Who's Who in the Legal Zoo?
When it comes to selling your home, there are a lot of legalities involved. Which means, there are a number of property attorneys you'll encounter as well. Find out who they are and what they do.
When you are selling your property you will have to make use of a transfer/conveyancing attorney.
Conveyancing refers to the branch of law concerned with the preparation of documents for the conveyance of property into the buyer’s name. Ownership of a property is only obtained once the property was registered in the buyer’s name at the Deeds office.
A transfer/conveyancing attorney is appointed by the seller (yourself) and performs tasks such as the following:
- He/she will apply for cancellation figures on your bond and clearance figures regarding rates, electricity, water and refuse removal from the local municipality. He/she will also apply for levy figures from the body corporate/home owner’s association.
- He/she will prepare the transfer papers.
- He/she will request guarantees from the buyer’s bond attorney and supply a draft deed of transfer to prepare the buyer’s bond documents.
- He/she will forward the papers to the cancellation attorney at the bank that holds the seller’s bond.
- He/she will pay final rates and utility amounts, draw up a new deed of transfer papers and collect all outstanding documents that the seller must provide.
- He/she will then submit the documents to the Deeds office where after it is processed and the transfer is registered.
Obviously this process does not always go as smoothly and as quickly as you as a seller would want it to, but it is important to keep in mind that conveyancers/transfer attorneys are often delayed by banks, city councils, the Deeds office, by buyers and even by sellers who want to change agreements causing delays.
In addition to the above a Transfer/Conveyancing attorney will also keep the seller in the loop regarding the transfer process and advise the seller on any suspicious conditions in the offer to purchase. The Transfer/Conveyancing attorney will be the seller’s “go-to person” regarding anything related to the transfer process.
Other attorneys like the Bond attorneys (who represent the buyer and are appointed by the bank who grants the buyer’s home loan) and Cancellation attorneys (who represent the bank cancelling the seller's home loan and is appointed by the bank cancelling the seller's bond) are also involved in the conveyancing process, but as a seller you will mainly deal with the transfer attorney.
Additional source: Private Property