- The property is registered at the Deeds Office into the name of the purchaser;
- The transferring attorneys send a letter to the municipality stating that registration has occurred;
- Within eight weeks of registration of the property, the Deeds Office sends information via direct link to the municipality so that they may update their systems;
- The municipality should then respond to this information received by closing the seller’s rates account and by opening the purchaser’s rates account;
- This is where the problem arises as more often than not this is not done by the Municipality;
- Therefore, the seller needs to close his or her rates account and the purchaser is required to open a new rates account with the Council;
- Importantly, the seller will be unable to close his or her account if the purchaser has not opened his or her account;
- This is to protect the Municipality so that there is always an account linked to a property;
- Therefore, the purchaser needs to attend the offices of the Municipality and open a new account in his or her name;
- The purchaser must have the following documents at his or her disposal in order to open a new account: a letter from the transferring attorneys stating that the seller’s property has been transferred into the name of the purchaser; and ID documents for the purchaser;
- A purchaser will know when his or her account has been opened when the new account numbers are issued to him or her;
- Once the purchaser has successfully opened his or her account with the Municipality being equipped with a new account number, he or she should inform the seller that this has been done.
Denoon Sampson is the Director at Denoon Sampson Ndlovu Inc, currently ranked the ‘number 1’ top performing conveyancer by First National Bank Limited. He has 30 years of experience as a conveyancer, specialising in the full spectrum of property-related law and is often called upon to give talks or contribute content on related matters.