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Property Law & Conveyancing
IMPLEMENTING PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS WITH PRECISION
Our property law department has extensive experience in general conveyancing, property development, commercial property transactions, water law and general property law matters.
This department provides a wide range of property-related services, including:
- Drafting of and advice on sale and lease agreements for commercial, residential, industrial and farming properties
- Advice on and planning of residential and commercial property developments
- Transfer of residential, sectional title, commercial, industrial and farming properties
- Opening of sectional title registers
- Registration and cancellation of mortgage bonds
- Advice on and registration of servitudes
- Advice on transfer of shares in property holding companies
- Registration of land consolidations and subdivisions
- Advice on taxation matters related to immovable property transactions, e.g., transfer duty, value-added tax, income tax, donation tax and capital gains tax
- Assistance with water law matters
MORTGAGE BOND REGISTRATIONS AND CANCELLATIONS
We serve as panel attorneys for the majority of the bigger banks in South Africa. In this capacity, we attend to the registration of mortgage bonds over commercial, residential, sectional title, industrial and farming properties, and the cancellation of bonds.
NOTARIAL SERVICES
Our experienced Notaries advise clients on and attend to the drafting and registration of:
- Antenuptial contracts
- Notarial bonds
- Servitudes
- Powers of Attorney
- Notarial lease agreements
OUR SPECIALISTS
Discover the experts behind our stellar property law services. With unparalleled experience and a commitment to delivering excellence, our specialists ensure every client receives the best legal guidance in the realm of property law.
Arend
de Waal
Lize
Pecoraro
James
Lamprecht
Sherine
Roberts
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A property can be sold privately or through an estate agent. An important part of this process is a proper agreement of sale. We advise that you obtain the advice and assistance of a transferring attorney (Conveyancer) in this regard. Appoint a Conveyancer who will guide you through the entire process and attend to the legal requirements of a property transfer.
It is accepted practice for the seller to appoint the transferring attorney (Conveyancer) to attend to the transfer of immovable property, although this, like other aspects of an agreement of sale, can be varied by negotiation between the parties.
The seller is usually liable for the agent’s commission as agreed between the seller and the estate agent, the costs related to cancelling an existing mortgage bond registered over the property, municipal rates and taxes that are due on the property, any possible levies in respect of a sectional title unit and the costs required to obtain the compliance certificates (e.g. electricity, gas, beetle, electric fence and borehole certificates).
In addition to the purchase price, the purchaser is also liable for either VAT or transfer duty (depending on the nature of the transaction), the transfer fees payable to the transferring attorney (Conveyancer) and bond registration fees payable to the bond registration attorney, if a new bond in the name of the purchaser is part of the transaction.
Transfer duty is a tax levied by SARS on the value of any property acquired by any person by way of a transaction or in any other way. Transfer duty must be paid to SARS before the transfer can be completed. Transfer duty is payable by the purchaser. You can use our firm’s online Transfer duty calculator to determine the Transfer Duty that will be payable in a transaction. Transfer costs are payable to the transferring attorneys and are determined by the value of the property, based on tariffs recommended by the Legal Practice Council.
You can approach the financial institution (“Bank”) of your choice to apply for a home loan. The bank will appoint a bond attorney who will attend to the registration of the mortgage bond. The bond attorneys will attend to the signature of various bond documents and registration of the mortgage bond in the Deeds Office. Our firm is on the bond registration panels of ABSA Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank and Standard Bank. You can therefore nominate our firm to attend to the registration of your mortgage bond at any of these institutions.