Once documents for required home loan is in place, and the bank has approved your purchase offer, there is one more crucial step before you get to call the property your own – the registration of the property.
As the property registration process is quite critical and time-consuming, it is important to have a thorough idea before getting on with the process. Here are the answers to the most pertinent questions to help you through:
Who are the key members in the property register process?
There are seven critical members involved in the transfer of the property from the buyer to the seller; they are the seller, buyer, estate agent, mortgage broker, Transfer Attorney, Bond Cancellation Attorney, Bond Registration Attorney, and Registrar of Deeds.
By when do you need to submit the documents for registration?
All mandatory documents for registration are required to be submitted along with the compulsory fees within four months from the execution date. In case of a delay, an application requires to be submitted to the sub-registrar within the following four months. On the payment of a fine which may add up to ten times of the actual registration fee, the registrar may agree to review the documents. Due to computerised scanning readily available in all the sub-registrar offices, the submitted documents once scanned, are returned on the same day.
What does the transfer of property include?
The first step involves the appointment of a Transfer Attorney by the seller who prepares all relevant documents such as the Title Deed, cancellation figures provided by the bank, a certificate of rates clearance, as well as government authorised proof of identification. The municipality on verification provides the said attorney with a certificate that states that all relevant taxes and rates have been paid. At this point, a transfer duty is required to be paid to SARS, which is calculated on the basis the property purchase price on a sliding scale as well as pro-rata rates and other conveyance fees for the Transfer Attorney. Once the payment is received, a receipt of transfer duty is issued by SARS.
How to prepare the bond documentation?
The second step involves the preparation of the bond documentation by the Bond Attorney along with the Buyer. The home loan account is also prepared at this point. Once completed, the documents are duly signed, and the related payments are made to the Bond Attorney.
How to cancel the bond?
In the third step, the Transfer Attorney submits the guarantees and documents, collected by the Bond Attorney, to the Deeds Office. The copies of these are also provided to the Cancellation Attorney to get the bank’s consent on the Seller’s bond cancellation.
What steps are to be taken at the Deeds office?
The documents, namely, the Deed of Transfer, transfer duty receipt, and information on Buyer’s bond, are then submitted to the Deeds Office for verification. It takes approximately 2 to 3 weeks, and the attorneys are notified once the process is complete. The final bond registration process can then take place on that very day.
How to get the home loan payment?
Once the registration is complete, the bank pays out the total home loan amount, which officially transfers the property to the buyer making him/her the owner of the said property. It officially takes a total of 3 weeks to complete the entire registration process.
Registration of property is a mandatory step in the transfer of ownership of a property. Failing to get the purchase agreement registered or missing out on registering a mandatory document could lead to disputes later and render your claim invalid in the court of law.
