"An Attorney near me" - Cape Town legal concierge
lawyer@capetownlawyer.co.za or WhatsApp
Conveyancing Fees in 2026 : For SA Property Purchases
Conveyancing fees from 1 July 2026 are about 3.5% above those applying before, ie an increase in line with CPI inflation in the year to January 2026:
| Value of Property or Bond | Projected Fee (Excl. VAT.) |
|---|---|
| R100,000 or less | R6,875 |
| Over R100,000 up to R500,000 | R6,875 + R1,100 per R50,000 or part thereof above R100,000 |
| Over R500,000 up to R1,000,000 | R15,675 for the first R500,000 + R2,120 per R100,000 or part thereof above R500,000 |
| Over R1,000,000 up to R5,000,000 | R26,275 for the first R1,000,000 + R2,120 per R200,000 or part thereof above R1,000,000 |
| Over R5,000,000 | R68,675 for the first R5,000,000 + R5,340 per R1,000,000 or part thereof above R5,000,000 |
However, Section 27(1) Certificates of Real Right for Exclusive Use Areas went up from R325 to R955 (plus R340 for each additional right). The Law Society clearly recognised that the administrative burden, checking of sectional plans, and vesting of exclusive use areas (like parking bays or gardens) was severely underpriced in the previous guidelines relative to the risk involved.
In the 2025 guidelines, changing the endorsement on a deed to reflect the conversion of a company to a Close Corporation (or vice versa), or changing the vesting of an entity, was incredibly cheap - R620 base fee - this was bumped up to R2 420 from 1 July 2026. This 290% increase brings entity vesting changes in line with standard change-of-name applications (which also sit at R2 420). It fixes a massive discrepancy where attorneys were essentially doing complex company-to-CC registry tracking for next to nothing.
If you instruct a correspondent attorney in another province, the apportionment guidelines show that the Law Society increased the net flat fees paid to the instructed practitioner (e.g., boosting Master's office attendances from R1 850 to R1 915). Because the total fee to the client only went up by roughly 3.5%, the instructing attorney is absorbing slightly higher fixed correspondent costs, subtly squeezing the margins on cross-province matters.
The SPLUMA (Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act) fee has dissapeared in the 2026 guidelines (with no comment).
Whilst the increase date in 2025 was on 1 August, it was unusual for it to be that late, and it is no surprise that increases in 2026 are effective a month earlier. In the year to April 2026 CPI inflation in South Africa was running at 4.0%, but it was 3.5% in the year to January 2026 (this is the inflation figure cited in the Law Society's fee guidelines for 2026).
Conveyancing fees are the legal costs paid to attorneys for their services in transferring property ownership,and regulated through recommended guidelines (although the final fees are subject to negotiation, the recommended fees are only guidelines).
Effective from 1 August 2025 to 30 Jun 2026
The following sliding scale shows the 2025 conveyancing fees and applies to both property transfers and bond registrations, as per the LSSA guidelines. Fees shown are exclusive of VAT; add 15% to get the total inclusive of VAT.
| Value of Property | Recommended Conveyancing Fees |
|---|---|
| R100,000 or less | R6,640 |
| Over R100,000 up to R500,000 | R6,640 plus R1,060 per R50,000 or part thereof above that |
| Over R500,000 up to R1,000,000 | R15,120 for the first R500,000 plus R2,050 per R100,000 or part thereof above that |
| Over R1,000,000 up to R5,000,000 | R25,370 for the first R1,000,000 plus R2,050 per R200,000 or part thereof above that |
| Over R5,000,000 | R66,370 for the first R5,000,000 plus R5,160 per R1,000,000 or part thereof above that |
Compliance Fee Adjustments
The baseline ancillary fees for routine attorney attendances have scaled up evenly:
| Fee Category | 2025 Guideline | 2026 Guideline |
| Letters of Undertaking / Guarantees (per item) | R920 |
R955 |
| Trust Investments (Section 86(4) LPA) | R920 |
R955 |
| Municipal Refund Reconciliations | R640 |
R665 |
| Formal Risk Certifications (per instance) | R1 550 |
R1 605 |
| FICA Verification (Natural Person) | R360 |
R375 |
| FICA Verification (Juristic Entity with 3 or fewer members) | R720 |
R745 |
Sectional Title Register Openings (Section I)
While the basic fee for opening a register escalated standardly, a calculation quirk in the 2025 text regarding Exclusive Use Areas was corrected to a cleaner structure in 2026:
- Basic Register Opening Fee: Increased from R9 195 to R9 515.
- Fee Per Section: Increased from R920 to R955.
- Exclusive Use Rights Certificates (Section 27(1)): * 2025: A flat recommended fee of R325 plus R325 per additional right.
- 2026: Realigned to match standard section scaling at R955 basic plus R340 per additional right.
Transfer of Ownership & Deed Categories
The additional fee added per additional property included in a single instrument of conveyance has changed as follows:
- Conventional Deeds: Maximum cap per extra property raised from R4 140 to R4 285.
- Sectional Title Units: Maximum cap per extra unit / section raised from R4 185 to R4 330.
