 Good evening and welcome to episode 370 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Uzama Ndouma Khumaalor as a Tuesday edition of the Private Property Podcast. If you're joining us for the first time, welcome to the family. You're tuned into the leading property podcast and all things relating to property right here on the Private Property Podcast. And of course, do make sure that you share the love, share this live to your friends and family on your social media platform so they can see what you are up to. And to our regular viewers on Facebook and Instagram or on YouTube, welcome to it. You know how we do. Every single weekday, you and I are in a conversation, we have an appointment where I'm always in conversation with a property expert who helps us make better property decisions. And it doesn't matter where you are in the property journey, this is certainly the place that you can come to, to help you when you make your decisions. And talking about making decisions and other great shows that you can find on Private Property's social media pages, it is a Tuesday and Balinoko will be bringing you the farming podcast later on at 8 p.m. And you can also catch it every single Thursday at the same time. Every Mondays and Fridays, Chad brings you the home shoppers show. It always takes you through incredible properties that you can find on www.privateproperty.co.za. And on Wednesdays, Estie Klassen brings you the first-time home buyers show. She's always in conversation with people who've gone beyond buying that first property but have grown their property portfolios from strength to strength. Well, those are the great shows every single weekday at 8 p.m. Remember, we are counting down to the real estate industry summit that is taking place later this week. And you can find out more details about the speakers, the lineup, and what you can expect for that incredible property event that's certainly going to deepen your property knowledge on realestateindustriesummit.co.za. And of course, there's myself, Ozamatonga Kumalo, taking you through your favorite property show every single weekday at 7 p.m. And this evening is going to be no different, of course. And before we get into our conversation this evening, as you would know, we're running an incredible competition where we're always giving away 500 grand in cash every single weekday. And all you have to do to stand a chance of walking away with that 500 grand is to make sure that you comment under the post that we have put up on our Facebook page and you stand a chance of walking away with the cash price. You have to be watching us live in order to claim your price. Well, let's get started with our conversation this evening. I've got a Saquille Svego, who's an attorney and director at SM Svego Attorneys. And we're looking at all you need to know about property sale transactions. And rather Saquille, good evening. And thank you so much for joining us on the show. Good evening, Zaman. Thank you for having me once more and good evening to the news. Thank you so much, Saquille. So Saquille and I were joking off air. We were saying that every time I have them on the show, I'm always traveling. I'm currently out of town. I'm in Durban and I say to him, clearly, he's my traveling lucky charm. So we must always, you know, book him regularly. Then I know then that I will probably be traveling because squeezing him travel is already difficult enough as it is. But Saquille, I think let's get started with our conversation this evening. One of the things that we know about certainly looking at property sale transactions and even when we are buying on the south side, a lot of times we don't know what we don't know. And sometimes we just don't understand that sort of the full cycle of what is happening. And it can be so daunting. You've got to offer to purchase. You don't quite know what to look out for. And when we look at the, you know, the sale transaction and the first starting point is, of course, the offer to purchase and at a high level. We talk about offer to purchase regularly in the show. But just briefly, what are some of the key things you need to watch out for when we talk about that sale agreement as a buyer? When before you sign, what are just key things that need to be included in that offer to purchase? All right. So Zama, to basically just have a basic sale agreement, there are four P's to talk about. And, importantly, we have to have the property description, which is a property of our annual selling. Obviously, I think it's about the parties. There should be a purchase price and payments terms. That is how, you know, you would be paying if there's going to be a bond, how the bond would be secured by when. And those would be just the basics that you'd have to just look out for. Everything else really would stand its generic, but those are the four important things. And obviously, if there are any suspensive conditions or resolute of conditions or any just conditions, I think we'll go to that agreement transaction. And you know, one of the things that we know typically happens in an offer to purchase or can happen is the disclosure section where a seller can disclose things about the property. Perhaps, you know, share with us some of the things that can be inclusive in terms of a seller disclosing something, because I think sometimes people don't know what they don't know in as far as some of those disclosures about, you know, the property or any property for that matter. And I think as a seller, what are the kinds of things that you should be disclosing about your property when you are selling it and, of course, also about to sign that offer to purchase. Okay, so generally, when you talk up that disclosure, you would look at the general condition of a property. So that would be any defects, any structural defects, damages, you know, cracks on the wall, any king roof, you know, if the gate is working, electrical issues, basically just the general condition of a property. But what you would also want is to disclose, if you are aware of, if there are any servitudes on the property, and