Selling house - Question

Frankie23

Frankie23

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I'm in the process of selling my house (will be the first time I'm selling property), and I'm hoping to get some insight in to the selling process from some of the more experienced MyBB forumites.

The offer to purchase from the buyer was accepted, they had their bond approved and accepted and the transferring attorneys has sent through a list of documentation required form my side.

I'm in the process of doing the required COC's and have forwarded all the required FICA documents to the attorneys. I have also sent the attorneys my existing mortgage bond details so that they can get the cancellation figures from the bank. (I have already some time ago given the 90-cancellation notice to my bank).

The attorneys are also in the process of applying for the city council rates clearance certificates to get the municipal account cleared.

Question: What is the next steps in the process?

At what stage do I need to go to the city council to close off my municipal account? I understand that they'll hit me with a bill of 3-months' worth, in case there is an outstanding amount (in my case I know my account is up to date and luckily I have prepaid electricity).
 
You don't have to do a thing further. The attorneys will deal with the council.

The next thing you're waiting for is for the deeds office to do the actual transfer. The moment that happens the attorneys will transfer the nett profit into your account, at which point you'll need to IMMEDIATELY vacate the property (assuming it's your primary residence), unless you've made an arrangement with the buyer to pay him occupational rent - which you'll have to do via the attorney by the way.
 
That's awesome :D

One less thing to worry about. Yes, this is my primary residence.

I'll chat to the estate agent to chat to the buyers to come to an agreement on occupation date (they are also still in the process of selling their own property and I imagine they would have to arrange with their buyers regarding occupation on that property).

All things being equal, I imagine everyone's just waiting for the chain reaction of events to play out, especially if there's buying and selling of multiple properties.
 
Honey Badger said:
You don't have to do a thing further. The attorneys will deal with the council.

The next thing you're waiting for is for the deeds office to do the actual transfer. The moment that happens the attorneys will transfer the nett profit into your account, at which point you'll need to IMMEDIATELY vacate the property (assuming it's your primary residence), unless you've made an arrangement with the buyer to pay him occupational rent - which you'll have to do via the attorney by the way.
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Wooo no they won't, unless they are nice and or you've paid for them to do so.
If you're in Johannesburg you normally wait 4 to 6 weeks after the house has transferred out of your name to go to the council to close the account. The attorneys will only handle the organising of the fees and such but after the house is out of your name you've got to go close the account, the remaining money will be transferred back about 2 months after.
 
FrankyF said:
That's awesome :D

One less thing to worry about. Yes, this is my primary residence.

I'll chat to the estate agent to chat to the buyers to come to an agreement on occupation date (they are also still in the process of selling their own property and I imagine they would have to arrange with their buyers regarding occupation on that property).

All things being equal, I imagine everyone's just waiting for the chain reaction of events to play out, especially if there's buying and selling of multiple properties.
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That's not quite how it works. It's in black and white on your OTP, it will be either upon registration (which is the most common) or on a specific date. You cannot change an OTP retroactively :)
 
Lupus said:
Wooo no they won't, unless they are nice and or you've paid for them to do so.
If you're in Johannesburg you normally wait 4 to 6 weeks after the house has transferred out of your name to go to the council to close the account. The attorneys will only handle the organising of the fees and such but after the house is out of your name you've got to go close the account, the remaining money will be transferred back about 2 months after.
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OP is in CT and so am I
 
Honey Badger said:
That's not quite how it works. It's in black and white on your OTP, it will be either upon registration (which is the most common) or on a specific date. You cannot change an OTP retroactively :)
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Dang :D Was hoping to come to some sort of arrangement on occupation date. Will teach me to do this better next time!
 
Lupus said:
Yeah but he should also just double check, as not all attorneys offer that service.
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Neglected to mention, the property I'm selling is in Johannesburg, and completing my relocation to Cape Town once the property is sold. I am however already based in Cape Town.

Which means, I need to fly up to Jhb a month after the property has transferred, just to go to city council to close the account? Can I possibly get someone to go to the city council to close the account on my behalf?
 
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Lupus said:
Then you definitely would need to go and close it after 4 to 6 weeks.
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Damn. So I'll need to fly up to Joburg a month after the property has transferred just to go to city council to close the account.

Is it possible to have someone to go to the city council to close the account on my behalf? Otherwise this will be a very expensive trip just to close an account.
 
FrankyF said:
Damn. So I'll need to fly up to Joburg a month after the property has transferred just to go to city council to close the account.

