STEP 1:

1. Completion of the sale agreement by seller and purchaser
2. Instruction received by the transferring attorney from the estate agent
3. Acknowledgements send to all the parties by the transferring attorneys
4. Request FICA documents (FICA documents have to be collected separately by the estate agent as well as the transferring attorneys)
5. Agency / Transferring attorneys request payment of deposit (if applicable)
6. Transferring attorneys request title deed and bond cancellation figures on the Seller’s existing bond. Please note the bond account will be placed on hold once the cancellation figures are issued. (The bond cancellation figures is the amount which the existing bondholder requires for guarantee purposes, prior to the bond being cancelled)
7. Transferring attorneys request rates clearance figures from the local authority – no transfer can be effected until the Registrar of Deeds is satisfied that the rates and taxes / levies have been paid up to date.

STEP 2

1. Transferring attorney to follow up on the outstanding figures/documents or payments as in Step 1
2. Transferring attorney to obtain written confirmation from the Purchaser regarding the bond approval (from the financial institution and the details of the bond registration attorneys)
3. Once the bond is granted and the bond attorneys have received the instruction, guarantees are requested by the transferring attorneys from the bond registration attorneys to cancel the existing bond over the property.

STEP 3

1. Transfer documents are drafted by the transferring attorneys, who will call on the Seller and the Purchaser to attend on the signing of the transfer documents.
2. The bond registration attorneys will call upon the Purchaser to sign the bond documents and the pay the bond registration costs.
3. The Purchaser is required to pay the transfer costs and any other costs that may be due in respect of the transaction.
4. On receipt of the rates clearance figures the transferring attorneys will request payment from the Seller. As soon as payment has been received from the Seller the transferring attorneys will pay it over to the local authority in order to obtain the rates clearance certificate.
5. Should a balance of the purchase price by payable, payment will be requested by the transferring attorney and is payable by guarantee on the due date as per the sale agreement.
6. The Seller is required to furnish the Electrical Compliance and/or Gas and/or Electric Fencing Certificate (if applicable) for the property which is not older than 2 years.

STEP 4

1. Upon receipt of the bank guarantees, the guarantee to cancel the existing bond is delivered to the bond cancellation attorneys to obtain their consent for the bond cancellation from the relevant bank.
2. Transfer duty is paid to the Receiver of Revenue, which may take 7 – 10 working days to be issued
3. Payment is made to the Local authority to obtain the rates clearance certificate, which is charged 4 months in advance
4. Levy clearance figures are requested from the Homeowners Association or Body Corporate (if applicable)

STEP 5

1. Once the transfer duty receipt and the rates clearance certificate have been obtained by the transferring attorney, arrangements are made with the attorneys attending to the registration of the purchaser’s bond and the attorneys attending to the bond cancellation of the Seller’s existing bond cancellation to have their documents lodged simultaneously in the Deeds Office.
2. The documents are examined by the Deeds Office (which takes approximately 10 working days) after which the documents will reach the final stage in the Deeds Office, namely Preparation, when all the attorneys involved as mentioned above are called upon the sign their documents off for registration.

STEP 6

1. Upon registration of the transfer in the Deeds Office, the Purchaser becomes the registered owner of the property.
2. The bank guarantees are presented for payment at the relevant finance institution and payment is effected to the transferring attorneys trust account.
3. All the parties are advised of the registration and the transferring attorneys draw the final statement of account for the Seller and Purchaser and the proceeds are paid out to the Seller (this normally occurs within 2 working days after registration)

STEP 7

1. The Deeds Office releases the original documents after numbering, data capturing and scanning of the deeds.
2. Upon receipt of the original title deed, the deed will be delivered to the bond registration attorneys for onward transmission to the bond holder or if there is no bond registered, the original deed will be handed to the new owner. This stage of the process may take up to 3-6 months.