When selling your home there are costs which you may not have anticipated that are out of pocket expenses that need to be paid upfront in order to be able to close your deal and finally get paid.
Over and above the normal expense of the Estate Agents commission, assuming you are using an Estate Agent are the following.
Electrical inspection and certificate
An electrical certificate is required before the papers can be lodged with the deeds office for processing and this is broken up into an inspection fee as well as any repairs that need to be done in order to comply with the necessary legislation.
In my case, I sold an apartment in Seapoint, the inspection fee was R400 and the work that needed to be done before the electricians would issue the certificate amounted to a little over R3000.
The water inspection and certificate
The water inspection fee was R350 and the supply of some pipe was a little over R1000 which I never quite git to the bottom of but had to pay or the certificate would not be issued.
Four months of future rates
When you sell your property your rates account needs to be up to date and the City Council requires you to pay an additional 4 months of rates before they will issue a clearance certificate.
Four months of future electricity
The same applies to your rates account.
These amounts mount up to a whopping R20 000+ and all I want to do is sell my property. The important thing to remember is that these amounts you need to pay upfront in cash so do your calculations and set aside some money to cater for them.
After the transfer has been registered the council will do a calculation and you will be refunded the pro-rata amount. Also remember that if the new owners have taken occupation of your property before transfer, these amounts are payable by them and should be factored into the final payout calculation.