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Borrowing

Transfer duty and bond registration costs

Transfer duty is a tax on property that is not subject to VAT. Legal and registration costs are quotes, not a single national tariff published here.

Reviewed 29 October 2026 by the WiT Money editorial team. This is general information, not a recommendation from a named adviser.

Key points

  • Use the transfer-duty table for the date of the transaction.
  • A VAT sale follows different rules. Do not add transfer duty on top out of habit.
  • Attorney and Deeds Office figures belong on the quote you were given.

When a natural person buys a home from a seller who is not charging VAT, transfer duty is often payable to SARS. The duty is worked out on a sliding scale. The scale in WiT Money's tax file was checked against the Budget 2026 tax guide on 28 October 2026. A purchase price of R1 210 000 or less falls in the zero band of that scale. Above that, the percentage steps up.

The cash you need on transfer day is more than the duty. A conveyancer charges for the transfer. If you are taking a bond, there is a separate registration. The Deeds Office charges fees. Those amounts are not the transfer-duty table. Ask the conveyancer for a written estimate and type it into the calculator if you want a single total. A zero in the calculator means you typed zero.

An illustration, not an assessment

On a R1 500 000 price in the checked scale, the duty is 3% of the amount above R1 210 000, which is R8 700. That is the tax file's arithmetic for a non-VAT sale. It is not a SARS assessment of your transaction, and it does not include the bond, the deposit or the legal fees.

Who pays

The buyer usually pays transfer duty and the transfer costs. The seller has their own costs. Bond registration is the buyer's cost when the buyer is the one taking the bond. Confirm the contract. Do not assume a developer sale and a private sale are taxed the same way.

Questions readers ask

Is transfer duty the same as stamp duty?

No. This is a South African transfer duty. UK stamp duty is a different tax and is not used on this site.

Related

Sources

Page updated 29 October 2026. A source date is the day WiT Money checked that page, not a promise the institution has not changed it since.