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Lawyers Selling Property

Only lawyers can effect the legal transfer of houses, but if you appoint them earlier in the process, they can also guide you through the sales process, at no cost additional to the standard conveyancing fees. Savvy property owners are having a professional represent their interests throughout the process, with massive cost savings if they guide you through a private property sale. Get the process rolling now by filliing in the form below to get an all-in-one quote. Many legal disagreements can be avoided if you get a conveyancing attorney involved from the start.

Potential cost saving

In the vast majority of cases there is a potential cost benefit to a Seller in using CapeTownLawyer instead of an agent.

More control over sale process

You also have more control over the process, and eliminate the bias an estate agent may have in wanting to make the sale happen at an artificially low price in order to earn their commission.

An attorney to represent your interests

Although estate agents are legally required to let the seller of a property know that it is her right to appoint a conveyancing attorney of her choice, they sometimes do not do do this. It is thus unsurprising that many property sellers are avoiding the huge costs of (biased) agents, and choosing to sell their properties via attorneys.

Involve conveyancing attorneys to assist with the entire process: marketing the property, finding a buyer and then doing the paperwork to get the property registered in the buyer's name.

Property Practioners Act

Lawyers are now legally allowed to market and facilitate property sales on behalf of their clients. Lawyers operate under an exemption from the Property Practitioners Act of 2019 (passed in Feb 2022, formerly known as the Estate Agency Act). The way "Property Practitioner" is defined in the Property Practitioner Act excludes lawyers, which is warranted as lawyers' regulator in South Africa is the Legal Practice Council; with members of the public being protecting from wrongdoing by lawyers by the Legal Practitioner's Fidelity Fund. Tthe Legal Practice Council serves as the vigilant guardian of legal professionals and the public interest in all affairs managed by attorneys.

Dodgy alliance between estate agencies & conveyancers

Many conveyancing firms have tight relationships with estate agents, with their financial fortunes being dependent on the continuation of this relationship, which in turn influences their desire to act independently in certain situations. It is greatly in the interests of sellers of property to appoint the conveyancing attorneys themselves, rather than allowing estate agents to appoint their dependent conveyancing attorney lapdogs (who are likely to act in the agents' interests, so as to continue the money-making alliance between them).

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Appoint Conveyancers to conduct your Private Property sale

Let your conveyancing attorneys sell your property, in return for the standard property transfer fees which you'd have to pay anyway; plus 2.0 percent. This includes ensuring all the standard legal paperwork is carried out via conveyancing experts

• Step 1. Determine a fair market price at which to sell. To sell your house one needs to determine a correct selling price for your property.   Sellers may already have an idea of the price they would like to sell for.  There are vendor packages available to assist Sellers in ascertaining a Fair Market Valuation of their property. A property that is priced right, should sell quickly.
• Step 2. Before putting their house on the market,  Sellers may want to do maintenance on things such as broken windows, cupboards and general maintenance such as touch up painting etc. A well presented house will generally sell faster than a house which has been neglected. We can assist with sourcing reputable organisations to conduct pre-sale maintenance. If you are going to do some maintenance, then this is a cost which you would incur whether or not you sell using an estate agency.
• Step 3. The property should be advertised. We will advertisie on various online sites (on the internet and platforms such as Facebook and other social media platforms) to sellers to sell the property. We will also advertise the property on our website and newsletter.
• Step 4. When prospective buyers are identified, they are shown the house.
• Step 5. Once a Buyer is found to be wanting to make an offer we will assist with the drafting of an Offer to Purchase. The documents which would be needed to be submitted to the conveyancing attorneys to draft an Offer to Purchase are :
  • Extracts from the Identity Documents of the Seller and Buyer.
  • Utility Bills reflecting residential addresses (not older than 3 months old) for the Seller and Buyer.
  • Income Tax reference numbers of the Seller and Buyer.
• Step 6. To complete the conveyancing; other details requred are :
  • The Purchase Price
  • The date of occupation and transfer
  • The address of the property
  • How the purchase price will be paid
  • Whether the purchaser will be applying for Bond finance
• Step 7. Once the offer to purchase has been signed by a potential Buyer and accepted by a Seller it becomes a legally binding Offer to Purchase. The Conveyancing – transfer of property process then begins.

Email lawyer@capetownlawyer.co.za & request your conveyancing attorneys to guide you through a no-agent property sale process.

Law firms with a property sales capability in Cape Town

It is critical that you choose a law firm which is well versed at property sales; these include:

• Cloete, Baker & Partners (Phone 021-4244300, Cape Town city centre)
• Neil Parker Attorneys Incorporated (Phone 021-785-3232, Fish Hoek)
• MDW Inc (Phone 082-786-3523, Woodstock and Tableview)
• Chris Fick & Associates (Phone 021-424-3937, Cape Town city centre)

Pivotal Legal Cases

 Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Ltd v Law Society of South Africa and Others (CC)

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.
  • Checklist to help you identify the best conveyancer near you.
  • Bellville conveyancing attorneys
  • Blouberg conveyancing attorneys
  • Milnerton conveyancing attorneys
  • Pinelands conveyancing attorneys
  • Tableview conveyancing attorneys
• Transfer costs calculator for property anywhere in South Africa.
  • Can I negotiate transfer costs?
  • Transfer attorney fees
    • Fixed fee conveyancing in South Africa. Possible?
    • 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 Registeries Act.
• Servitudes
  • Usufruct Agreement on Property in South African law.
    • Usufruct value calculator (only one in South Africa)
• Land conveyancing
• Transfer attorney vs bond attorney.
• Commercial Property:
  • Transferring property as a going concern.
  • Commercial Property conveyancing quote
• Marriage/Divorce-related:
  • How to transfer property from husband to wife (or vice versa); whilst still married (ie not getting divorced).
    • 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 from one spouse to another (or to a third party, if relevant).
  • Liquidator to sell property & divide proceeds as part of divorce.
• 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
  • Scams property purchasers should watch out for.
  • Home loan repayments calculator, with an estimate of the adjustment to prime to reflect the borrower's credit risk profile.
• 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. Anybody may ask and answer, and you don't know what their level of expertise is. No information on this website should be acted on without first consulting with a lawyer to test its validity. Do not share private details here.