gauteng (City of Johannesburg, City of Ekurhuleni, City of Tshwane south-of-the-Vaal portions as the rules determine).
Pretoria	Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, and Gauteng north of the Vaal (including much of Tshwane / northern Pretoria).
Cape Town	Western Cape and portions of the Northern Cape.
Pietermaritzburg	KwaZulu-Natal.
Bloemfontein	Free State.
King William’s Town	Eastern Cape.

For most Gauteng property transactions the relevant office is the Johannesburg Deeds Office in Marshalltown — except for properties in the northern parts of the province (the northern Pretoria / Tshwane belt and north of the Vaal), which fall under the Pretoria Deeds Office. Lodgement operates on a “first come, first lodged, first examined” basis: deeds are delivered to the registry in order, and registration depends on a successful examine-and-pass review by the deeds examiner. Month-end and quarter-end lodgement peaks tend to compound delays.

How Long Conveyancing Takes

A clean metropolitan transfer typically takes six to ten weeks from the date the offer to purchase becomes unconditional, with the time split roughly as follows:

Stage	Indicative Duration
Bond approval and instructions	3–4 weeks
Deeds Office lodgement preparation (rates, duty, deed drafting)	2–3 weeks
Deeds Office examination and registration	2–3 weeks
Sectional title / estate scheme (additional)	1–2 weeks for levy and HOA clearance

The most common delay causes are outstanding municipal rates clearance, late bond cancellation figures from the seller’s bank, SARS transfer duty queries or pay-in delays, Deeds Office queries on the deed itself (endorsements, missing annexures, ID verification), and last-minute changes to the parties’ personal circumstances (marriage, divorce, death). Sectional-title transfers and transfers inside homeowners’ associations or estate schemes typically add another one to two weeks for levy clearance and HOA consent.

What Conveyancing Costs

Conveyancing fees are a meaningful line item for both the buyer and the seller, and although the historical statutory tariff has been deregulated, the fee is set per file rather than freely negotiated on a percentage-of-purchase-price basis. The cost breakdown is split between who appoints whom:

Cost Item	Paid By	Notes
Transferring-attorney fees	Seller (most commonly)	Firm handling the transfer work for the seller.
Bond cancellation attorney fees	Seller	Cancellation of the seller’s existing mortgage.
Bond registration attorney fees	Buyer	Bond attorney is usually appointed by the buyer’s bank.
Transfer duty	Buyer	Sliding scale under the Transfer Duty Act; exempt below the threshold.
Rates and levy clearance fees	Both	Municipal and body corporate / HOA charges to issue clearances.
FICA / FIC verification	Both	Identity and source-of-funds verification under the FIC Act.
Postage and petties (Deeds Office fees, deeds office lodgement fees)	Both	Deeds Office registration costs.

Exact figures are quoted per file after a review of the property description, the parties’ identity documents, the bond amount, and the transaction structure. Buyers should request a detailed quotation from the transferring attorney before signing the offer.

Risks When Conveyancing Goes Wrong and How a Conveyancer Mitigates Them

Most conveyancing failures are procedural rather than substantive, and a competent Notary/Conveyancer is expected to anticipate and manage them. The most common ones are:

• Failure to lodge simultaneously. If transfer and bond cancellation are lodged separately, the seller’s bond may not be cancelled while the buyer’s money has already been paid. Simultaneous lodgement practice is the standard fix.
• Misdescribed property. Transferring the wrong erf or the wrong sectional-title unit is mitigated by a careful read of the title deed at instruction stage, not at lodgement.
• Failure to obtain FIC clearance. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act requires the conveyancer to verify the identity of all parties and the source of funds; an unverified transaction will be rejected at lodgement or, worse, trigger a FIC reporting obligation.
• Tax exposure not flagged. The conveyancer should flag transfer duty exposure to the parties and to SARS; errors here expose the parties to transfer duty penalties and interest.
• Municipal debt assumed unknowingly. The rates clearance certificate protects the buyer against being pursued for arrears that accrued before the transfer date; without it, the buyer takes on historic municipal risk.

