Firstly, as when buying any other property per norm in SA, there will be attorney fees and bond costs involved. (ONLY BOND COSTS if you take out a bond from a financial institution).

If you buy below R1 100 000 you will NOT pay TRANSFER DUTY to SARS, only if you buy above this amount. TRANSFER DUTY is an extra TAX that SARS bill. TRANSFER DUTY is NOT the same as referred to attorney fees for registration.

You will always pay an attorney a fee to register the property in your name.

Now these fees are amount specific. For example, transfer fees for a R300 000 purchase will be different as for purchase of i.e. R630 000.

If you take a bond, you will pay your bank’s BOND attorney a fee to register your bond. Again these fees are amount specific as per above explanation.

A bank will always charge you with a bond initiation fee, normally ranging between R5000 to R9000 on average priced properties. Should the purchase be for luxury properties, they can charge more based on their terms and conditions.

You can always contact your bank directly to ask what their initiation fee will be, based on x amount, if you wish to purchase via bond.

Remember please – banks will make sure you take out insurance on a property as terms of bond finance, so take note of this. This insurance will obviously only become applicable when a property registers on your name.

You as a client will have to obtain your own electricity certificate. This means you send out a certified electrician to check all the electric wiring inside the property to make sure it is safe. If electricity defaults are present / damaged, the items must be fixed. Thereafter the electrician will issue you with this electricity certificate (COC). This will be for your bill.

You do NOT pay the arrear rates and taxes / levies / water and electricity, the Trustee will pay it out of the selling price up to the date that the offer gets accepted. On acceptance the risk of the property passes to the purchaser.

You will only pay the normal rates and taxes / levies per month from the day that they accept your offer till registration. The transferring attorney will work these fees out (Pro rata) and ask you to pay it upfront for around 3 months, for them to obtain clearance certificates. NOTE that this 3-month billing is only for the average monthly billings for rates and taxes / levies (if applicable), NOT for the entire arrears due plus the 3-month fees.

As stated in the contract, you only pay for these from acceptance onwards.

ACCEPTANCE: Risk of property passes to purchaser.

Depending on when registration is in the DEEDS OFFICE, you will be refunded pro rata should the last said payment made by yourself be in credit.

If you buy CASH (Do payment within 7 days of offer acceptance to the Transferring Attorney OR some contracts state 72 hours), then you do NOT pay any interest.

If you use any other form of finance or take a bond, then you will pay 1% interest per month, based on your offer amount, from date of offer acceptance till date of registration. (Also pro rata).

NOTE: The contract states 12% per annum based on your offer amount. There are 12 months in a year, so it comes down to 1% per month.

I will gladly do cost estimates for you, just notify me on the specific purchase / offer amount and/or bond amount, and I will do the cost break down(s).

NOTE: Remember you must do eviction if occupants refuse to vacate after their 30-day notice. Notices will often be issued to you as purchaser to deliver or take to the occupants as proof.

SHOULD EVICTION BECOME APPLICABLE

In most cases eviction will be unopposed, meaning costs will be around R30 000 – R40 000, taking around 3 to 6 months on average. This will be done by our attorney at cost price as indicated.

As stated, we can assist you with this as per above amount indications, as an extra service, OR you may do eviction yourself. We just offer above as extra services should you require / need it. I will put you in contact with our attorney who will assist you. Just request details from me and I will provide the same.

Regarding extra certifications or certificates to be obtained by a purchaser on the purchaser’s cost will be the following (if applicable), besides the COC as explained prior:

Gas certificate

Electric Fence certificate

Invasive Species

Etymologist

The main reason for this is that this is a term of sale.

This is an Insolvent Estate, meaning there is no money available to obtain it, thus, asking the purchaser to obtain and pay for it.