remember, servitude is a limited real right over property. And, you know, your personal servitude, you talked about use of rights, which is someone, ex has got a right to use an enjoy this property or a right to occupy the property. So very important, if there are any servitures on the property, then they need to be disclosed, typically on farms or table properties. Sometimes ISCO would have a servitude, where there would be, you know, that have their, those electrical cables and the guys might need to drive in every now and then just to maintain such things. So those things are some of the disclosures that would have to be put forward. You know, one of the big things when I think about servitudes is so more often than not, people don't even, you know, know about servitudes. And I'm now speaking particularly to people who will buy, you know, freestanding full title properties that aren't, for instance, a negated community. So, you know, just as you're buying a property in a slipper or even a township, and you may not be aware of what the servitudes are. And we're seeing instances where sometimes people go to the extent of even building on top of, you know, in areas where they shouldn't be building within the yard. And of course, we know the danger of that, right? That when they need to access that servitude line, they know that they have the right of that space. They need to be able to access this and do whatever work that they do. And you would have essentially been, you would have essentially built it illegally, because if you had done an actual plan, we know it wouldn't have gotten approved because the municipality would have told you that, listen, there's a servitude line running there and we cannot be having you, you know, building a double story or whatever kind of structure in that particular place. I think it really is one of those key things that people need to be aware of, especially if you are going to be, you know, buying and building in areas where you think, ah, I won't get, you know, formal approval to build in this particular place. Or when you are buying and you know that your intention is to build, make sure that you're first aware whether there's going to be that restriction because that's a restriction you can't sort of bypass or work around. I mean, other restrictions you can probably play around with, but not so much that one. Wouldn't you say, Saakilyan? You're correct. Look, there's been instances where municipalities have taken people to court and, you know, they're going to order that the people need to then demolish the properties because yes, you didn't build probably according to plan or you've built on a municipal servitude. And typical servitude, you know, typically we have those building lines always stay two meters away from the wall. And you'll find that people normally when you buy a property, when you have the plans drawn up, you know, they comply, but when people then start building it's just straight to the principle. It's just, and the consequences of that is that when the municipality picks it up, yes, you'll be given the notice, but eventually they end up getting a court order which will say, look, you need to demolish and this might be a very expensive structure or cost destruction. Even demolishing it might affect the whole house. So very important for people to be away from all the services and, you know, remain within the boundaries and respect the services. I am this evening in conversation with Osakile Cibergo, an attorney and director at SM Cibergo Attorneys. And we're looking at what you need to know about property sale, transactions, right here, the private property podcast with myself was on my don't walk home. We're going to go for a quick break and when we come back we're going to certainly find out more about this. And I want to find out from you at home what were some of the things that you learned when you were buying a property, you know, and that really caught you by surprise. I know some of you, of course, have been watching the show for over a year. So there's quite a lot that you already know about, you know, sale, property sale, transactions and regardless of the property type that you are buying but what are some of the things that you encountered that really did surprise you along your property journey? We're going to go for this quick break and see who the lucky winner is of that 500 rands in cash. That is in the money bag, of course, for the competition that we're running on our Facebook page. We'll be back just after this. What's the time first? Down here below. And if you do, then the 500 rand is all yours. And remember, if you want to be just like, what's all you have to do is to comment on our Facebook page. We've got a pinned post where we want to find out all about the things that you have learned as you watch the show and the great advice that you'd like to share with the rest of the community. I am, of course, in conversation this evening with Saquille Subego, who's a training director and SM Subego attorneys. We're looking at all you need to know about property sale, transaction. I want to find out from you at home what were some of the things that you learned about as you were buying your property and really picked up along the way that you probably weren't aware of as you were navigating your property journey. Now Saquille, I think one of the things and we've already touched on this, when we look at servitudes, that could easily be an area of dispute, especially if a buyer, for instance, wasn't aware of it and they buy and they had this big intention of potentially building where they're buying. But I'm keen to hear from you, what kind of disputes would you typically find when we look at people who are buying a property and suppose the property transaction either doesn't go through or their issues are along the way. And I know that sometimes the issues even have to do with disclosures, but what are some of the disputes that a buyer could potentially have with the seller when they are buying a property that they might even want to have or pick up a legal matter, they