Can I transfer my dad's property to my name without going through the Deeds Office?

The long answer

I don’t know if you reported your father’s death so that his estate could be wound up, but in case you didn’t, I’ll set out the process: 

When a person dies, their death must be reported to the Master of the High Court within 14 days. When a death is reported, a deceased estate comes into being, and no one is authorised to act on behalf of the estate until an Executor (for properties worth more than R250,000) or a Representative with a Letter of Authority (for properties worth less than R250,000) is appointed by the Master.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development says, “At death the estate of the deceased person is frozen, and no-one may withdraw funds from the deceased’s bank accounts or deal with any of the estate assets without the necessary permission from the Master of the High Court.”

If the Master appoints an executor or a representative, this is what they will have to do to wind up the deceased estate of your father: They must open a new bank account in the name of “Estate of Late Mr X” so that his bank account is closed and the bank must transfer any money to the new “Estate Late Mr X” bank account. They will need to provide the bank with the following documents:

• Death Certificate

• Deceased’s ID

• Letter of Authority or Letter of Executorship

• Appointed Representative’s or Executor’s ID

Being appointed as the Executor or Representative does not give that person any rights over the property. Their duty is to wind up the deceased estate, which means first paying all the debts and then seeing that the rightful heirs inherit. Which in this case would be you.

If you only have the Deed of Sale that your dad signed with the Municipality when he bought the house, the conveyancer / transfer attorney would have to draw up the all the legal documents required to transfer the house into your name and submit them to the Deeds Registry. 

It could take some weeks for the Deeds Office to verify the documents, and it is only after the Registrar has signed the transfer that you will legally own the property. After the Registrar has signed the transfer, you will be given the Title Deed by the conveyancer and a copy of the Title Deed will be kept in the Deeds office nearest to you. 

No transfer duty (tax) is paid on transferring a property to a beneficiary, but the conveyancer must be paid for transferring or endorsing the title deeds into your name. Their fee depends on the value of the property on a sliding scale, and for an RDP house it could be between R7,000 and R8,000.

Generally, it should not take longer than six months to a year to wind up a deceased estate, but unfortunately, it has been taking longer than that since Covid when the Master’s Offices became chaotic.

The Master’s offices are at all the courts. These are the contact details for the Master:

Master of the High Court helpline:

• Tel: 012 315 1207

• E-mail: chiefmaster@justice.gov.za

For more information about the Title Deeds process, you can contact:

Registrar contact: Kasavel Pillay

Tel: 021 464 7601

Fax: 021 464 7725

Email: kasavel.pillay@dalrrd.gov.za

Information section contact: Natalie Erasmus

Tel: 021 464 7747 or 021 464 7741 / or 021 464 7742

You could also ask an organisation like the Black Sash which gives free paralegal advice, for assistance. These are their contact details:

Email: help@blacksash.org.za

Helpline: 072 66 33 73, 072 633 3739 or 063 610 1865

Wishing you the best,
Athalie