This calculator estimates the costs a buyer pays when transferring a South African residential property — transfer duty, conveyancing attorney fees, Deeds Office registration fees, and bond registration fees if the purchase is financed. It uses the current SARS transfer-duty table, the LSSA attorney tariff from 1 July 2026, and Deeds Office fees gazetted on 1 April 2026.
Understanding Conveyancing Costs
Transfer Duty
Transfer duty is a tax paid to SARS when purchasing property. The rates are progressive, with no duty payable on properties up to R1,210,000.
Current Brackets (1 April 2025):
- R0 – R1,210,000: 0%
- R1,210,001 – R1,663,800: 3%
- R1,663,801 – R2,329,300: 6%
- R2,329,301 – R2,994,800: 8%
- R2,994,801 – R13,310,000: 11%
- Above R13,310,000: 13%
Attorney Fees
Attorney fees are calculated using LSSA tariff guidelines effective from 1 July 2026. Bond registration fees are calculated separately.
What’s Included:
- Property transfer registration
- Bond registration (if applicable)
- Deeds office lodgement
- FICA compliance
- Rates and levy clearances
- Professional consultation
Additional Costs Not Included
Municipal Clearances
Rates clearance certificate, electrical compliance, etc.
HOA/Complex Costs
Levy clearance certificates for sectional title properties
Bank Costs
Bond origination and valuation fees (if financing)
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How this calculator works
Transfer duty sliding scale
Transfer duty is a tax paid to SARS by the buyer. It is a sliding scale: nothing on the first R1,210,000, then rising in steps to 13% on the portion above R13,310,000. The conveyancer pays transfer duty to SARS on the buyer’s behalf and obtains a Transfer Duty Receipt, which the Deeds Office requires before registration. See the current table at SARS — Transfer Duty.
Conveyancing tariff guideline
The attorney fee component uses the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) tariff guideline, effective from 1 July 2026. The guideline scales with the purchase price and is generally what the market charges. Bond registration fees are calculated separately against the bond amount. Conveyancers may negotiate off this tariff — treat the figures as a benchmark, not a binding quote.
Deeds Office registration fees
The Deeds Office charges a statutory registration fee tied to the purchase price band, plus a separate fee for registering the bond if there is one. The figures used here reflect the current fees gazetted on 1 April 2026. These fees are reviewed from time to time by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
What’s excluded
The estimate does not include: municipal rates clearance fees, levy clearance fees from a body corporate or HOA, electrical / gas / beetle compliance certificates, bond origination and valuation fees charged by the bank, FICA verification disbursements, VAT where the seller is a VAT vendor, capital gains tax on the seller, and cancellation costs on an existing bond. These depend on the specific property and appear once we review your signed Offer to Purchase.
Accuracy and limitations
The rates, brackets, and fees built into this calculator change from year to year — SARS revises transfer duty thresholds in most annual budgets, and LSSA and Deeds Office tariffs are updated periodically. Complicated transfers — properties held in a trust or company, deceased estates, sectional title units with levy arrears, non-resident sellers requiring SARB approval, and subdivisions or consolidations — carry additional costs not modelled here. The final quote we issue is always subject to the conveyancer’s review of your signed Offer to Purchase and the underlying title and municipal records.
Selling privately? Your costs look different
This calculator estimates the buyer’s costs. If you are the seller — especially if you are selling privately, without an estate agent — your cost picture is different: no transfer duty, no transfer attorney fee, and in a private sale no agent’s commission either. The questions below cover what private sellers ask us most.
- The buyer pays transfer duty and the transfer attorney’s fees. The seller typically pays the bond cancellation attorney (if there is an existing bond), advance rates and levy clearance figures, and compliance certificates (electrical COC and, where applicable, gas, electric fence, and beetle). If an estate agent is involved, the seller also pays commission — typically 5–7.5% plus VAT. In a private sale, the commission falls away entirely.
- By convention the seller nominates the transferring conveyancer, although the parties may agree otherwise in the offer to purchase. In an agent-assisted sale the appointment is often steered to the agency’s panel attorney; in a private sale you choose your own conveyancer directly — the attorney who drafts or checks the contract, obtains clearances, holds the purchase price in trust, and registers the transfer.
- Yes — no South African law requires an estate agent. Two legal essentials apply: the sale agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties (section 2(1) of the Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981), and the transfer must be registered by a conveyancer. Our private-sale guide covers the whole process.
- Estate agent commission typically runs 5–7.5% plus VAT. On a R2,000,000 sale at 6%, that is R138,000 including VAT. You still pay the normal seller costs — bond cancellation, clearances, compliance certificates — but the commission falls away. See private sale vs estate agent for the full comparison.