Who Is Responsible for Transfer Costs? | Property Transfers Explained

In a South African property transfer, the responsibility for costs is split by line item, not bundled: the buyer pays transfer duty (the acquisition tax levied under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949 and collected by SARS, calculated on a sliding scale against the property’s purchase price or market value, whichever is higher), the buyer pays the conveyancing fee for the transfer itself, the seller pays the conveyancing fee for cancelling any existing bond over the property, and deeds office registration fees are split between the parties according to what each side is registering. VAT is added to the conveyancer’s fees and disbursements; transfer duty is a tax paid directly to SARS, not to the conveyancer. The total “transfer cost” a buyer typically budgets for is therefore the sum of transfer duty, the transfer-side conveyancing fee plus VAT, the buyer’s half of deeds office fees, and any post-clearance costs such as rates clearance figures.

The Short Answer: Who Pays What in a South African Property Transfer

Cost line item	Who pays	Legal/tariff basis
Transfer duty	Buyer	Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949 (SARS)
Conveyancing fee for the transfer	Buyer	Conveyancing tariff guidelines (Law Society of South Africa)
Conveyancing fee for bond cancellation	Seller	Conveyancing tariff guidelines (Law Society of South Africa)
Deeds office fees — transfer registration	Buyer	Deeds Office fee schedule (Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development)
Deeds office fees — bond cancellation	Seller	Deeds Office fee schedule
VAT on conveyancer’s fees	Party paying the conveyancing fee (buyer for transfer, seller for bond cancellation)	Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991
Rates clearance figures	Seller	Local municipal rates clearance process
Compliance certificates (electrical, plumbing, beetle, gas)	Seller	Various municipal and sectoral requirements
Bond registration fees (new bond)	Buyer	Bond registration with the registering Deeds Office

The split above is the conventional default; parties are free to agree a different allocation in the sale agreement, but the default at law is what is set out in this table. The phrase “transfer costs” is commonly used loosely — in this article, “transfer costs” refers to the whole bundle (transfer duty + conveyancing + deeds + VAT + incidentals), while “transfer duty” refers only to the SARS tax line item.

Transfer Duty: The Buyer’s Tax Line

Transfer duty is an acquisition tax levied under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949, calculated on the higher of the purchase price or the property’s market value. Rates are set by SARS on a sliding scale with periodic threshold adjustments — the SARS schedule is the controlling source for the current brackets, and the conveyancer will quote against those published rates before lodgement.

Transfer duty is paid by the buyer to SARS (via the conveyancer’s trust account or eFiling) before the transfer can be lodged at the Deeds Office; the duty receipt must accompany the lodgement. Transfer duty is a separate concept from VAT on the property itself — most residential property sales below the VAT threshold for vendors are exempt from VAT, but transfer duty still applies on the same transaction.

Companies and trusts do not pay transfer duty at the same rates as natural persons in every bracket — SARS publishes separate rate tables for different entities and the conveyancer will confirm which table applies before lodgement. For an institutional buyer (a company, a trust, or a close corporation), the rates published by SARS for non-natural persons are the controlling schedule, and the conveyancer will work through the categorisation before quoting the duty.

Conveyancing Fees: Transfer vs Bond Cancellation

A property transfer usually involves two conveyancing engagements — one for the transfer itself (registered in the buyer’s name) and one for cancellation of any existing bond (if the property is currently bonded). The buyer’s conveyancer handles the transfer; the seller’s conveyancer (often the same firm on a single instruction) handles the bond cancellation. Where the same firm acts for both parties, the fees are calculated separately and disclosed to each party on its own invoice.

Conveyancing fees are governed by a tariff of fees published by the Law Society of South Africa, with fees calculated on a sliding scale against the property’s value. VAT at the standard rate is added to the conveyancing fee and to disbursements. “Transfer cost” and “conveyancing fee” are not synonyms — the conveyancing fee is one component of the total transfer cost bundle.

Burger Huyser Attorneys’ notarial and conveyancing practice fields transfers across Gauteng from the firm’s head office in Linden, with a qualified Notary and Conveyancer on staff, so a single firm instruction can in principle run both the transfer and the bond cancellation through the relevant Deeds Office for the property.

Deeds Office Fees and Registration Costs

Lodgement and registration fees at the Deeds Office are set by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and depend on the number and type of deeds being registered (a transfer, a bond, a cancellation, or a combination). The fee for registering the transfer is borne by the buyer; the fee for registering the bond cancellation is borne by the seller.

The relevant Deeds Office is determined by where the property falls (not by the parties’ addresses). In Gauteng, a property in Midrand falls under the Pretoria Deeds Office at the Deeds Office in the Pretoria Justice Precinct, while a property in Sandton, Randburg, Roodepoort, or Bedfordview falls under the Johannesburg Deeds Office. Conveyancers maintain working relationships with both deeds offices; this is one of the practical reasons that selecting a conveyancer with cross-Gauteng reach is worth doing early in the transaction.

Deeds Office fees are paid by the conveyancer on lodgement; they are recovered from the responsible party as a disbursement, not as a mark-up.

Compliance Certificates and Municipal Clearances

Sellers are typically responsible for obtaining and paying for the compliance certificates required by the local municipality and the Ombud’s Office — most commonly electrical, plumbing, gas, and beetle (wood-borer) certificates, plus a rates clearance certificate. These costs are separate from conveyancing fees and transfer duty, but are commonly bundled into “transfer costs” in the lay sense.

