---
title: "Suspensive conditions and 'subject to bond approval'"
description: "What 'subject to bond approval' means in an offer to purchase, what happens at the deadline, why a lapsed sale cannot be revived, and the 72-hour clause."
url: "https://privately.co.za/guides/suspensive-conditions-subject-to-bond"
country: "South Africa"
updated: "2026-10-20"
published: "2026-08-29"
author: "Chandre Niemand"
source: "Privately"
---

# Suspensive conditions and 'subject to bond approval'

*Chandre Niemand, Founder, Privately. Published: 2026-08-29.*

## Summary

A suspensive condition holds a signed sale in suspense until an uncertain event, most often written bond approval, happens by an agreed date. If the date passes unfulfilled, the agreement lapses. That is not in itself a breach, and the deposit normally goes back to the buyer. In 2024 a majority of the Supreme Court of Appeal held that a later addendum cannot revive a lapsed sale: an extension has to be agreed before the date, and the safe form is an addendum signed by both.

## What a suspensive condition does

A suspensive condition in an offer to purchase makes a sale depend on an uncertain future event happening by an agreed date. The offer to purchase is signed, so the sale exists and neither side may simply walk away. What is suspended is performance: the seller's duty to give transfer and the buyer's duty to pay. In Codevilla v Kennedy-Smith NO and Others (2024) the majority of the Supreme Court of Appeal put it this way: the condition suspends the obligations until the event happens or fails to. If it is fulfilled the obligations become enforceable, and if it is not the contract becomes unenforceable (paragraph 43).

So 'subject to bond approval' means that the sale goes ahead only if the buyer's bank approves the loan, in the way and by the date the offer sets. People also ask what it means when the 'suspensive conditions are met by the purchaser'. It means the things the buyer had to achieve, such as getting the bond or selling their own home, have happened in time, so the sale no longer waits on them. If another condition is still open, the sale still waits on that one.

Not every clause called a condition is a suspensive one, and the words decide. A clause that imposes a duty ('the seller shall deliver an electrical certificate') is a term, and failing it is usually a breach. A clause that makes the sale itself depend on an event ('subject to the purchaser obtaining a bond of R1 800 000 by 30 September') is a suspensive condition, and failing it usually ends the deal without fault on anyone's part. The consequences are very different. Suspensive conditions an offer can carry include:

- **Bond approval** for the buyer, the one most of this guide is about.
- **Sale of the buyer's existing property**, sometimes to a stated date, sometimes to registration of transfer.
- **A satisfactory building or structural inspection**, with the standard and the remedy spelled out.
- **Approved building plans** for existing structures, or a rezoning or subdivision decision.
- **Body corporate or homeowners' association consent** where the scheme rules require it.
- **Consent from a third party**, such as a bondholder or the Master in a deceased estate.

## 'Subject to bond approval': what the clause does

A buyer who needs a loan will want the offer to be 'subject to bond approval', a clause that suspends the sale on the bank's approval. A clause usually names an amount, a date and who must be given proof. The period is not fixed by law: it is whatever the two of you wrote down. The offer in Codevilla gave the buyers 10 days, between 4 February and 14 February 2020, to get written approval of a R4 950 000 bond on a R5 150 000 price. Other offers differ, and we have no source for a usual period, so the question for any offer is whether a bank can realistically decide in that time. Too short puts the buyer at the mercy of a bank's turnaround. Too long keeps the seller off the market on someone else's timetable.

Pre-approval is not the same as fulfilment. A pre-approval certificate is a bank's view before it has valued this property or seen the offer, and as far as we know the full application starts once there is a signed offer, because that is when the bank has a property and a price to look at. A clause that asks for written approval of a bond over this property is, on its face, asking for more than a certificate. Whether a certificate you already hold satisfies your clause depends on its words, so ask your conveyancing attorney before you rely on it. [Bond pre-approval](/guides/bond-pre-approval-south-africa) explains what those certificates do and do not prove.

Fulfilment means what your clause says it means: written approval, for the amount and on the terms the clause describes, delivered to the person the clause names, by the date it names. Some offers say by when the buyer must apply, and what a buyer must do to get the bond depends on the wording. Whether a buyer who lets the date pass on purpose to escape the sale is as free as they think is a separate question: see the section on blocking a condition below.

