If you are using a bond to purchase the property then you'll need to pay the lawyer about R8K on R500K for the bond registration which is separate from the deeds transfer and registration - you as the buyer chose the bond registration lawyer, but the seller gets to chose the deeds transfer and registration lawyer (I insisted that I chose this as a condition of sale). You can ask the lawyers on the banks approval list for discount.
I'm not sure about the waiver of transfer and registration costs for homes priced below R500,000 but shop around for a conveyancing attorney that's prepared to discount his fees - I got a 30% discount.
The conveyancer will only discount his fees which is relatively small compared with the costs that are paid to the deeds office.
Remember that for most sectional title properties, the body corporate will insist that the levies are paid up front for the first year, and six months rates paid in advance.
Here's an example of the costs on a transfer of a property valued at R1,200,000
The conveyancer only offered a 15% discount on this one.
DESCRIPTION VAT DEBIT CREDIT
To purchase price 1 200 000,00
To transfer duty 41 000,00
To transfer fees 1 512,00 10 800,00
By reduction in fees -192,78 1 377,00
To Deeds Office fee 600,00
To Deeds Office search 11,20 80,00
To postages and petties 56,00 400,00
To Fica verification Fee 28,00 200,00
To rates clearance certificate fee 40,00
To fee for municipal valuation 20,00
To rates 23.12.2008 - 30.06.2009 3 990,86
EDIT: Remember, that if you do not have property to sell to finance your purchase and you have bond pre-approval from the bank, use this to drive a very hard bargain. Not making the sale of your existing property a condition of the offer to purchase carries a helluva lot of weight these days.
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