The fees owed to the conveyancing attorney are one of the additional costs of buying a home. What are conveyancer fees for?

Question

What are conveyancer fees?

Answer

The conveyancing fee is what you pay the attorney who conducts the transfer of property.

The attorney transfers ownership of the property from the seller’s name to your name.  The attorney also gathers all the necessary documents and prepares the title deed for registration at the Deeds Office.

The attorney is appointed by the seller but paid by the buyer.

Note that Conveyancing fees are separate to transfer duty, which is a tax levied on the value of any property (above R1 000 000 purchase price) acquired by any person by way of a transaction or in any other way.

You can use our Transfer Cost Calculator to determine how much your conveyancing fee (listed as transfer costs) will be.