**If a bank declines before the date.** A refusal letter does not by itself say what happens to the sale: the clause does. Where the clause is framed around a date, as the one in Codevilla was, a refusal before that date may not end the sale on its own, and whether the buyer may apply to another lender in the time left, and who must be told, turns on the words (see the rows on who applies and on notice of failure below). We found no court decision on the point to cite, so ask your conveyancing attorney before treating the sale as over or as still alive.

If an originator is already working on your application in Privately, the stage you see is one of six: 'Awaiting originator', 'Engagement accepted', 'In progress', 'Pre-qualified', 'Application submitted' or 'Bond approved'. Those mark progress on the application. None is the bank's written approval delivered to the person your clause names, and only what your clause asks for fulfils it. The [bond originators](/bond-originators) page shows who is listed on Privately at the moment.

The amount matters too. State what you need to borrow, not the full price, if a deposit is going in; [how much deposit a buyer needs](/guides/house-deposit-south-africa) sets that out. For the other clauses an offer should carry, see [the clauses an offer must contain](/guides/offer-to-purchase-decoded-six-elements), and for whether a signed offer binds you at all, [is an offer to purchase binding](/guides/offer-to-purchase-south-africa).

**What a bond clause can pin down**

| Term | Why it matters |
| --- | --- |
| The bond amount | Approval for less than the stated figure may not fulfil the condition, so check the words (if the bank offers less, see the section on waiver below). In Codevilla the clause named R4 950 000 of a R5 150 000 price, which left R200 000 (the offer required a R200 000 deposit) to come from the buyers. |
| The deadline | A calendar date, not 'within a reasonable time'. Say whether the count runs in calendar or business days, and from when. |
| What counts as approval | Written approval from the lender, delivered to the person the clause names. Say so in the clause: news over the phone from an originator should not be treated as fulfilment. |
| Acceptable terms | Whether approval at a higher rate, a shorter term, or with extra conditions attached still counts. |
| Who applies, and by when | A date by which the buyer must have lodged the application, so a stalling buyer is visible early, not on the last day. |
| How it may be extended | Who may extend, in what form, and by when. Without that, the safe course is a signed addendum from both parties before the date passes. |
| Notice of failure | Who must tell whom the condition has failed, so nobody carries on believing the sale is alive. |

## When the date passes and nothing has happened

The agreement lapses. This surprises people, because it feels as though someone must be liable. Failing a suspensive condition is not, on its own, a breach: nobody can sue to force the sale, because the sale has no force or effect, and both sides are released and free to go elsewhere. A different question arises if one party broke a duty that caused the failure, which the section on blocking a condition covers.

The clearest example is Codevilla v Kennedy-Smith NO and Others [2024] ZASCA 136, decided by the Supreme Court of Appeal on 10 October 2024. The table follows the dates in the judgment.

**The Codevilla sale, step by step, as the Supreme Court of Appeal records it**

| Date | What happened | What the law did with it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 4 February 2020 | The seller accepted the buyers' offer of R5 150 000, subject to written bank approval of a R4 950 000 bond, confirmed by 14 February. | The sale existed, but was suspended. |
| 11 February | The buyers and the seller signed an addendum moving the date to 19 February. | Not in dispute. It was signed before the first date, so the new date held. |
| 19 February | The condition requiring written approval of a R4 950 000 bond had failed (common ground, paragraph 44), and the bank guarantee or funds the seller had asked for were not provided by midnight (paragraph 5). | The sale lapsed by operation of law. |
| 20 February | The parties signed a second addendum with new funding arrangements and a new date of 25 February. | Too late, said the majority. There was nothing left to extend. |
| May 2020 to 10 October 2024 | The buyers could no longer pay and tried to cancel, and the person who had paid R1 950 000 towards the price asked for it back. After a dispute over whether the sale was still alive, the Supreme Court of Appeal decided the case. | By majority, the sale had lapsed and R1 950 000 was to be repaid, with the interest to which the payer was entitled. |

## Why an addendum signed after the date does not work

The first extension worked because it was signed on 11 February, before the date. The second came the day after the sale had lapsed. The majority held that extending the time for a condition after the date has passed is legally incompetent: the offer had lapsed by operation of law, so there was nothing to revive (paragraphs 52 and 53). The parties had believed they could simply extend the time, without a new contract, and they could not (paragraphs 51 and 55). The judgment also quotes the Court's earlier decision in Fairoaks on a lapsed agreement revived with an amended time for its condition: the amendment is a material change, so the revival has to meet the same writing-and-signature rule as the sale itself (paragraph 27, in the first judgment, which was the minority).

