The signed sale agreement will be sent to the transferring attorney by the agent or by the seller in case of a private sale. The transferring attorney is usually appointed by the seller. The attorney will obtain all fica documentation that is required to conclude the sale from the seller and purchaser.
The purchaser must provide proof that a bond has been granted to him by an acceptable banking institution in South Africa and that the bond amount is the same under the conditions of the sale agreement. The purchaser must pay the deposit into the transferring attorneys trust account.
The title deeds or the bond account number needs to be provided by the seller in order for the attorney to request current bond cancellation figures from the sellers bank.
A Rates Clearance Certificate (a document stating that all rates and taxes for the current rates year have been paid) is obtained from the municipality by the Transferring Attorney.
The Bond Attorney advises the Transferring Attorney of the amount available for guarantees and requests the draft deed of transfer and guarantee requirements.
The Cancellation Attorney is requested to cancel the seller's bond, on receipt of a guarantee for the amount owing. The Transferring Attorney receives the title deed and bond cancellation figures and sends a copy of the deed of transfer and the guarantee requirements to the Bond Attorney.
The Transferring Attorney requests the purchaser and seller to sign the transfer documents. The purchaser pays the transfer costs and the Transferring Attorney then pays the rates and taxes and the transfer duty to the South African Revenue Service. A Transfer Duty Receipt is issued.
The Bond Attorney prepares the bond documentation together with the relevant statement of account. The purchaser signs the documents and pays the costs.
The Bond Attorney prepares and issues the necessary guarantees, forwards them to the Transferring Attorney and prepares the bond documents for lodgement in the Deeds Office. Once the Transferring Attorney has received the guarantees, they are forwarded to the Cancellation Attorney.
All Bond and Transfer documents are inspected by the deeds registry and if correctly prepared, come up for registration. At this stage the purchaser must have the balance of the cash purchase price available, and the financial institution's attorneys have the bond amount available. Allow at least 12 weeks for the registration and transfer of the bond.
The transferring attorney now draws the finale statement of account. The purchase price after deductions (bond cancellation figure; bond cancellation costs; estate agent’s commission; costs of the compliance certificates; and the pro rata share of the rates clearance figures and levy clearance figures in case of sectional title property) must be paid to the seller.