Flat-Rated Section Fees
| 2025 Fee | 2026 Fee | |
| Section II: Endorsements (Administration of Estates Act, etc.) | R5 510 / R5 470 (ST) | R5 705 / R5 660 (ST) |
| Section II: Extra Endorsement Property/Bond | R795 | R825 |
| Section IV: Certificates of Title (Basic) | R5 510 / R5 470 (ST) | R5 705 / R5 660 (ST) |
| Section IV: Certificate of Consolidated Title | R9 260 | R9 585 |
| Section VIII: Marriage Contracts | R3 120 | R3 230 |
| Section IX: Notarial Waivers | R4 630 / R4 655 (ST) | R4 790 / R4 820 (ST) |
| Section IX: Leases & Servitudes | R7 720 | R7 990 |
| Section X: Bond Cancellations (1st Bond) | R3 260 | R3 375 |
Interprovincial Apportionment Guidelines
The net flat-fee figures paid to instructed correspondents handling work across provincial boundaries have shifted upward to protect margins against inflation:
- Obtaining Master's Endorsements / Certificates: Moved from R1 850 to R1 915.
- Obtaining copies of Deeds Registry / Master's files: Moved from R690 to R715.
- Procuring Clearance Certificates / Rates Clearances: Moved from R690 to R715.
- Attending to Transfer Duty / VAT payment processing: Moved from R690 to R715.
- Standard hourly allowance for any other attendance: Shifted from R325/R335 to R350.
Alienation of Land Act Fees (Section 20)
The framework for recording or canceling installment land contracts under Act 68 of 1981 received matching baseline adjustments:
- Mutual Cancellation Total Fee: Raised from R750 to R780.
- Contract Recording Fee ($\le$ R200 000 purchase price): Raised from R1 520 to R1 575.
- Contract Recording Fee (> R200 000 purchase price): Raised from R2 210 to R2 290.
- Instructed Conveyancer Mere Lodgement Allowance: Scaled from R250 to R260.
Projected Fees for 2027
For 2027 and later, expect similar annual adjustments of 3% to 5%. These are estimates; actual increases will vary based on LSSA/LPC decisions.
Factors Influencing Future Fees
- Inflation: Fees typically rise with consumer price inflation, projected at 3-5% annually.
- Regulatory Changes: Updates from the Legal Practice Council or Deeds Office fees (e.g., new lodgement fees introduced in 2025).
- Economic Conditions: Slower growth may moderate increases, while higher costs could push them up.
- Property Market: Demand for conveyancing services influences negotiations, though guidelines set the baseline.
- Supply of Conveyancers: Fairly stable from year to year, although conveyancing exam pass rates are very low. With automation of tasks, conveyancers are becoming more efficient and able to process more property transactions
Property transfer & sale Info
Sellers of property & buyers, speak to a property lawyer before you hire an estate agent!
- The property transfer process in South Africa - protect your interests.
- Conveyancing lawyers in Cape Town
- Transfer costs calculator for property anywhere in South Africa
- Can I negotiate transfer costs?
- Transfer attorney fees
- Fixed fee conveyancing in South Africa.
- Understanding the various conveyancing costs.
- Conveyancing quote
- New conveyancing fees from 27 May 2024
- Deeds office fees 29 Feb 2024.
- Law Society conveyancing fees 2023
- Law Society conveyancing fees 2024
- Conveyancing fees 2025
- Conveyancing fees 2026
- Bond attorney fees
- Transfer Duty calculator
- Deceased estate property transfer costs
- Deeds Registries Act.
- Servitudes
- Usufruct Agreement on Property in South African law
- Usufruct value calculator (only one in South Africa)
- Usufruct Agreement on Property in South African law
- Land conveyancing
- Transfer attorney vs bond attorney.
- Commercial Property:
- Marriage/Divorce-related:
- How to transfer property from husband to wife (or vice-versa) while still married.
- Donation of property agreement not followed through.
- When property is erroneously in your spouse's name.
- "Protection" of fixed property using a trust.
- Conveyancers conduct the transfer of property ownership between spouses.
- Liquidator to sell property & divide proceeds as part of divorce.
- How to transfer property from husband to wife (or vice-versa) while still married.
- Property sales
- Use conveyancer to guide your private property sale.
- Instead of using real estate agents rather use professional lawyers to sell your property.
- Urgent house sale.
- How to check whether an estate agent is licensed.
- Example of a property sales agreement.
- FLISP Housing subsidies.
- Property Practitioner's Act.
- Code to guide conduct of property practitioners.
- Property purchases
- Terminology
- Arranging lodgement
- Compliance certificates
- Conveyancer's certificate
- Deed of Sale
- Deeds officer examiner
- Existing bonds
- FICA documents
- Levy clearance certificate
- Offer to purchase
- Property sale agreement
- Property search
- Rates clearance certificate
- Statement of account
- Suspensive condition
- Title deed
- Transfer documents
Conveyancing & property transfer discussion forum
Note that this is a public forum - exercise caution before acting on info and use at own risk. No information on this website should be acted on without first consulting with a lawyer. Do not share private details here.