The clause itself also allowed one more extension: clause 7.2 said the date would be extended for a further 30 days with the seller's written consent (paragraph 3). The full court relied on that. The Supreme Court of Appeal would not consider it, because the seller had not raised it in the High Court or the full court (paragraphs 14 and 41), and it held that the sale had lapsed on 19 February in any event (paragraphs 44 and 66).

It was a split decision, three judges to two. The minority (Weiner JA, with one colleague) would have held that the second addendum revived the sale, because the parties' wish to carry on was plain. The majority (Schippers JA, with two colleagues) disagreed, and its reasoning is the Court's decision and order. The majority said its rule has been followed consistently by the Supreme Court of Appeal and affirmed by the Constitutional Court (paragraph 54). Because the judges divided, how the rule applies to your own sale is a question for an attorney, not a certainty.

If everyone still wants the sale after a lapse, the parties need a new agreement that stands on its own. A sale of land has to be in writing and signed by the parties, or by agents acting on their written authority (section 2(1) of the Alienation of Land Act; the judgment describes the same rule in footnote 5). The judgment quotes a High Court decision (McPherson) that a new agreement may use the same terms as the old, but if the lapsed date is neither removed nor extended, the new agreement falls away at once (paragraphs 25 and 58). Because the lapsed sale binds nobody, the seller is not obliged to sign a new agreement and can reprice or sell elsewhere.

This is the most useful rule on the page. **On the majority's reasoning, an extension works only if it comes before the date.** The safe form is a written addendum signed by both parties, like the first one in Codevilla. An addendum signed the day after the date is not an extension, it is an attempt to revive a lapsed agreement, and on the majority's reasoning it does not work. A bank that is close but not finished is the case where this matters most, because the addendum has to be signed while the clock is still running.

## Deadline day: a checklist for buyer and seller

A few days before the date, both sides can ask the same four questions. Asking on the day itself leaves no time to act on the answers.

- **Is the approval in writing, and has it reached the right person?** The clause says who must receive it. A bank letter sitting in the buyer's inbox may not count until it reaches that person.
- **Does the amount match the clause?** If the clause names a figure, check that the letter shows it. An approval for less, or on terms the clause does not allow, may not fulfil it. The conveyancer can read both.
- **Is the date still ahead?** If the bank needs more time, an extension has to be signed by both parties before the date, or follow the extension mechanism in the clause itself if it has one. After the date, Codevilla shows what a day's delay can cost.
- **Who tells whom if it fails?** If the clause names who gives notice, that is the route. If it is silent, putting the position in writing means nobody carries on as though the sale is alive.
- **Buyer:** the things to keep are the bank's letter and proof of when, and to whom, it was sent. If the bond looks unlikely, the conveyancer can say what the clause allows before the date, rather than after it.
- **Seller:** the conveyancer can report the status a few days before the date. If the date passes without approval and the buyer asks to carry on, on the majority's reasoning in Codevilla it takes a new agreement, not an addendum, so it is worth taking advice before signing anything.
- **Both:** the date goes in the diary with the time the clause counts to. If the clause counts business days, count them on a calendar.

## What happens to the deposit and its interest

If the sale lapses, the deposit normally goes back to the buyer, because the lapsed sale no longer binds anyone. Your offer may say more about the deposit, so read its deposit clause. In Codevilla the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered the R1 950 000 paid towards the price on the buyers' behalf repaid to the person who paid it, with the interest to which she was entitled.

