Julia Ward — a partner at Cape Town law firm, Delport Ward & Pienaar — cuts through the conveyancing clutter facing property buyers.

What is conveyancing?
Conveyancing is the name given to the specialised process of transferring immovable property from one person to another. A conveyancer is an admitted attorney who has passed a specialised exam and been admitted by the High Court as such.

In a nutshell, conveyancing encompasses all property related work, including the registration of transfer of immovable property (such as vacant land, flats, commercial or residential property), bonds over immovable property as well as subdivisions and consolidations of property in the deeds office.

Who appoints a conveyancer?
There seems to be a lot of confusion about this, but remember it is always the seller’s right to appoint a conveyancer. Only when the seller and purchaser agree otherwise in the ‘Agreement of Sale’ document, may this rule change.

What’s the first step in the sale of property?
The first step is to have a properly signed 'Agreement of Sale' or 'Offer to Purchase'. You need to understand your rights and be clear on the terms and conditions in this document, so be sure to contact your agent or conveyancer with any questions. Once the relevant document has been signed, the seller then directs their agent to forward the instruction to their conveyancer.

So what happens next?
Once the conveyancer has received this instruction, the ball in is their court, so to speak! Tasks include making the seller and purchaser fully aware of all the important dates, ensuring the purchaser has paid their deposit and checking that bond approvals have been granted on time.

Once all the necessary information and documentation has been gathered, all the documents signed and receipts and clearances received, the conveyancer will then lodge the transaction for registration at the deeds office. From lodgement, the examination process takes roughly six to nine working days before they come up for registration.

The conveyancer will continue with registration if all monies for the purchase price have been paid or secured by a guarantee or bond and all costs have been paid.

Who do I pay the deposit to?
The 'Agreement of Sale' or 'Offer to Purchase' normally sets out whether the deposit must be paid to the estate agent or conveyancer. However, even if the Agreement or Offer states it must be paid to the agent, you can pay it over to the conveyancer — as long as it gets paid. The agent or conveyancer will invest it on your behalf, and the interest earned will be paid to you on registration of transfer.

Is a 'Power Of Attorney' really necessary?
As the seller in a transaction, you need to sign a 'Power of Attorney' authorising the conveyancer to appear before the Registrar to pass transfer of your property. This isn’t something you can do yourself and a 'Power of Attorney' is just one of the standard transfer documents that need to be signed.

The seller or purchaser may also sign a 'Special Power of Attorney' authorising another person to sign all documents on their behalf. This is very handy and a huge time and expense saver if you have bought or sold property, but are out of the country.

Due to South African law, any documents signed outside the borders of the country have to be signed according to strict procedures i.e. before a Notary Public or member of the South African Consulate or both (depending on which country you are in). This can often be very expensive, so signing a 'Special Power of Attorney' instead may be preferable.

What is a 'Declaration In Respect Of Status'?
This is basically a declaration regarding whether you are married or not, and if you are married, whether you are married in or out of community of property, according to Moslem rites or according to the laws of any other country. The conveyancer needs to know this as the documents will be drawn up according to this status.

What is 'Transfer Duty Declaration'?
This document is submitted to the Receiver of Revenue when transfer duty is paid. It confirms that the purchase price stated in the 'Agreement of Sale' is the correct one. This declaration also needs to state your income tax number, and if you are not registered for income tax, your annual income from all sources.

What is the procedure with mortgage or bond documents?
Awaiting bond approval can be a stressful time! Once your bond is approved, your bank will forward the bond registration instructions to the conveyancer. It’s important to remember that you have the right to appoint your own conveyancer, as long as they are on the bank's panel of attorneys.

The documents will then be drawn up in accordance with the transfer documentation and bank's instructions. You will have to sign all of these documents, including the Mortgage Loan Agreement, which sets out the interest rate, instalments and terms etc; the Mortgage Bond, which gets registered at the deeds office; affidavits, debit order authority etc.

Who arranges these transactions?
Assuming the conveyancer attending to the transfer is not that same as the bond registration conveyancer, both will communicate to ensure that the bond registration conveyancer lodges their documents at the deeds office simultaneously with the transfer to ensure simultaneous registration.