What Foreigners Need to Know When Buying Property in South Africa

If you’re a foreigner then buying property in South Africa isn’t too difficult. The best course of action is to find a respected and well known estate agent who can help you find the best property suited for your needs. When buying online or through a private sale then you have to be extra careful and make sure all of the procedures are followed. Contact an attorney to help you with the process to be extra safe.

Properties in South Africa

When employing an estate agent they receive roughly 8% commission from the sale. So when you contact them to help you they most certainly will do their utmost best to get you that perfect house. Just don’t let them force you into a sale, take your time, you’re the one with the money after all. Before buying I did some research by buying a local magazine,property south africa, to get information about buying properties in SA.

When property in South Africa is in the process of being purchased it need to be written down. This is call an offer to purchase.

This sales agreement needs to be signed by the buyer and the seller and any changes upon the document needs to be signed by both people.

This paper should contain the following:

1)price of the property, ie, What you will be paying for the house.

2)How much time it will take to transfer the ownership of the property to the buyer. Usually takes 2-3 months depending on the process.

3) The day the buyer can move in and how much rent he should pay if he decides to move in earlier. Which happens often with international buyers.

5)A clause found in most of these documents is called a “voetstoots clause”. This basically means that you buy the house as it is, Nails and all and the seller is not responsible for anything after the sale.(Unless in extreme cases which do not normally happen)

6) Everything that comes with the house.

7) Sometimes buyers will put down a deposit clause which is more a show of good faith than anything else. This will re-assure the seller as well, so why not.

There are a few more but these are some of the main ones making an appearance on the paper.

You can find a deeds office in most countries which regulates all property ownership and they keep an accurate and excellent record of transactions.

Property can be owned individually, jointly in undivided shares or by an entity such as a company, close corporation or trust or a similar entity registered outside South Africa.

The banks in South Africa will lend a non resident of South Africa 50% of the purchase price subject to the conditions of the bank, such as finding value for the property. The definition of a non resident is a person living outside of South Africa or someone who has stayed overseas for longer than 5 years (for loans from the bank). The purchaser is responsible of the payment of transfer costs and the costs of registering a mortgage bond over the property purchased.

I helped my British friend to buy a Camps bay property in Cape Town and the whole process went smoothly because he gathered all of the facts and I knew a few good agents.

One of a Kind Homes

With everyone becoming more conscious of their carbon footprint and all that jazz, people are getting more creative when it comes to their homes. Although not everyone are as concerned about the environment as others, we still came across some strange homes. Here are a few properties that will give any property evaluator a headache when it comes to home property value.

The first one that caught my eye was a house in Taree, Australia. It is known by the name Everingham Rotating House. This house is turned by two 500-Watt electric motors that powers a rotating drive consisting of 32 outrigger wheels. The wiring and plumbing is centralized to prevent it from getting in the way when the house turns. A full rotation may take anything from 30 minutes to two hours.

The second note worthy home is situated in Lubbock, Texas in the United States. This house is called the steel house and is really a looker. This house is some sort of mixture between a transformer and a predator like animal. This home is an ongoing project and the owner approaches it like a sculpture, not conforming to the norm of building around a structure or skeleton.

My favorite of the bunch is the Chameleon House in Northport, Michigan. Despite consisting of more than three floors, it took less than eight weeks to build this house. The reason for such a swift assembly is because most of the materials used was prefabricated. The steel frame of the house is wrapped in acrylic steel slats that reflect the color of the environment, hence the name, Chameleon House.

There can be no doubt that a house valuation for one of these properties would cause some interesting moments.

Sort out that untidy garage of yours!

You’ll know where everything is


The biggest problem I had with my garage is that I didn’t know where my tools and materials were. I had to scratch for hours to find what I was looking for and when I eventually found it I wasn’t in the mood to continue the work I was doing or I pulled a muscle. When you clean out your garage you’ll have more space to organise your tools and materials. I just hammered a board onto my wall where most of my tolls are hanging and my materials are on a convenient slab of wood. Now I don’t have ot wade through tons of junk and tools to get to where I want to go.

Storage space


Companies have thankfully helped us with the problem of storage space. Plastic Bins and steel shelves make for the perfect place to store your equipment and materials to make your place tidier. It’s amazing how something as organised as these stackable storage bins can change your garage.

Park your car in the garage


Once you have all of your things in place you will have more space for things which should be in the garage, mainly your car. Cleaning your garage and packing everything where it should be, as well as using some convenient storage bins, you should be able to park your car in the garage with ease and still have enough space left to move around freely and work in your garage.

Last but not least...


If your wife won’t allow you to have a space for your hobbies you might as well clean out the garage so that you will have a place where you can ply your trade and play with your miniature armies and do your taxidermy in peace. Having your garage organised and your items stored is the best thing that can happen to you.