Legal Talk

Author: Fawzia Khan
Date: 2014-07-11

Once you found the dream house you wanted and the selling price is within your budget, what are the steps required to get the house transferred into your name? Well the first thing would be to make an offer to purchase the property. Once the seller accepts your offer, the sale agreement is regarded as being concluded.

If the property is to be financed by an institution such as a bank, the lender bank will require a mortgage bond to be registered over the property. The registration of this mortgage bond is done at the Deeds Office and will be done at the same time when the property is being transferred into the new owner. If the seller had a bond on the property, that bond would also have to be cancelled at the Deeds Office.

If there is a bond on the property, it's important that the seller continue paying the monthly bond instalments until registration into the purchaser's name. Once the property is transferred, the bank will refund to the seller any amounts, which were overpaid.

Often there are three different attorneys or conveyancers involved in the conveyancing process, the transferring attorneys, the bond registration attorneys as well as the (seller's) bond cancellation attorneys. Transfer duty has to be paid on purchase or acquisition of immovable property.

It's paid by the person or entity, which acquires the property and calculated on the amount of the purchase price. A person will either pay transfer duty or Vat, never both. If the seller is a Vat vendor and the property is within his enterprise, then Vat will be payable. If the seller is not a Vat vendor, or the property does not fall within his enterprise, then no Vat will be levied, but transfer duty will be payable.

Transfer duty to paid to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) and must be paid within six months of date of acquisition. Failure to pay transfer duty within that six-month period will result in SARS charging interest to the purchaser. Transfer duty applies to all persons (natural or legal) and includes Companies, Close Corporations and Trusts.

There is no transfer duty payable up to R600 000,00. The person or entity which is acquiring the property pays the transfer duty. Transactions with suspensive conditions will not delay the liability to pay transfer duty. If SARS believes that the amount which the property is being acquired for is not a fair market value, it can request that independent valuers (such as an estate agent or sworn valuator) to submit valuations on the property, in writing.

Once the conveyancer has received the transfer duty receipt from SARS, as well as all the other documents such a rates clearance certificate from the municipality or levy clearance certificate from the body corporate or managing agent, as the case may be, as well as have all the transfer documents such as the new Deed drawn up, she or he will then be in a position to lodge the documents to the Deeds Office.

The seat of the KwaZulu-Natal Deeds Registry is Pietermaritzburg. All conveyancers in KZN will send their documents to their Pietermaritzburg lodging conveyancing agents who would to go to the Deeds Office and get the property registered, and new mortgage bonds registered and old bonds cancelled, as the case may be.

Know your rights! The Law Desk of Fawzia Khan and Associates. We Know! We Care! We Deliver! Email fawzia@thelawdesk.co.za or call 031-5025670 for legal assistance.

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