A rates clearance certificate is required before transfer can be lodged; the municipality calculates the rates figure to the date of transfer, which the conveyancer uses for the clearance figures in the transfer duty declaration. Within Gauteng, the rates clearance figure is obtained from the municipality in which the property falls (City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Ekurhuleni, or the relevant local authority), and the compliance certificates required at transfer (electrical, plumbing, gas, and beetle) are obtained from the municipality-recognised inspectors operating in the area.

What the Buyer Actually Budgets For

• Transfer duty (SARS)
• Conveyancing fee for the transfer, plus VAT
• Deeds Office fee for transfer registration
• The buyer’s share of any post-clearance adjustments (rates, levies, utilities)
• If a bond is being registered: bond registration attorney fees, bond initiation fee charged by the bank, and the Deeds Office fee for bond registration

A practical rule of thumb used in the industry is to budget 5–8% of the purchase price for the full basket of transfer and bond costs combined, but this varies materially with the purchase price (transfer duty is progressive) and should not be quoted as a guaranteed figure. The 5–8% range is a planning estimate, not a quote — the conveyancer will provide a per-file quote after reviewing the sale agreement and the parties’ instructions.

What the Seller Actually Pays Out

• Conveyancing fee for the bond cancellation, plus VAT
• Deeds Office fee for bond cancellation registration
• Compliance certificates and rates clearance figure
• Estate agent commission (where applicable)
• Any rates, levies, or utilities owed up to the date of transfer

Capital gains tax is not a transfer cost — it is a separate SARS liability arising on disposal, but it is often mentioned in the same budgeting conversation and is therefore worth disambiguating from the actual transfer-cost bundle. A seller budgeting for the disposal should treat CGT as a separate line and confirm the position with a tax practitioner before signing.

Disambiguation: Transfer Duty vs Transfer Costs

“Transfer duty” is the SARS tax — one line item, paid by the buyer. “Transfer costs” is the whole bundle of costs involved in registering the transfer — duty + conveyancing + deeds + VAT + compliance certificates + clearance figures. The two are routinely conflated, which is why a searcher asking “who is responsible for transfer costs?” is often really asking two questions: who pays transfer duty, and who pays everything else.

A useful test: if the line item appears on the SARS transfer-duty receipt, it is transfer duty; if it appears on the conveyancer’s invoice, it is part of transfer costs more broadly. Working through the invoice line by line is the cleanest way to allocate the bundle between the parties when the sale agreement is silent on a particular item.

If you are buying or selling property in Gauteng and want a conveyancer to run the transfer, calculate the transfer duty, and handle deeds office lodgement on your behalf, Burger Huyser Attorneys’ notarial and conveyancing practice can assist from initial instruction through to registration. The firm fields transfers across Gauteng from its head office in Linden (49 First Avenue, Linden, Randburg, 011 888 0246), with branch consultations available across the network; book a transfer-cost quote with the conveyancing team to confirm the split on your specific sale. The firm carries a 4.8/5 average across 250+ Google reviews (Trustindex verified “Top Rated Law Firm in South Africa”).

Frequently Asked Questions

Who pays transfer duty in South Africa — the buyer or the seller?

The buyer pays transfer duty. It is an acquisition tax levied under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949, calculated on the higher of the purchase price or market value, and paid to SARS via the conveyancer (or via eFiling) before the transfer can be lodged at the Deeds Office. The current rate brackets are published by SARS.

Are transfer costs paid by the buyer or seller?

Transfer costs are split by line item rather than paid by one party. The buyer pays transfer duty, the conveyancing fee for the transfer, the Deeds Office fee for registering the transfer, and any bond registration costs. The seller pays the conveyancing fee for cancelling the existing bond, the Deeds Office fee for registering that cancellation, the rates clearance figure, and the compliance certificates. Parties can agree a different split in the sale agreement, but the default at law is the split above.

How much are transfer costs on a South African property?

Transfer costs vary materially with the property’s purchase price because transfer duty is levied on a sliding scale. As a rough budgeting guide, the total basket of transfer and bond costs combined is often in the range of 5–8% of the purchase price for a bonded buyer, but this is a planning estimate and not a quoted figure. The conveyancer will provide a per-file quote after reviewing the sale agreement and the parties’ instructions.

Is transfer duty the same as VAT?

No. Transfer duty is an acquisition tax paid by the buyer to SARS under the Transfer Duty Act 40 of 1949, calculated on the property’s value. VAT is a separate consumption tax, and most residential property sales by non-vendor sellers fall below the VAT threshold and are exempt from VAT on the property itself. VAT does, however, apply to the conveyancer’s fee and disbursements and is added to the conveyancer’s invoice at the standard rate.

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

Both, on different parts of the transaction. The buyer pays the conveyancing fee for the transfer itself (registration of the property into the buyer’s name). The seller pays the conveyancing fee for the cancellation of any existing bond over the property. Where the same firm acts for both parties, the fees are calculated separately and disclosed to each party on its own invoice, with VAT added to each.

Can the buyer and seller agree a different split of transfer costs?

Yes. The default split set out in this article reflects the conventional allocation, but parties are free to agree a different split in the sale agreement (for example, the seller offering to contribute toward the buyer’s transfer duty as an incentive). Anything not expressly varied in the agreement follows the conventional default, so the agreement should record any deviation in writing.

Are transfer costs tax-deductible?

Transfer duty is not tax-deductible in the ordinary sense — it is a cost of acquiring the asset and forms part of the property’s base cost for capital gains tax purposes on later disposal. Some incidental transfer costs (such as bond registration fees) may be treated similarly. Tax treatment depends on the entity acquiring the property and the purpose of the acquisition, so the answer is not one-size-fits-all and a tax practitioner should be consulted for a specific transaction.