Property Transfer Costs Calculator for South African Properties

Property transfer costs in South Africa are made up of three statutory cost components charged by three different parties: transfer duty (a SARS tax calculated on a sliding scale off the property’s purchase price), conveyancing fees (charged by the transferring attorney on the Legal Practice Council’s guideline tariff and tied to property value), and deeds office fees (set by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and varying by the deeds registry at which the property is registered). For a R1.5 million property, total transfer costs typically fall between roughly R50,000 and R65,000, with transfer duty usually the largest single line on properties above the duty-free threshold. Bond registration costs are a separate workstream if a mortgage is involved, calculated on a parallel guideline tariff, and add a further R25,000 to R40,000 at the same price point. Every figure below is indicative: the SARS transfer duty schedule is adjusted periodically and the conveyancing tariff is reviewed from time to time, so any quote must be checked against the rates in force on the date of transfer.

What “Property Transfer Costs” Actually Covers

A single residential transfer generates three distinct cost lines, charged by three different parties, and in a standard transaction all three are paid from the buyer’s pocket on registration unless the sale agreement allocates them differently. They are frequently quoted to buyers as one lump sum, which is exactly why so few buyers can tell whether a quote is reasonable.

Cost component	Charged by	What it pays for	Collected by
Transfer duty	SARS	Tax on the acquisition of immovable property, on purchase price or market value, whichever is higher	The transferring attorney, paid across to SARS
Conveyancing fees	The transferring attorney	Professional fee for attending to the transfer and lodging at the deeds office, on the Legal Practice Council guideline tariff	The transferring attorney
Deeds office and statutory fees	The relevant deeds registry	Examination and registration of the deed, endorsements, consents and ancillary acts	The transferring attorney, as a disbursement
Bond registration costs (if a bond is taken)	The bond registration attorney and the bank	Registering the mortgage bond over the title, plus the bank’s initiation and valuation fees	The bank, recovered from the borrower

Transfer Duty (SARS) — How It Is Calculated

Transfer duty is levied under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949 on the value of property acquired by any person, and SARS publishes an updated bracket table effective from the start of each tax year. The table in force on the date of acquisition is the one that applies, not the table in force when the offer was signed.

• The schedule for a natural person is progressive: a 0% bracket covers properties below the first threshold, with rising rates of 3%, 6%, 8%, 11% and 13% applied to the portion of the value falling into each successive band.
• Duty is calculated on the greater of the purchase price or the declared market value. A below-market sale between related parties does not reduce the duty payable.
• Duty must be paid within six months of the date of acquisition; SARS charges interest at 10% per annum on late payment, which is a real risk on files that stall.
• The exemption for properties below the first threshold applies automatically. There is no separate blanket first-time-buyer exemption, although qualifying lower-income purchasers may access assistance under the Finance-Linked Individual Subsidy Programme.
• A buyer cannot elect out of transfer duty. The conveyancer files the transfer duty declaration, obtains a transfer duty receipt or exemption certificate from SARS, and the deeds office will not register the transfer without it.

Conveyancing Fees — The Transferring Attorney’s Tariff

Conveyancing fees are charged on the guideline tariff published by the Legal Practice Council, the regulator established under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 and the successor to the provincial law society tariffs that applied under the old Attorneys Act regime. The tariff is a sliding scale expressed in rand amounts tied to bands of property value, so the fee rises in rand terms as value rises while the effective percentage rate falls.

Three points about the tariff are routinely misunderstood:

1. It is a guideline, not a fixed price. It is the basis on which a reasonable fee is assessed. An attorney may charge above or below it, and a deviation should be explained and agreed in writing before the work starts.
2. VAT is added on top. Conveyancing fees attract VAT at 15%, which is charged on the fee itself, not on the transfer duty or the deeds office fees.
3. Disbursements are billed separately at cost. These are amounts the attorney pays to third parties on your behalf — deeds office fees, deeds search and electronic generation fees, rates clearance figures, FICA verification, postage and petties, and bank charges. They are not profit and should be itemised.

At the R1.5 million price point, conveyancing fees excluding VAT typically fall in the R15,000 to R22,000 range on the current guideline tariff.

Deeds Office and Statutory Fees

Deeds office fees are prescribed by regulation under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937, set by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and published in the Government Gazette. They cover a registration fee for the transfer itself, an examination fee for the title deed and diagrams, and a schedule of smaller fixed fees for consents, endorsements and ancillary acts.

