Why some property transfers take so long

Writer: LB Vorster.

It is generally accepted that the transfer of immovable property can take anything between one month and three months. Some transfers may take even longer. Why is that?

The transfer of any particular property may involve as many as 17 role players, the most important of which are (although not limited to) the transferring attorney, the estate agent, the seller, the purchaser, the existing mortgage bond holder (bank), the attorney cancelling the existing mortgage bond, the bond originator, the bank granting a mortgage bond to the purchaser, the attorney registering the mortgage bond, the local authority, the home owners’ association/body corporate, the electrical inspector, the beetle inspector, the person inspecting the gas installation, the bridging finance company, SARS and the Deeds Office.

Among those mentioned, the purchaser is actually the only one that has to provide his/her/its continuous cooperation throughout the entire process. It is therefore no surprise that the purchaser is in the ideal position to, intentionally or not, manipulate the duration of the transfer process to the detriment of the seller, as well as one or more of the other role players referred to above.

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