SARS rates effective 1 April 2025
What buying actually costs
Transfer duty is law and exact. Attorney fees are a tariff you can negotiate. This separates the two, so you know which number is fixed and which one is worth phoning about.
Assumptions — change these to match your attorney's quote
These two percentages are not law. Attorneys quote on a guideline tariff and discount from it, so treat them as a starting point, not a price.
- Transfer duty (SARS, exact)—
- Conveyancing fee—
- Bond registration fee—
- VAT on legal fees—
- Deeds Office & sundries—
- Total upfront costs—
- Bond registered—
- All in, including price—
The R1 210 000 cliff
Transfer duty is not a smooth percentage. Below R1 210 000 you pay nothing at all; at R1 210 001 you start paying 3% of the amount above that line. It is a genuine step, not a rounding error, and it changes asking prices around that level more than most buyers realise.
Who gets the money
- SARS takes transfer duty. Nobody negotiates it, and it must be paid before the transfer can register. On a R2 million property it is R33 786, worked out as R13 614 plus 6% of the amount above R1 663 800.
- The transferring attorney — appointed by the seller, paid by the buyer, in practice — handles the change of ownership and pays the duty over.
- The bond attorney registers the bank's mortgage over the property. A separate firm, a separate fee, and the one people forget when they budget.
- The Deeds Office charges a registration fee on both.
What is negotiable
Only the fees, and only before you sign the offer to purchase. The conveyancing fee follows a guideline tariff from the Legal Practice Council and most firms discount from it, especially on higher-value properties. Ask two firms for a written quote before you accept the attorney the estate agent suggests — there is no obligation to use their choice on the bond side.
Transfer duty, Deeds Office fees and VAT are not negotiable. Neither is the fact that all of this is payable in cash: no bank will finance your transfer costs into the bond.
Once you know your upfront cash, the next question is the monthly one — work out the instalment, then check it against what your salary can carry.