Conveyancing Process
An average transfer in which a Seller has an existing bond to cancel and where the Purchaser will be registering a new bond, takes between 6 to 10 weeks to achieve registration in the Deeds Office. This process involves three firms of attorneys – the Transfer Attorney, the Bond Cancellation Attorney and the Bond Registration Attorney who each attend to different aspects of the transfer process simultaneously. The following steps can generally be expected:
1. SALE AGREEMENT
The Seller and Purchaser sign the sale agreement which is then sent to the transferring attorney nominated by the Seller.
2. INSTRUCTION
Once the transferring attorney receives the instruction to attend to the transfer, he/she will immediately request the following:
- FICA documents from both parties
- Payment of the deposit (if applicable) and pro forma transfer costs from the Purchaser
- Cancellation figures from the existing bondholder in order to cancel any existing bond
- Rates and levy rance figures in order to obtain the Rates & Levy Clearance Certificates
3. CONDITIONS OF SALE
The sale agreement only comes into effect once the suspensive conditions have been met (i.e. the Purchaser’s bond is approved).
Once the Purchaser’s bond is approved, the bank appoints bond registration attorneys to attend to the registration of the bond.
4. CANCELLATION FIGURES
The existing bondholder appoints bond cancellation attorneys to cancel the bond.
The bond cancellation attorneys send the bond cancellation figures to the transferring attorneys who then send a request to the bond registration attorneys to issue guarantees.
5. SIGNATURES AND PAYMENTS
Both parties are called to sign the transfer documents and the Purchaser is called to sign the bond documents.
Once payment of the pro forma transfer costs, as well as any outstanding balance of the purchase price is made, the transferring attorneys will make payment of any rates, levies and transfer duty that may be due
6. GUARANTEES & CERTIFICATES
The transferring attorneys receive the guarantees, Rates & Levy Clearance Certificates and Transfer Duty Receipt.
7. LODGMENT
The transferring attorneys, bond cancellation attorneys and bond registration attorneys will arrange for the simultaneous lodgment/handing in of their documents at the Deeds Office.
The documents are examined in the Deeds Office which takes about 7-10 working days, assuming there are no unforeseen delays.
8. REGISTRATION
Once the documents have been examined, the attorneys will be advised that the matter is on prep and they will have 5 days to finalise anything that may be outstanding.
The documents are then put forward for
execution/registration, where the Purchaser finally becomes the legal owner of the Property.
9. FINAL ACCOUNTS
Once registration takes place, the transferring attorney will account to both the Seller & Purchaser.
Once the new Title Deed is made available at the Deeds Office, same will be forwarded to the Purchaser or, in cases here a bond has been registered, to the Purchaser’s bank where it will be retained until the bond has been paid in full.