Who gets the interest is a separate question. When a conveyancer holds the deposit, the Legal Practice Act answers it. An attorney's trust account practice must deposit money it holds for a client in its trust account (section 86(2)), and may invest money not immediately needed in an interest-bearing account of its own accord (section 86(3)). The interest on both goes to the Legal Practitioners' Fidelity Fund (section 86(5)(a)). Only where the attorney opens a separate interest-bearing account on the instruction of the person the money is held for (section 86(4)) does the interest go to that person, and then 5% of it still goes to the Fund (section 86(5)(b)).

As a worked example, on R1 000 of interest earned in a section 86(4) account, the buyer would receive R950 and the Fund R50. A deposit left in the ordinary trust account earns the buyer no interest. So 'the deposit comes back with its interest' is true only where the deposit was invested on instruction in a separate account, and then less the Fund's share. A buyer can ask the conveyancer in writing, at the start, whether the deposit will be invested on their instruction and in whose name.

We read section 86 in the gazetted text of September 2014 and in the Department of Justice's annotated copy of the Act, which reads the same for subsections (2) to (5) and notes the 2017 amendments to other sections but none to section 86. Whether a later amendment changes it is for your attorney to confirm. A deposit held by an estate agent instead falls under a different statute, the Property Practitioners Act 22 of 2019, which this guide does not cover, so it is worth asking who holds yours. What nobody recovers is what each side spent getting to the lapse: an inspection, an attorney's review fee, weeks off the market.

## Waiver, and deliberately blocking a condition

A party can sometimes give up a suspensive condition, which is called waiver. A law firm's commentary says a bond clause is for the buyer's exclusive benefit, so the buyer can waive it without the seller's agreement, provided the waiver is made before the end of the period for the bond. The same commentary says courts presume against waiver, that a waiver must be clear and unequivocal, and that it should be in writing. Whether your clause is for the buyer's exclusive benefit is a question of its words, and an agreement can rule waiver out: in Pangbourne, which Codevilla discusses, the conditions were for the benefit of all parties and could not be waived (paragraphs 64 and 65). Treat all of this as a question for your attorney, not a rule to rely on. A majority of the Supreme Court of Appeal did settle one point in Codevilla: a waiver given after the date cannot revive a lapsed agreement (paragraphs 53, 54 and 61 to 63).

The same commentary covers a bank that approves less than the clause names. It says the buyer may accept the smaller bond by waiving the condition before the deadline, and that any extension has to be in an addendum signed by both parties before the period ends. Either way the buyer has to find the shortfall from somewhere other than the bond, and a clause may not allow waiver at all, so the first question for your attorney is what your own clause permits.

Waiving is a serious step, not a way of buying time. It can turn 'no bond, no sale' into 'no bond, and still a sale', and a buyer who then cannot pay risks being in breach. A buyer who waives needs to be able to pay what the bond would have covered, on top of transfer duty and attorney costs (see [transfer duty and transfer costs](/guides/transfer-duty-and-transfer-costs)). A waiver given on the strength of an approval the buyer merely expects leaves nothing to fall back on if that approval never arrives.

The mirror image is a party who deliberately stops a condition from being fulfilled to escape the sale. South African law has a rule for that, called fictional fulfilment: the unfulfilled condition is treated as fulfilled against the party who deliberately prevented it, who stays bound as though it had been met. The Supreme Court of Appeal describes the rule, which goes back to two Appellate Division decisions of 1924 (Gowan v Bowern and MacDuff & Co v Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co), in Lekup Prop Co No 4 v Wright [2012] ZASCA 67. That case was about a sale subject to sub-division being registered by a date (paragraph 2), not a bond, so it bears on a bond clause only by analogy. Four points from it matter. The rule needs a deliberate intention to escape the obligation, and negligence is not enough (paragraphs 7 to 9). What a party must do depends on the contract: in some cases a party can sit still, and in others it has a legal duty to help the condition along (paragraph 7). The Court said the approach applies to deliberate and calculated inaction as well as to action (paragraph 28). And in Lekup it refused to apply the rule, because the party relying on it did not prove that the other side acted to escape the agreement (paragraph 30).

