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How a property transfer runs, start to finish

Placeholder footage. The sequence a conveyancer follows, where the delays actually come from, and why the deeds office is rarely the slow part.

Tariro Musekiwa

Tariro Musekiwa

11 September 2026. 1 min read

0:21

A transfer is a sequence, and almost every delay in it happens before the file ever reaches the deeds office.

The agreement of sale sets the clock. Everything downstream is keyed to its dates, and a clause nobody read is the most common reason a transfer stops.

Rates clearance and tax clearance are the usual holdups. Both are somebody else's queue, and neither can be started until the figures are known.

The deeds office is the visible step, not the slow one. By the time a file is lodged, the work that determines whether it goes through has already been done.

The film on this page is stock footage. It is not the author and it is not a WLS member.

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