Conveyancing and the property transfer process

Signing the offer to purchase agrees the sale. It does not move the property: ownership changes only when the Deeds Office registers the transfer, and a conveyancer prepares the paperwork for that. Until then the work is mostly the attorneys', and the seller's part is to supply documents and keep the property's accounts in order. Our offer to purchase guide covers what an offer contains.

Four things follow. The transferring attorney opens a file and runs a deeds search, which shows who the registered owner is, any bond endorsed on the title and the title deed's conditions. Both parties are asked for the documents the Financial Intelligence Centre Act requires: the Deeds Office lists certified identity documents, proof of residential address, a marriage certificate or ante-nuptial contract and, for a company, its memorandum of incorporation (the FICA guide covers the seller's side). The attorney asks for the seller's bond details and the municipal rates assessment and, where there is one, the levy assessment from the body corporate or homeowners' association. And any suspensive condition, such as the buyer's bond approval, starts to run.

A suspensive condition decides whether the sale holds. In the Deeds Office's own template, a sale that fails a suspensive condition lapses and the deposit goes back to the buyer with its interest. The suspensive conditions guide explains what happens when the date passes.

Another clock starts at signature. SARS gives the buyer six months from the date of acquisition to pay transfer duty and, for a sale with conditions, counts them from the last party's signature and not from the day the conditions are met. The buyer pays the duty, normally through the conveyancer.

The Deeds Office page adds that the process goes faster when rates, levies and service accounts are paid in full and meter readings are actual rather than estimated. It also says an electrical compliance certificate is required. The compliance certificates guide sets out which certificates apply and the rule behind each.

One transfer can involve up to three attorneys, the Deeds Office says, and each does a different job. The table at the end of this section sets out what each does and who usually appoints and pays. Where nobody has a bond, usually only the first is needed.

Why an attorney at all. A deed of transfer can be registered only if a conveyancer prepared it. Section 15 of the Deeds Registries Act says that, except in so far as another law provides otherwise, no deed of transfer, mortgage bond or certificate of title (or other registration certificate the Act mentions) may be attested, executed or registered by a registrar unless a conveyancer prepared it. The Deeds Office page quotes it. Section 16 adds that, save as the Act or another law provides, the ownership of land may be conveyed from one person to another only by a deed of transfer executed or attested by the registrar. We read the Act in the consolidated copy the Deeds Office page links, which runs to the amendments of 2006. We have not checked later amendments. That is why transfer is the one part of a private sale a seller cannot do alone.

Who chooses the transferring attorney. Sources differ, so we attribute each. The Deeds Office says the seller typically chooses the conveyancer, but either party can. In its sample residential offer to purchase, the transfer is effected by "the seller's conveyancers", with a blank for their name, and the purchaser is liable for the transfer costs: transfer duty, the costs of transfer, any bond costs and the disbursements needed to register. A 2019 article by Eversheds Sutherland says the seller is the party entitled to nominate the transferring attorney, and that where the seller has no attorney of their own the purchaser may nominate one if the parties agree. The Gawie le Roux Institute of Law (2022) also says the seller appoints. One Gauteng law firm's guide says the purchaser typically appoints. None of these is the law of your sale. A different form can say otherwise, so the transfer clause in your offer is where this is usually set, and a seller who wants a particular firm can ask for it to be named there. No attorney has confirmed this wording for us, so have a conveyancer read the clause before you sign.

The bond attorneys. Miltons Matsemela's guide says the buyer's bank instructs its choice of bond registration attorney, and Burger Huyser says the bond originator arranges it. For the cancellation attorney, our bond guide reports Absa saying it appoints the attorney and FNB saying one is allocated. The Gawie le Roux Institute says the seller's bank appoints it, while Burger Huyser says the seller does. Whichever it is, ask the bank who will act and whether you have any say.

Shopping around. Because the choice often sits with the seller, a private seller can compare firms. The Deeds Office suggests getting quotations from at least two conveyancers, and the attorneys directory on Privately lists conveyancing firms that Privately has verified. The appointment and payment columns in the table report common practice as our sources describe it, not law. The offer to purchase and the bank's own terms decide each case.

The Deeds Office describes the work in two halves: the conveyancing (appointing the conveyancer, the deeds search, securing the price, the clearances, signing, paying the costs and the certificates) and the Deeds Office's own registration. The table puts that into eight stages from a seller's side. A time is given only where a source we cite gives one. The table broadly follows the order of the Deeds Office page. Some steps can be under way at the same time, so the times in the last column do not add up to a total.