Fees and turnaround times differ by registry — Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and the other regional offices each operate under their own published schedule and their own examination queues. For a straightforward residential transfer at R1.5 million, deeds office fees in aggregate typically run between R2,000 and R5,000.

Which Gauteng deeds office registers your property

Gauteng transfers lodge at one of two registries, determined by where the property sits, not by where the buyer, seller or attorney is based:

Deeds registry	Areas served
Johannesburg Deeds Office	Johannesburg, Randburg, Sandton, Roodepoort, the West Rand and the broader City of Johannesburg region
Pretoria Deeds Office	Pretoria, Centurion, Midrand and the northern Gauteng districts

The choice of registry affects only the deeds office fee line and the registry’s own turnaround; transfer duty, the conveyancing tariff and the VAT treatment are identical in both. Buyers should not assume one Gauteng-wide rate applies without checking which office will register their specific erf. Burger Huyser Attorneys’ Notary and Conveyancing practice attends to transfers at both registries, with Amanda le Roux (Notary and Conveyancer) based at the Bedfordview branch.

Bond Registration Costs (If a Bond Is Involved)

Bond registration is a separate workstream, handled by a different attorney from the one attending the transfer. The bond registration attorney is nominated by the bank granting the loan, and their fees run on a separate guideline tariff that mirrors the conveyancing structure on a slightly lower scale.

• Bond costs include the attorney’s fee plus VAT, the deeds office fee for registering the bond over the title, and the bank’s own initiation and valuation fees, which sit outside the attorney’s control.
• For a R1.5 million bond, total bond registration costs typically run R25,000 to R40,000.
• The bank usually settles the bond registration attorney’s account and recovers it from the borrower, often by adding it to the loan. The buyer does not pay that attorney directly.
• The buyer remains directly responsible for the transferring attorney’s fees, the transfer duty and the deeds office fees on the transfer side.

Worked Example — Costs at Common Price Points

Property price	Indicative transfer duty	Conveyancing fees (excl. VAT)	Deeds office & other fees	Subtotal (transfer side)	Approx. bond registration costs	Total buyer cost
R 800 000	R 0 (below threshold)	R 12 000 – R 17 000	R 2 000 – R 4 000	R 14 000 – R 21 000	R 18 000 – R 25 000	R 32 000 – R 46 000
R 1 500 000	R 12 375 – R 15 000	R 18 000 – R 25 000	R 3 000 – R 5 000	R 33 000 – R 45 000	R 25 000 – R 35 000	R 58 000 – R 80 000
R 2 500 000	R 75 000 – R 90 000	R 25 000 – R 35 000	R 3 000 – R 5 000	R 103 000 – R 130 000	R 32 000 – R 45 000	R 135 000 – R 175 000
R 5 000 000	R 280 000 – R 320 000	R 35 000 – R 50 000	R 4 000 – R 6 000	R 319 000 – R 376 000	R 45 000 – R 60 000	R 364 000 – R 436 000

All figures exclude VAT on the attorney-fee lines and exclude the bank’s own initiation and valuation fees on the bond side. Transfer duty figures are calculated against the SARS schedule in force at the date of writing — confirm current rates with SARS before relying on them.

Who Pays What, and When

• Transfer duty: the Transfer Duty Act places the liability on the acquirer. The buyer pays it, even though the transferring attorney collects it and pays it across to SARS.
• Conveyancing fees: paid by the buyer in a standard residential transaction. An offer to purchase can reallocate this, so read the actual agreement rather than assuming market practice.
• Deeds office fees: paid by the buyer, recovered through the attorney’s disbursement account.
• Timing: all transfer-side costs fall due on registration. Most attorneys call for the transfer duty and a cost deposit well before that date, because SARS must issue the duty receipt before lodgement can proceed.
• Bond registration costs: recovered from the borrower by the bank, not paid to the bond attorney by the buyer directly.

