Your offer to the seller to buy the house must be made in writing. Sometimes the seller tries to put a ‘voetstoets’ clause into the offer before he or she will sign it. This means that you agree to buy the house exactly as it is and you can never ask the seller to do repairs for anything. Before you allow a ‘voetstoets’ clause, you should make sure you are happy that there are no problems that you don’t know about.

When both you and the seller sign the Offer to Purchase it becomes a contract, called the Deed of Sale. By law the buyer and seller must then obey the contract.

If you buy a house under leasehold or Deed of Grant, you usually go to the offices of the Township Manager or the Home Ownership Division. If it is a new house, you fill in forms to apply for your leasehold or Deed of Grant. If it is not a new house, you go there to sign the transfer papers and to pay the bond registration and transfer fees. Take your ID or reference book, marriage certificate and if you have one, your decree of divorce or spouse’s death certificate with you.