Is it possible to have someone to go to the city council to close the account on my behalf? Otherwise this will be a very expensive trip just to close an account.
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Yup it is possible, ask your attorney, some do offer the service.
 
FrankyF said:
Dang :D Was hoping to come to some sort of arrangement on occupation date. Will teach me to do this better next time!
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It's a minefield :)

I signed an OTP at the end of October last year when I was selling. This "3 months before transfer will happen" caught me with my pants down because transfer happened on 15 December! Can you imagine how me and the wife were running around looking for a place to rent? :p

In my OTP was a condition that I clean up the rubble behind the house and remove the shed (wendy house), but because of the rush the attorney's withheld R5k of the sales price.

It was my first time as well and estate agents aren't always open with these kinds of things
 
FrankyF said:
Neglected to mention, the property I'm selling is in Johannesburg, and completing my relocation to Cape Town once the property is sold. I am however already based in Cape Town.

Which means, I need to fly up to Jhb a month after the property has transferred, just to go to city council to close the account? Can I possibly get someone to go to the city council to close the account on my behalf?
Click to expand...
Speak to the attorney.

Just bought a house too. Our attorney offered us the services that can deal with the coucil stuff for R850. Not the cheapest, but they know what they do and it can save time. In your case I'm sure the fee would be less than a plane ticket.

We bought in Joburg so your selling attorney should be able to offer that service
 
If your attorneys don't do it on your behalf...then they are pretty ****ty attorneys.
 
Honey Badger said:
It's a minefield :)

I signed an OTP at the end of October last year when I was selling. This "3 months before transfer will happen" caught me with my pants down because transfer happened on 15 December! Can you imagine how me and the wife were running around looking for a place to rent? :p

In my OTP was a condition that I clean up the rubble behind the house and remove the shed (wendy house), but because of the rush the attorney's withheld R5k of the sales price.

It was my first time as well and estate agents aren't always open with these kinds of things
Click to expand...

That's insane! Yeah I was also given the "after bond approval it should take 1.5. to 2 months" story. Luckily I don't have any funny clauses in my OTP.

I just want this exit to be as close to my occupation date into the new place as possible, where on the OTP I stated transfer to take place on or as close to 31 August 2018 as possible, and vacant occupation should be given to me upon registration. So the idea is that I get access to the place on 31 August-ish.

If it registers earlier, cool, but hopefully I can work with concrete dates as I still need to arrange my household move as well and with that I need to get my stuff moved out and into the new place.

A minefield indeed!
 
Venomous said:
Speak to the attorney.

Just bought a house too. Our attorney offered us the services that can deal with the coucil stuff for R850. Not the cheapest, but they know what they do and it can save time. In your case I'm sure the fee would be less than a plane ticket.

We bought in Joburg so your selling attorney should be able to offer that service
Click to expand...

Good idea, thanks!

Yeah I'll definitely speak to the attorney about this. Just the pain of taking time off work, flying up to Joburg, booking accommodation and transport and spending day/s at the city council is enough to make me cringe.
 
FrankyF said:
That's insane! Yeah I was also given the "after bond approval it should take 1.5. to 2 months" story. Luckily I don't have any funny clauses in my OTP.

I just want this exit to be as close to my occupation date into the new place as possible, where on the OTP I stated transfer to take place on or as close to 31 August 2018 as possible, and vacant occupation should be given to me upon registration. So the idea is that I get access to the place on 31 August-ish.

If it registers earlier, cool, but hopefully I can work with concrete dates as I still need to arrange my household move as well and with that I need to get my stuff moved out and into the new place.

A minefield indeed!
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Moving twice is really kahk! Try your best to get the dates to coincide :)

We eyed a house and were still negotiating an interest rate when we were kicked out of our home (the new owner didn't have a place to live and wanted to move in ASAP). This meant we had to decline the offer we got from the bank, luckily the seller of the house we were looking at understood that the process would have taken too long (since it was December and both the deeds office and attorneys were about to close).

The landlord of the place we're renting now didn't want to accept any period shorter than 6 months, so we agreed to that since it gave us more time to find a house. My ideal would have been to find a house which was already vacant to rent and then make an offer to purchase. That would have been only one move. I will never make an offer on the place we're staying at, its the first time I'm living in an estate and frankly I hate it :)
 
Yeah, that's crappy one!

This whole selling/buying thing is just one big chain reaction of getting the stars to align and the seas to part (and maybe a few other miracles to happen).

I'll try my best to to see how I close I can get the dates together. Will just make everything easier.
 
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