So a seller who refuses the bank's valuer access, or a buyer who never lodges the application, is not necessarily walking away cleanly. Whether the rule would catch them turns on what the offer required each of you to do and on proof of what was intended, and the party alleging it carries that burden. These are examples, not decided cases. Whether stalling out the clock works as an exit, or as a way to hold someone to a sale, would depend on proof of what was intended.

A related question is a bond that is approved in time and withdrawn later. Once approval has arrived in time, the condition has been met and the sale is no longer suspended on it. We found no primary source on the effect of a later withdrawal, and it can turn on the clause (it may require the finance to stay in place until registration) and on why the bank withdrew. A buyer who cannot then pay risks being in breach rather than released, so tell your attorney at once and do not assume either way. The Codevilla buyers asked the bank to withdraw its approval months after the sale was signed, but the Court decided the case on the lapse and did not rule on that point.

## Subject to the sale of the buyer's property

An offer to purchase 'subject to the sale of the buyer's property' makes your sale wait on the buyer selling their own home. It is a suspensive condition like the bond clause, with the same date rules, and it is a common one. It hands part of your timeline to a transaction you are not party to and cannot see. If the buyer's own sale falls through, yours lapses, and the weeks you spent off the market are gone. The wording decides how risky it is, and the three versions below are worth telling apart.

- Whichever version is in the offer, **a seller can ask to see the buyer's own signed offer to purchase**: its price, conditions and dates. If the buyer's last date falls after the seller's, the seller's date can pass before the buyer's conditions are met.
- **A 72-hour clause (below)** is one way a seller can keep marketing while this condition is open. Without one, the offer may leave the seller waiting on the buyer's sale alone, so the wording is worth checking.

**Three versions of 'subject to the sale of the buyer's property'**

| Wording | What must happen | The seller's risk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Subject to the buyer's property being sold | May be read as a signed offer on the buyer's home, even one that is itself conditional. Check what your clause counts as 'sold'. | Highest. You may have inherited a chain: your sale rests on a bond approval you cannot see. |
| Subject to that sale becoming unconditional by a stated date | The buyer's own conditions must be met by that date. | Lower. The money behind your sale is more real, but the date can still pass, and then your sale lapses too. |
| Subject to registration of the buyer's transfer | The buyer's sale must register at the Deeds Office. | Most certain, slowest. Usually workable only when your own move is far off. |

## The 72-hour clause (continued marketing)

A 72-hour clause, also called a continued marketing clause, is the seller's counterweight. It lets the seller keep marketing the home after signing a conditional offer. When a second buyer arrives with a stronger offer, the seller gives the first buyer written notice, and that buyer then has 72 hours to deal with the outstanding conditions, by fulfilling or waiving them. If the first buyer does not, the seller may cancel the first agreement and go ahead with the second.

As far as we know it comes from the contract, not from a statute, so it exists only if your offer to purchase contains it, and its exact words settle the questions that will actually arise. Wordings differ. For example, the law firm STBB describes a version in which the second offer must be unconditional and the 72 hours exclude weekends and public holidays. Other wordings may count plain hours or accept a competing offer with fewer conditions or a higher price. We have no primary source for how common each is. If your clause counts calendar hours, a notice served on a Friday afternoon runs out on Monday afternoon; a clause that skips weekends runs later. Read your own clause, and ask your attorney what its words mean.

It cuts both ways. Timing matters to a seller: one who serves the notice before the second offer is signed by both parties, and before its funding is real, risks ending up with neither sale. For a buyer who receives a notice, 72 hours may be too short for a bank to decide, so the realistic choices may be to waive the condition, which means being able to pay without the bond, or to lose the house. A buyer who needs the finance can ask for the clause to be removed, or for a longer notice period, before signing; whether the seller agrees is a matter for negotiation. We have not read a judgment on how these clauses are applied, so the wording of your own clause is what counts.

## Suspensive and resolutive conditions are opposites

A resolutive condition is the reverse of a suspensive one. The sale is binding and operative from the moment it is signed, and it terminates if the stated event happens. Everything runs normally in the meantime, which is why the distinction matters: under a suspensive condition you are waiting to see whether the deal starts; under a resolutive one you are already in it, waiting to see whether it stops.