What Can Go Wrong (and Push Costs Up)

1. Rates and utility clearance figures. The seller must obtain a rates clearance certificate from the municipality before the deed can be lodged. Delays here are the single most common cause of transfer hold-ups, and they cost money indirectly through penalty interest on the purchase price or extended occupational rent.
2. Sectional title and township complications. Units in sectional title schemes need a Body Corporate levy clearance certificate, and properties subject to servitudes, conditions of title or restrictive endorsements need additional consents and supporting documents — all of which add attorney time and further deeds office fees.
3. VAT on the seller’s side. If the seller is a registered VAT vendor, the sale may attract VAT instead of transfer duty, and a going-concern sale may be zero-rated. Getting this wrong is expensive; a conveyancer must verify the VAT position before the offer is signed.
4. Bridging finance. If a seller needs proceeds before registration, or a buyer’s bond is not registered in time, bridging finance fills the gap at its own cost.

When to Engage a Conveyancer

Engage one as soon as an offer to purchase has been accepted. The transferring attorney’s work begins on the date of signature and runs roughly 8 to 12 weeks to registration on a clean file.

• The transferring attorney is nominated by the seller in most residential sales, and that nomination is recorded in the offer to purchase.
• A buyer is free to instruct their own attorney to protect their interests — commonly the purchaser’s attorney in a cash sale — and that appointment should be recorded in the agreement before signature, not negotiated afterwards.
• Because the tariff is a guideline rather than a fixed price, compare quotes from at least two firms, insist on a written breakdown separating fee, VAT, duty and disbursements, and confirm the practitioner holds a valid practising certificate with the Legal Practice Council.

Burger Huyser Attorneys fields this work through its Notarial and Conveyancing practice, with the conveyancing team at the Bedfordview branch attending to transfers registering at both the Johannesburg and Pretoria deeds offices.

If you are buying or selling a property and need a conveyancing attorney to handle the transfer, Burger Huyser Attorneys’ Notary and Conveyancing practice can quote on the transfer-attorney work, prepare the documentation, attend to lodgement at the Johannesburg or Pretoria deeds office depending on where the property is registered, and explain any of the cost lines in this article as they apply to your specific transaction. Contact the Bedfordview branch on 011 201 7190 (after-hours 061 536 3223), or call the head office at 49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg on 011 888 0246 to be directed to your nearest branch. Offices are open Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:30pm. Burger Huyser carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified, “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”) and handles conveyancing work across its Gauteng branch network in Johannesburg, Randburg, Sandton, Pretoria, Centurion, Roodepoort, Bedfordview, Alberton and Midrand.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to transfer a property in South Africa?

Transfer costs combine transfer duty (a SARS tax), conveyancing fees (charged on the Legal Practice Council guideline tariff plus 15% VAT), and deeds office fees. For a R1.5 million property, total transfer costs typically run between R50,000 and R65,000, with transfer duty the largest single line. Bond registration costs are calculated separately and typically add another R25,000 to R40,000 at the same price point.

Does the buyer or seller pay transfer costs in South Africa?

Transfer duty is the buyer’s statutory obligation under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949, which places liability on the acquirer of the property. Conveyancing and deeds office fees are also typically paid by the buyer, although the offer to purchase may reallocate these between the parties. Both buyer and seller should check the actual agreement before assuming any cost falls on the buyer side.

How is transfer duty calculated in South Africa?

SARS calculates transfer duty on a sliding scale from the property’s purchase price or declared market value, whichever is higher, with a 0% bracket for properties below the duty-free threshold and progressive rates of 3%, 6%, 8%, 11% and 13% applied to the portions of value above each successive band. The schedule is updated in the annual Budget cycle, so the table in force on the date of acquisition is the one that applies. Confirm current rates directly with SARS before relying on any published figures.

What is the difference between transfer duty and transfer fees?

Transfer duty is the SARS tax on the acquisition of the property itself, calculated on price or market value. Transfer or conveyancing fees are the professional fee of the attorney attending to the transfer, calculated on the Legal Practice Council guideline tariff and subject to VAT. They are two completely different cost lines, collected together by the same attorney but destined for different recipients.

How long does a property transfer take in South Africa?

A typical clean residential transfer takes 8 to 12 weeks from accepted offer to registration, with the longest phase usually being the municipal rates clearance period. Delays in obtaining rates clearance figures, bond approval, levy clearance from a Body Corporate, or special consents ahead of lodgement can extend this to four months or longer.

Can I transfer property without a conveyancing attorney?

No. Property transfers must be attended to by a conveyancer admitted and enrolled under the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, and the deeds office will not accept a lodgement from an unqualified person under the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937. Any service offering to handle a transfer without a conveyancing attorney should be treated as non-compliant.