say even after transfer or want to make sure that transfer doesn't happen until these particular things are sorted out. So some of the common disputes that you've typically found between a buyer and the seller. Okay. I'm not sure if I'm audible or see it's on mute. No, we're not on mute. So we can hear you clearly. So you are indeed audible. Okay. So some of the disputes that would have, typically you'll find that when a person buys, obviously with the purchase price, there might be a suspensive condition of saying you must get Sino Fano on approval within X number of days, then which obviously if that condition is not met, then the transaction would then have to be canceled. So you get certain disputes where a person buys a property, pays a deposit, and then there's a suspensive condition of that spot fulfillment. And you'll find that now, when the bond has not been granted, the seller would not then want to reimburse the purchaser. And that always raises a concern. And sometimes you also deal with the property where disclosures or there's been misrepresentations with the disclosures. And just before the transfer, you actually realize that it was actually, this was not disclosed, that it's a big issue, there's a big crack in the wall where the person just tried to hide it towards payings or something like that. That also would then be grounds for dispute. And basically just people not fulfilling the conditions of the contracts, either before or after would also raise a dispute. And how those disputes would then be dealt with, typically you'd end up having both parties consulting with attorneys and normally would need to litigation if the parties could not be settled. And I think that's actually an important thing, Sakile, that you want to make sure that suspensive conditions are going to be met because I think sometimes people don't realize just how important that is. And as a buyer on your end, go the extra mile of stipulating things around, for instance, the suspensive condition that we all know is of course that finance is secured but be explicit with that particular clause in that bank, for instance, providing 80% of the bond amount that you want the seller could argue, well, that's been met, you must raise the other 20%. So almost you need to specify that you'd wanted at 100% and you can even say the kind of rate that you'd want. So if the bank gives you at 100% but you actually get prime plus three, you would have met the suspensive condition of the finance being secured. But of course, nobody's going to be happy with a rate of prime plus three. So almost stipulate that it must be at max, let's say prime plus one and below. So if you're gonna go and get prime plus two, then that you essentially wouldn't have met that suspensive condition and you're able to no longer continue with that transaction. I think that is something that so many of us tend to not be aware of very early on and of course don't know to put it in, to safeguard ourselves to needing to then go ahead with the transaction that we may no longer want to or of course having to pay the penalties because they would argue, well, these have been met. You didn't say that you wanted a particular rate. So if you then go and don't follow through with the transaction, then of course as the buyer, you would be at fault and whatever the penalties are, you'd very likely be liable to pay them. So those are some of the key things that you absolutely need to be aware of. Now, one of the things I want us to look at and we're even talking about is when of course the property that you are staying in gets sold. And I know that some of these agreements of course have the provision of sort of having the first right of approval. Perhaps just talk to us through that. And I'm thinking of people for instance who live in searching properties for an extended period of time and would rather if a seller wanted to of course sell would be comfortable buying that property instead of having to uproot the family and get a different kind of place. When we talk about that first right of approval for people who are living in a property that is going to be a on sale or is now on sale, what exactly are we talking about? Okay, so yeah, you've been talking about the right of first refusal, but which is not an automatic right. So it would have to be contained in your lease agreement. That's, you know, the all ratings property and should the property be put on the market, then you like or you reserve the right of first refusal which would mean that you would be then granted or given the opportunity of purchasing the property first. And obviously should you not wish to proceed or should that deal fall through then the seller can then put the property on the market. But also just something to touch on as an offer, it's a principle that you've had meaning if you're a tenant in a property and that property happens to get sold it should not affect your lease. So you should still be able to proceed with your lease and what would happen is that that lease would then find the new owner. Some people have had instances where you know you're renting a property, your lease period has not come to an end yet and the owner decides to sell the property. Yes, they may approach you first and in which case maybe decide now I'm not gonna proceed and then someone else buys the property and you find that the person that buys the property would then say look this is my property and I want you off and your lease agreement would still be there. So it's very important that even purchases when you buy the property and our tenants they make sure to find out when that contract would come to an end so that you can apply your mind accordingly but always keep in mind that's when you do buy the property it's gonna come to tenants. We are taking questions and comments this evening on the private property forecast with myself as I'm at Don't Walk My Law as we look at what you need to know about property sale transactions. Christine DiCiabao on our Facebook page asking what's the final stage before lodging? Can the conveyance are lodged while they