Conveyancing in Gauteng: Filing at the Johannesburg and Pretoria Deeds Offices

For Gauteng transactions the choice of Deeds Office depends on the property’s location rather than the office the firm operates from. Properties within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and the City of Ekurhuleni are typically lodged at the Johannesburg Deeds Office in Marshalltown, while properties in the northern parts of Gauteng and the Tshwane metropolitan area — including Pretoria, Centurion, and the surrounding belts — often fall under the Pretoria Deeds Office, along the same north-of-the-Vaal line that defines those two registries’ territorial reach. Both offices operate a first-lodged, first-examined queue, so the order in which deeds are delivered to the registry determines the order of examination, and the practical implication is that delays compound around month-end and quarter-end lodgement peaks.

Searchers should also be careful not to confuse the Deeds Office with the Magistrate’s Court or the Master of the High Court’s office — those venues handle other matters (criminal, civil, and deceased estates) and are not where property transfers register. Within Burger Huyser Attorneys, conveyancing work is run from the Bedfordview branch, with Amanda le Roux (a Notary & Conveyancer admitted by the Master of the High Court) handling residential and sectional-title transfers across Gauteng, and the firm is able to coordinate the lodgement with its Centurion and Randburg branches where the property’s location requires registration at a specific registry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a conveyancer actually do in a property transaction?

A South African conveyancer (Notary/Conveyancer) takes instructions from the parties’ attorneys, drafts and prepares the transfer deed and any bond or cancellation documents, obtains the rates clearance and transfer duty receipt, and lodges the deed for registration at a Deeds Office so that ownership passes into the buyer’s name. The role starts once the offer to purchase becomes unconditional and ends when the new title deed is registered and handed over.

Do I need a conveyancer to buy a house in South Africa?

Yes — only a Notary/Conveyancer may prepare and lodge the transfer deed and any bond at the Deeds Office, and the deeds registry will not register a deed that has not been drawn and signed by a registered conveyancer. In practice, the buyer appoints the conveyancer (often the same firm acts for both sides, with separate attorneys for seller and buyer to avoid conflicts), and the seller’s cancellation attorney handles the bond cancellation in parallel.

How long does conveyancing take?

A clean metropolitan transfer typically takes six to ten weeks from the date the offer to purchase becomes unconditional. Delays are most often caused by outstanding municipal rates clearance, late bond cancellation figures from the seller’s bank, SARS transfer duty queries, or Deeds Office queries on the deed itself; estate and sectional-title schemes usually add another one to two weeks for levy and HOA clearance.

What is the difference between a conveyancer and a transfer attorney?

In South Africa the words are often used interchangeably, but “conveyancer” technically refers to the Notary/Conveyancer (an attorney admitted by the Master of the High Court to prepare and lodge deeds), while “transferring attorney” usually refers to the firm handling the transfer work for the buyer or seller. Both roles are performed by the same person in practice — the conveyancer at the firm who actually signs the deed.

How much do conveyancing fees cost?

Conveyancing fees are charged to the seller (transferring-attorney fees) and the buyer (bond registration fees and, if separate, the buyer’s own conveyancing fees), with the fee influenced by the value and complexity of the transaction. On top of conveyancing fees the buyer pays transfer duty to SARS on a sliding scale, the seller pays bond cancellation attorney fees, and both sides pay rates-clearance, FIC verification, and Deeds Office registration costs.

Is conveyancing in South Africa the same as in the UK?

No — the South African role is a Notary/Conveyancer (an attorney admitted by the Master of the High Court), the property transfer is by registration of a deed at a Deeds Office under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, and the conveyancer is responsible for transfer duty and rates clearance. The UK “Licensed Conveyancer” is a separate profession with no direct equivalent in South Africa — searchers comparing the two should not assume the legal steps, fees, or timelines map across jurisdictions.

If you are buying, selling, or refinancing property in Gauteng and need a conveyancer to handle the transfer, registration, and bond lodgement, contact Burger Huyser Attorneys’ Bedfordview office on 011 201 7190 and ask to speak with the conveyancing desk. The firm’s Notary & Conveyancer runs the file from deed search and rates clearance through to simultaneous lodgement at the Johannesburg or Pretoria Deeds Office. The firm is a multi-specialist practice with awards including Best Family Law Firm 2024 (Lawyers Monthly) and Best Criminal & Family Law Specialists 2025 (MEA Business Awards), and carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified). Conveyancing consultations can be booked through the Bedfordview branch during office hours (Monday–Friday, 7:30am–4:30pm), or by emailing the branch to arrange a pre-lodgement review of an existing offer to purchase.