The transfer, the buyer's bond and the cancellation of the seller's bond depend on one another, so the attorneys lodge them at the same time. The Act, in the consolidated copy, says a deed that is one of a batch of interdependent deeds intended for registration together is not deemed registered until the registrar has signed all of them (section 13(1)). The rates and levy clearance guide covers stages 4 to 7 for the municipality and the body corporate or HOA, and selling a house with a bond covers the seller's bond.

No official source we found gives a total. The Deeds Office gives one figure, for the last stage: deeds and documents are made available from within 17 days of the date of lodgement, provided that all the documents submitted are in order. That also answers how long property transfer takes after lodgement, with a limit: the page does not say whether "made available" means registered or that the original deeds are back, and firms say the originals can follow weeks or months after registration (below). It does not say what happens when a document is not in order, or how long a correction adds, and it counts days, not working days, so we give no figure for either. The clock starts only after the price is secured and the clearances and signatures are done, so it is not the length of the sale.

Two other sources give stage times, and neither is the Deeds Office. Miltons Matsemela's 2024 guide puts the Deeds Office examination at seven to ten working days, after which the conveyancer has five working days to finalise anything outstanding and register. The Gawie le Roux Institute of Law (2022) says examination takes approximately 10 to 12 business days. These are a law firm's and a training institute's figures.

For the whole sale, the best attributed figure we found is one firm's. Burger Huyser Attorneys, a Gauteng firm, says in a guide updated on 23 August 2026 that a sale with no bond typically takes 8 to 12 weeks from a signed, unconditional offer to registration. For a sale with a bond it says 10 to 14 weeks, and it does not say where it counts that range from. It names bond approval and bond document preparation as usually the slowest stage. That is one firm's typical range, not a rule, and a slow step can stretch it.

That also answers how long it takes to sell a house after an offer is accepted, with a caveat. The firm counts from an unconditional offer, and no source we cite says how long a sale takes to reach that point, so the time from signature also depends on how long the conditions in your offer run. The seller's money follows the registration date. If the buyer moves in before registration, a delay lengthens the period for which occupational rent is payable, so agree in writing who pays what in that gap.

Registration is not quite the end of the paperwork. Miltons Matsemela's guide says the deeds are then numbered and scanned, and that it can take up to three months for the Deeds Office to return the original title deed and bond to the conveyancer, who sends the original to the bank if there is a bond, or to the buyer if there is not. It lists this after registration day, which is also where it lists the seller's payout. The Gawie le Roux Institute says three weeks to three months. Those are the firm's and the institute's figures, not the Deeds Office's.

• Rates and levy clearance. The municipality and the body corporate or HOA supply the figures. The Deeds Office page says paid-up accounts and actual meter readings make the process faster. The rates clearance guide sets out the times the municipalities and law firms we read give.
• Bond approval and the buyer's documents. The offer sets how many days the condition runs. A buyer who is slow with documents slows the sale.
• Compliance certificates. A failed inspection adds the time to repair and test again. Under the Deeds Office template, repairs to the electrical installation are for the seller's account.
• FICA documents. Missing or uncertified documents hold up the file. The FICA guide lists what the conveyancer asks for.
• Tax affairs. SARS says a party who is not registered, or who has outstanding returns or payments, will be given the chance to correct matters, and that if they are not resolved, the steps SARS takes to ensure compliance may delay the transfer.
• Deeds Office queries and a bond declined after lodgement. Burger Huyser says the registrar may raise requisitions, which are formal queries needing a correction or more documents before registration, and that they are routine and, once answered, typically add no more than a few days. The same guide says that if the buyer's bond is declined after lodgement the transaction typically falls away, with the deposit dealt with under the suspensive conditions in the offer. Both are one firm's statements.
• An estate, a trust, a company or a divorce on the title. The conveyancer has to check that whoever signs has the authority to do so, which means extra documents and can take longer. See selling an inherited house and selling a house during a divorce.

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) publishes a guideline of conveyancing fees. The edition in force from 1 July 2026 says its fees are negotiable, that they are guidelines and not minimum or maximum fees, and that the figures exclude VAT. The Deeds Office charges its own fees, which are set by regulation (the schedule in force from 27 March 2026), so they are not up for negotiation.

The guideline reads a transfer fee off a scale by the value of the property, and rounds up for any part of a band. The same scale applies to registering a bond, using the bond amount, and to a sectional title unit. The table works one example.