are still outstanding documents from the municipality? Okay, so the documents from the, or let me just run through the conveying process. So remember the two parties then conclude and they have an agreement which is signed. Also important is that before you sign the agreement each party would always have, we do have a right to refer that documents that unsigned documents to your attorney. Have your attorney go through the documents and check the provisions and just see if it's legally signed, you know and if it's that it's all covered. Thereafter the documents or the sale agreements would then be handed over to the conveyance and with the conveyance of the prerogative of nominating the conveyance and ask for the seller because it's the seller's property. So the process for the conveyance would be to make sure that all conditions have been met. If there are survey dreams that you know everything basically legally and technically has been approached to the attention of both parties the purchase price has been secured if there's a bond that the financial implications have been attended to properly. And what's also important is that conveyance needs to get the rates clearance certificates from the municipality. So to answer the viewer's question no, you cannot proceed to large unless you've got all documentation because even when you do large without having those documents in place your documents at these office would then get rejected for lack of having its documents included your transfer duty receipts or your rates clearance certificates. If it's in a state, you know you need to go to the owners association your body corporate all of those things. So you need to have all of your certificates and documents in place. Electrical compliance certificates and all your applicable certificates. Another question we've got here is coming through not quite seeing who's asking us the question but the question is what happens if a deal passes through the property and the property is transferred but you find the property in a state that is worse than when you viewed it. So what happens there? You know you've viewed the property you sign the OTP and we really go back as the matter is kind of being updated as the weeks go by. And suppose three months later it's finally transferred and you take occupation and when you go to it you realize that it's not in the same state as when you had initially viewed it. So remember this is when you bought the property the expectation is that it should be delivered to you in the state that you bought it in. So if the property has then been levitated and you know it's been ruined structurally and so then the honest really is on the seller to make sure that he delivers what he sold. There have been instances where a person buys a property you know you see a property today you sign all the paperwork and then you disappear and then the next time you visit the properties of the registration and you know monies have exchanged hands and all that and really to get the person to go back and fix to say this is not what I saw or this and this has not been changed and to get the people to comply becomes a bit of a mission but this is why they need talk of a disclosure you know it would be that disclosure form in which all the checks you see look there are no cracks on the wall there are so everything it's like a cheque list that you take and obviously if at the end of the day you've been delivered something which is contrary to the what you signed for in the disclosure then you'd have to bring it to the station or the attorneys and you know in hopes not really hopes but then that's how you then have to trace it. And I think that's such a key one that when you then are viewing that property we always say try to view it more than once so the first time would have been okay now you're kind of happy with it because most of the first time you're not looking at all the taps working are there any cracks or all sorts of things the moment you know you want to make an offer and you want to sign on the dotted line ask their state agent to go see the property again there's absolutely nothing wrong with that and now you're going with the view of I know I want to buy this property what are some of the things that I can possibly see that are wrong so that by the time that offer to purchase comes you're able to also effectively list them especially if for instance the seller has not disclosed any of them so that you try and minimize finding yourself in a situation like this as much as possible because the reality is so many of us view it once and then you sign and we know that that one viewing for the most part simply isn't sufficient especially considering how much of a big responsibility that you're taking on with the property Saquille any final tip before we let you go for our views at home when it comes to property sale transactions I think it's just to echo what you say that you know view the property more than once if possible avoid authority viewings in the evening you know rather during the day where you can see property and you can fully sign the contracts have a legal person have your training go through it have them explain to you all the different sources and just the implications of entering into or concluding that agreement and then you can then proceed and that's where we're going to leave it at this evening Saquille, thank you so much for joining us on the show it's always such a pleasure to have you on the private property podcast thank you for having me and thank you for the meeting and that is Saquille, right, who's an attorney and director at SM Saquille attorneys wrapping up the Tuesday edition of the private property podcast with myself it seems that Tullo Semenya is not watching and is not being able to claim their prize and so we have a roll over tomorrow evening 1000 rands is in the money bag make sure that if you've entered you watch us alive so you can claim the prize well that's it for myself I'll be back on your screens tomorrow evening at 7pm until then do stay tuned for Mali Noga at 8pm and of course stay home and stay safe