Look at the direction of the clause rather than its label. 'Subject to' and 'shall only come into effect upon' point to a suspensive condition; 'shall terminate if' points to a resolutive one. If a resolutive condition is fulfilled the sale usually falls away and the parties are restored to where they started, so anything already exchanged is given back.

**Suspensive versus resolutive conditions**

|  | Suspensive condition | Resolutive condition |
| --- | --- | --- |
| On signature | Duties to transfer and to pay are suspended | Fully binding and operative straight away |
| If the event happens | The sale becomes enforceable | The sale terminates and the parties are restored |
| If it does not happen by the date | The agreement lapses, with no breach on its own | The sale simply continues, unaffected |
| Typical example | Subject to the buyer obtaining bond approval by a date | Terminates if the seller cannot produce approved plans by a date |

## Once the conditions are met, transfer starts

When every condition has been met, the sale is unconditional and transfer can begin: the transferring attorney is instructed, the buyer's bond is registered with the transfer, and the Deeds Office registers it. [What happens after the offer is signed](/guides/conveyancing-and-the-transfer-process) walks through each stage.

Suspensive conditions are one of the places where a sale can fall over, and the damage usually traces back to wording nobody read closely. Have a conveyancing attorney review the conditions before you sign; you can browse [conveyancing attorneys on Privately](/attorneys). This is general information, not legal advice, and your answer turns on the exact words in your document.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a suspensive condition in a South African property sale?

It is a clause that makes the operation of the sale depend on an uncertain future event happening by an agreed date, most commonly the buyer obtaining bond approval. The agreement is signed and real, but the duties to give transfer and to pay the price are suspended until the condition is met. If it is met, the obligations become enforceable. If it is not, the agreement lapses.

### What does 'subject to bond approval' mean in an offer to purchase?

It means the sale goes ahead only if the buyer's bank approves the loan in the way and by the date the offer sets. The clause should say the amount, the date, what counts as approval and who must receive it. If approval is not given in time, the sale lapses, and that is not in itself a breach by either side.

### What happens if the bond is not approved by the date in the offer to purchase?

The agreement lapses automatically. That is not a breach on its own: nobody can sue to force the sale, and both parties are released and free to deal elsewhere. The deposit normally goes back to the buyer. If a bank declines before the date, the clause decides whether the buyer may try another lender in the time left; the section on bond approval covers it. Where the conveyancer holds it in the trust account, whether the buyer also gets interest depends on the Legal Practice Act: it goes to the buyer only where the deposit was invested on instruction in a separate interest-bearing account under section 86(4), and then less 5% for the Legal Practitioners' Fidelity Fund. Otherwise the interest goes to the Fund. A deposit held by an estate agent falls under a different statute that this guide does not cover, so ask who holds yours.

### Can a suspensive condition deadline be extended?

Yes, but only before it expires, and the safe course is a written addendum signed by both parties, like the sale agreement itself. In Codevilla v Kennedy-Smith a majority of the Supreme Court of Appeal held that once the date had passed the agreement had lapsed and an addendum signed the next day could not revive it. After that the only route is a new agreement, which the seller is free to refuse. The decision was three judges to two, so ask an attorney how it applies to your sale.

### Is a bond pre-approval enough to fulfil 'subject to bond approval'?

Not necessarily. A pre-approval is the bank's view before it has valued the property or seen your offer, and many clauses ask for written approval of a bond over the property itself. Whether a certificate satisfies your clause depends on its exact words, so do not rely on it without asking your conveyancing attorney.

### What is the difference between a suspensive and a resolutive condition?

A suspensive condition suspends the sale until the event happens, and the agreement lapses if it does not happen by the deadline. A resolutive condition makes the sale binding immediately and terminates it if the event does happen, with the parties restored to their starting positions. The label matters less than the direction, so check whether the clause says the sale 'is subject to' something or 'shall terminate if' something.

### Can a buyer waive the bond approval condition?

Possibly, but it depends on your clause. Law-firm commentary says a bond clause is for the buyer's exclusive benefit and can be waived by the buyer alone before the end of the period, that courts presume against waiver, and that a waiver must be clear and unequivocal and should be in writing. An agreement can also rule waiver out. A majority of the Supreme Court of Appeal held in Codevilla that a waiver after the date cannot revive a lapsed sale. Waiving means being able to pay what the bond would have covered, and a waiver given on an approval that never arrives leaves nothing to fall back on. Your conveyancing attorney can say whether your clause allows it.