An attorney may charge more or less than the guideline, and disbursements are extra. The example is the transfer only: transfer duty is a separate tax paid to SARS, and a bond adds the bond attorney's fee on the same scale applied to the bond amount, a Deeds Office fee for the bond and a second lodgement fee. The transfer duty guide adds the parts up at five prices, and who pays which cost comes from the offer to purchase and not the law, as its table of who usually pays what shows.

Some work sits outside the guideline's basic fee, including FICA attendances, extra letters of undertaking or guarantees, and an outside agent for municipal refunds and reconciliations. The guideline recommends that extra charges and disbursements be agreed with the client in advance, so a written estimate that lists them is what lets two firms be compared. To see what is left of the price after the costs, use the what you keep when you sell calculator or the other calculators.

After registration, from the purchase price, and not on signature. In the Deeds Office's own template the balance of the price is payable on registration of transfer, and the buyer secures it with bank or other approved guarantees acceptable to the transferring attorney. A cash deposit, if there is one, is held by the conveyancer in trust until registration, with the interest going to the buyer.

One firm's guide, Miltons Matsemela's from 2024, lists the order on registration day: the buyer's new bond is registered and the seller's bond is cancelled, final accounts are drawn for the seller and the buyer, the seller is paid the net proceeds, and the agent's commission is paid if there is one. The cancellation has its own attorney (see the table above). Selling a house with a bond works through the bond settlement and covers bridging finance for a seller who needs the money sooner.

How soon after registration the seller receives the balance is not set by the Deeds Office page, the LSSA guideline or the offer template we read. It depends on the firm and on the funds being available, so we give no number of days. A seller can ask the attorney, in writing, for the date they expect to pay and for an itemised statement of what comes off.

Cash can go out before it comes in. The Deeds Office page says the seller pays rates and taxes four months in advance, and its template says the council refunds the amount in due course. Municipal practice varies and we have not confirmed it for any particular council, so ask the attorney what yours asks. The rates clearance guide sets out what the municipalities we read say, and what can be refunded.

If you are buying and selling at the same time, there are two files, two sets of attorneys and two registrations, and the dates have to be lined up between them. If the money from one sale pays for the other, the attorneys need to know that from the start.

Privately does not do the conveyancing. An independent attorney does, chosen by the seller. A buyer can record a preference, which the seller can honour or not. What Privately adds is a place to choose the firm and to see where the transfer stands. From your dashboard, the seller chooses a conveyancing attorney for the listing from the attorneys directory, which lists firms Privately has verified. The firm accepts the instruction, and until it does the status reads Awaiting attorney on the seller's dashboard (the deals page calls it Awaiting acceptance).

The firm then moves the status as the work progresses: Accepted, Instructed, Transfer in progress, Lodged at Deeds Office and Registered. The seller sees it, with any progress notes the firm shares, on the deals page of their dashboard. The buyer of the accepted offer sees it there too when the firm was chosen after the seller accepted that offer. The status is the firm's own record and not a feed from the Deeds Office, so confirm registration with your attorney.

Selling privately does not change who does the legal work. These are the things a seller can do, each with the source behind it. To compare firms, browse conveyancing attorneys on Privately.

• Read the transfer clause in the offer. It is where the choice of transferring attorney and who pays are usually set, and a conveyancer can read the offer before it is signed.
• Know the bond notice rule. For a borrower the National Credit Act covers, section 125(1), as gazetted in 2006, entitles a consumer to settle a credit agreement at any time, with or without advance notice. For a large agreement that is not at a fixed rate (a home loan is a mortgage agreement, which section 9(4)(a) makes a large agreement), section 125(2)(c)(ii) allows an early termination charge of no more than the interest for a period equal to the difference between three months and the notice given. Whether later amendments change this is for your attorney to confirm. The bond guide works an example and says who falls outside the Act.
• Keep the accounts and readings current. The Deeds Office page says paid-up rates, levies and service accounts, and meter readings that are actual and not estimated, make the process faster. See the rates clearance guide.
• Have the certificates ready. The Deeds Office page says the process speeds up when a registered electrician runs the tests and provides the electrical certificate. The compliance certificates guide lists which others can apply.
• Get a written fee estimate from two firms. The Deeds Office suggests quotations from at least two conveyancers, and the LSSA recommends agreeing extra charges in advance.
• Follow the file. Without an agent there is no one else following the transfer, so a seller can ask the attorney for a short note at each stage, or watch the status on Privately.