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Experience Pays Red-Tape Burden Mounts
 Walkers's reputation as one of Cape Town's leading property law firms goes back almost 200 years. The Property Law Department comprises a significant portion of the firm's workload, with clients ranging from publicly listed property developers, staff mortgage schemes to individual home owners.
Three partners—Charl Theron, Kamlesh Ker and John Lee—are kept busy ensuring that clients' property transactions proceed through the red tape as swiftly as possible.
The property law arena has changed considerably since Walkers' early days, and particularly so during the past 20 years, when mortgages became the banks' business, rather than the now-vanished building societies. Head of the department, Charl Theron, recalls that a 100+% bond was unheard of until fairly recently as banks have a more liberal approach in making home ownership more accessible.
 Much of that accessibility is due to the scrapping of the Group Areas Act and the post-apartheid freeing of the economy. The demand for housing has also considerably escalated property prices, making home ownership financially onerous for most South Africans.
Theron believes that making mortgage funds accessible to home owners gave major impetus to the economy, enabling them to leverage the value of their properties for further investments or large purchases. In an increasing number of cases homeowners are using their ease of access to bond finance to consolidate their lifestyle debts—a step which has the unfortunate result of eroding the value of the major asset.
The SA Reserve Bank's recent increases in the prime interest rates, coupled with the huge increase in the petrol price, inflation and the general negative financial outlook, has had a marked effect on the property market and a hue decline in transactions is being experienced.
 A recent development in conveyancing is the onus the South African Revenue Service puts on the transferring attorneys to supply the identity numbers and income tax particulars of transacting parties to a property deal. The taxman now takes his due of unpaid taxes from the sales proceeds before they are passed on to a seller.
Theron says the amount of paperwork now involved in transferring properties is considerable. The National Credit Act and Financial Intelligence Centre Act oblige lawyers to gather much more information about the transacting parties than was the case previously, and the Municipal Finances Act obliges them to ensure that the seller is up to date with rates and services bills before the property changes hands.
Theron says much of the gathering of these particulars and verifying their accuracy falls on transferring attorneys' shoulders because any delay causes financial loss to the parties involved.
“With major property developments the amount of unnecessary interest rate charges caused by bureaucratic delays can be considerable. And, for first time homeowners, the occupational interest they may need to pay can be onerous. We believe it is our responsibility to ensure that the paperwork is in place to minimise the financial strain on our clients.”
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