### What does 'offer to purchase subject to sale of property' mean?

It means the sale of the seller's home waits on the buyer selling their own. It is a suspensive condition, so if the buyer's sale does not happen as the clause requires, by its date, the agreement lapses. Wording matters: it can mean only a signed offer on the buyer's home, that sale becoming unconditional, or its registration at the Deeds Office, and each leaves the seller more or less exposed.

### What is a 72-hour clause and can a seller keep marketing the property?

A 72-hour or continued marketing clause lets the seller carry on marketing while an offer is still conditional. If a stronger offer arrives, the seller notifies the first buyer in writing and that buyer has 72 hours to deal with the outstanding conditions, failing which the seller may cancel and accept the second offer. As far as we know it exists only if it is written into the offer to purchase, and its wording decides whether the 72 hours exclude weekends and how strong the competing offer must be.

## Sources

- [Supreme Court of Appeal: Codevilla v Kennedy-Smith NO and Others (494/2023) [2024] ZASCA 136, judgment of 10 October 2024 (the court's own copy), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/component/jdownloads/send/94-judgements-2024/4315-maria-luisa-palma-codevilla-v-paula-jane-kennedy-smith-no-and-others-494-2023-2024-zasca-136-10-october-2024?Itemid=0)
- [Supreme Court of Appeal: media summary of the Codevilla judgment, 10 October 2024 (does not form part of the judgment), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/images/SCA2024-136ms.pdf)
- [Supreme Court of Appeal: Lekup Prop Co No 4 (Pty) Ltd v Wright (286/11) [2012] ZASCA 67, judgment of 23 May 2012 (fictional fulfilment; the court's own copy), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/component/jdownloads/send/27-judgments-2012/2752-lekup-prop-co-no-4-pty-ltd-v-wright-286-11-2012-zasca-67-23-may-2012?Itemid=0)
- [Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, section 86, as gazetted (Government Gazette 38022, gov.za PDF), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/3802222-9act28of2014legalpracticeacta.pdf)
- [Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981, section 2(1) (gov.za PDF), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201503/act-68-1981.pdf)
- [Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, Department of Justice copy with amendment notes (PDF created May 2025; section 86(2) to (5) reads the same as the gazette), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2014-028.pdf)
- [De Rebus: Accounting for s 86(4) investments in trust financial records (September 2024; a Fidelity Fund practitioner's commentary: how section 86(4) interest is split), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.derebus.org.za/accounting-for-s-864-investments-in-trust-financial-records/)
- [Tonkin Clacey Pretoria: Suspensive conditions in contracts of sale of immovable property (undated; a law firm's commentary: waiver before the date, a smaller bond, extension by signed addendum), accessed 20 October 2026](https://www.tcpta.co.za/suspensive-conditions-contracts-sale-immovable-property/)
- [STBB: Why every sale agreement needs a 72-hour clause (9 July 2025; a law firm's commentary: market practice, never the source for law), accessed 20 October 2026](https://stbb.co.za/blog-safeguarding-sellers-why-every-sale-agreement-needs-a-72-hour-clause/)

## Related guides

- [What is an offer to purchase in South Africa?](https://privately.co.za/guides/offer-to-purchase-south-africa)
- [The OTP decoded: six elements every seller and buyer must know](https://privately.co.za/guides/offer-to-purchase-decoded-six-elements)
- [Bond pre-qualification and pre-approval in South Africa](https://privately.co.za/guides/bond-pre-approval-south-africa)
- [Conveyancing and the property transfer process](https://privately.co.za/guides/conveyancing-and-the-transfer-process)
- [How much deposit do you need to buy a house in South Africa?](https://privately.co.za/guides/house-deposit-south-africa)

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Figures verified 2026-09-28. General information about South African property practice, not legal or financial advice.

Source: Privately, https://privately.co.za/guides/suspensive-conditions-subject-to-bond