Back to Back Transfer

Process Overview

In this case, the housing authority transfers the property to the original beneficiary, who then immediately transfers the property to the new owner. The original beneficiary would sign two sales agreements, the first as a buyer with the housing authority as the seller, and the second as the seller with the occupant as the buyer.

In order to enable the second transfer (from the beneficiary to the current occupant), the beneficiary needs to obtain a waiver or 'no objection' letter from the provincial human settlements department in line with Section 10A of the Housing Act. This letter states that the provincial department has no objection to the sale and must accompany the transfer documents.

In the case of delayed transfer, these no-objection letters should be requested by the housing authority and provided by the provincial authority as a matter of course; the occupant lives in the property and there is no dispute about ownership. As per the Guiding Principles (Principle 1: Avoid evictions and Principle 4: The household's perspective matters), the housing authority and the provincial authority should enable the formalisation of existing informal ownership arrangements.

In practice the title deed for the primary registration is required before the subsequent transaction can be registered. When the primary registration is complete, the transferring attorneys should retain the title deed and not hand it back to the original beneficiary, but should rather deliver it to the conveyancer who is facilitating the second transfer.

The key steps in the back to back process are:

1. Occupant indicates that they purchased the property from the original beneficiary

2. Housing authority traces and contacts the beneficiary

3. Beneficiary confirms the sale of property

4. Housing authority requests a no objection letter from the provincial authority, which is duly granted and sent to the conveyancer dealing with the secondary transfer

5. The beneficiary signs a sale agreement with the housing authority

6. The beneficiary signs a sale agreement with the new owner / occupant

7. Conveyancer follows the core registration process for the first sale

8. Primary transfer is registered and title deed is returned to the conveyancer of the housing authority

9. Conveyancer of the housing authority sends the title deed to the conveyancer who is processing the secondary transfer

10. Conveyancer prepares transfer documents for the secondary transfer and lodges at the deeds registry following the usual registration process for the transfer of the second sale