About the Transfer Costs calculator
Budget for the full cost of buying property with this transfer duty calculator for South Africa. It estimates transfer duty, conveyancing fees, deeds office charges and bond registration costs — the cash you need on top of the purchase price.
How the Transfer Costs calculator works
Transfer duty follows the SARS sliding-scale brackets: no duty up to R1 210 000, then marginal rates from 3% up to 13% on higher-priced properties. The same rates apply to individuals, companies and trusts.
Conveyancing and bond registration fees are simplified estimates tiered by property value and loan amount — actual attorney fees are quoted per transaction. Small deeds office, search/FICA and postage charges are added as fixed estimates.
The total shown is the estimated cash required for the transfer itself, excluding the deposit, moving costs and ongoing municipal rates.
The Transfer Costs calculator formula
- Transfer duty
bracket base + bracket rate × (price − previous bracket ceiling)First R1 210 000 is duty-free; top marginal rate 13%.- Total cash required
transfer duty + conveyancing + deeds office + bond registration + search + postage
Worked example
A buyer purchases a home financed with a bond and wants to know the bond and transfer costs payable before registration.
Buying a R1.5 million home with a bond
| Purchase price | R 1 500 000,00 |
|---|---|
| Bond / finance registered? | Yes |
| Bond / loan amount | R 1 350 000,00 |
Results
- Estimated total cash required
- R 49 400,00
- Transfer duty
- R 8 700,00
- Conveyancing fee estimate
- R 20 000,00
- Bond registration fee estimate
- R 18 000,00
- Deeds office fee
- R 1 200,00
- Deeds search / FICA
- R 500,00
- Postage & petties
- R 1 000,00
Key terms
- Transfer duty
- A tax paid to SARS when property changes ownership, calculated on a sliding scale of the purchase price.
- Conveyancing fee
- The transferring attorney’s professional fee for registering the property in the buyer’s name.
- Bond registration
- The separate attorney process (and fee) for registering the buyer’s bond at the deeds office.
- Deeds office fee
- The government registry charge for recording the transfer and bond.
- Postage and petties
- Small administrative disbursements — couriers, copies and sundries — charged by the attorneys.
Frequently asked questions
Are these fees exact?
No. Conveyancing and bond registration fees vary by attorney and property complexity. Use these figures for budgeting and request a formal quote.
When is no transfer duty payable?
No transfer duty is payable on properties up to R1 210 000 under the current SARS brackets, whoever the buyer is.
Do companies pay different transfer duty?
No. Since 23 February 2011 SARS applies the same sliding-scale rates to companies, close corporations and trusts as to individuals.
Is transfer duty payable if the seller is VAT-registered?
Usually not — if the seller is a VAT vendor selling the property as part of their enterprise, VAT applies to the sale instead of transfer duty. This calculator assumes a transfer-duty transaction.
Are bond and transfer costs included in my home loan?
Usually not — they are paid in cash before registration, which is why the calculator shows a separate total cash required figure.