Who Appoints Which Attorney and Why?

A property transfer can involve more than one attorney, which often surprises buyers and sellers.

You may see one firm handling the transfer, another dealing with bond cancellation, and another attending to the new bond. That can make the process feel crowded before registration has even happened.

The question that follows is a fair one. Who appoints which attorney, and why are different firms involved in one transaction?

The answer lies in the structure of a South African property transfer. In a standard transaction, the seller appoints the transferring attorney, the seller’s bank appoints the bond cancellation attorney, and the buyer’s bank appoints the bond registration attorney. Each appointment is tied to a separate legal function in the transaction.

Why different attorneys are appointed

A property transfer is not only about changing ownership.

In many transactions, the existing bond over the property must be cancelled and a new bond must be registered at the same time as transfer. Those are different legal steps with different consequences. One deals with transfer of ownership. One deals with the release of the seller’s existing bank security. One deals with the creation of new bank security in favour of the buyer’s lender.

That is why different attorneys may be appointed in the same matter. The appointments follow the legal role being performed.

Who appoints the transferring attorney?

The seller appoints the transferring attorney.

This attorney attends to the transfer of ownership from the seller to the buyer. That includes preparing the transfer documents, obtaining the rates clearance process underway, arranging compliance with transfer requirements, and lodging the transfer in the Deeds Office.

The seller appoints this attorney because the seller is the party passing ownership. The property is leaving the seller’s name, so the attorney handling that part of the matter is appointed by the seller.

This is one of the points that often causes confusion. Buyers often pay the transfer costs, but that does not mean the buyer appoints the transferring attorney. Payment and appointment are not the same thing.

Who appoints the bond cancellation attorney?

The seller’s bank appoints the bond cancellation attorney.

If there is an existing home loan over the property, that bond must be cancelled before transfer can be completed. The bank that holds that bond appoints its own attorney to attend to the cancellation.

The reason is straightforward. The bond is the bank’s security. The bank therefore uses its own attorney to make sure the outstanding loan is settled and its security is cancelled from the title in the correct way.

Neither the seller nor the buyer chooses this attorney. The appointment comes from the bank whose bond is being cancelled.

Who appoints the bond registration attorney?

The buyer’s bank appoints the bond registration attorney.

If the buyer is using a home loan to finance the purchase, the bank will require a mortgage bond to be registered over the property as security for that loan. The attorney who handles that registration is appointed by the bank.

This attorney does not act as the buyer’s personal attorney in the ordinary sense. The attorney acts for the lender whose security is being registered.

So, while the buyer signs documents through that firm and pays the bond registration costs, the appointment itself comes from the bank.

Why the appointments work this way

Each appointment is linked to a different legal interest.

The seller appoints the transferring attorney because the seller is giving transfer.

The seller’s bank appoints the bond cancellation attorney because that bank is releasing its security.

The buyer’s bank appoints the bond registration attorney because that bank is taking new security over the property.

That division reduces conflict between roles and keeps each part of the transaction with the party whose legal interest is at stake.

How the attorneys work together

Although different attorneys are appointed, the matter still moves as one coordinated transaction.

The transfer, the cancellation of the seller’s bond, and the registration of the buyer’s new bond are prepared so they can be lodged and registered together. The firms communicate with one another, align guarantees, confirm figures, and work toward the same registration date.

So the presence of more than one attorney does not mean the process is fragmented. It means different legal steps are being handled by the firms appointed for those steps.

Why buyers and sellers often find this confusing

The confusion often comes from mixing up appointment, payment, and benefit.

A buyer may pay transfer costs and bond registration costs, yet still not appoint the transferring attorney or the bond registration attorney.

A seller may pay bond cancellation costs, yet still not appoint the bond cancellation attorney.

That is because the system does not assign appointment according to who pays. It assigns appointment according to who holds the legal role connected to that part of the transaction.

Who pays which attorney

Although appointment and payment are often confused, they are not the same.

• The buyer usually pays the transferring attorney’s fees
• The seller usually pays the bond cancellation attorney’s fees
• The buyer usually pays the bond registration attorney’s fees

Payment follows benefit and obligation, not appointment alone.

These allocations are standard practice, though they can be varied by agreement.

Why this structure protects everyone

The structure is designed to keep ownership, cancellation, and new security on separate tracks within the same transaction.

That helps protect the parties involved and supports the registration process that takes place in the Deeds Office.

So when three attorneys appear in one transfer, that is not a sign that the matter has become unnecessarily complicated. It is a sign that different legal functions are being handled by the firms appointed for those functions.

Final thought

If you are asking who appoints which attorney and why, the answer is tied to the role each attorney performs. The seller appoints the transferring attorney because the seller passes ownership. The seller’s bank appoints the bond cancellation attorney because that bank is releasing its bond. The buyer’s bank appoints the bond registration attorney because that bank is registering new security. Once those roles are understood, the structure of the transaction becomes far easier to follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the buyer appoint the transferring attorney because the buyer pays the transfer costs?No. The buyer does not appoint the transferring attorney simply because the buyer pays the transfer costs. In a standard South African property transfer, the seller appoints the transferring attorney because the seller is the party giving transfer of ownership. The legal function of that attorney is tied to the seller’s side of the transaction, even though the buyer commonly carries the transfer cost account. That distinction is where much of the confusion starts. People often assume that payment gives control over appointment, but that is not how conveyancing practice works. Appointment and payment are separate issues. The transferring attorney is responsible for preparing and lodging the transfer documents that move ownership from the seller to the buyer, so the seller appoints that firm. The buyer still deals with the transferring attorney during the transaction and will often pay the quoted transfer costs directly to that firm, but that does not change who made the appointment in the first place.Can the seller choose the bond cancellation attorney?No. The seller cannot choose the bond cancellation attorney in the ordinary course of a transfer. That attorney is appointed by the seller’s bank because the existing bond belongs to the bank as its registered security over the property. When the property is sold, that bond must be cancelled before transfer can proceed cleanly. The bank therefore appoints a firm from its own panel to handle the cancellation process and to make sure the outstanding loan is settled and the bank’s security is released in the correct way. Even though the seller is the person whose loan is being paid up, the appointment does not rest with the seller. It rests with the bank whose rights are affected. This is another area where people mix up who benefits from the work and who has the power to appoint the attorney. The seller usually pays the cancellation costs, but the bank still chooses the attorney because the attorney is acting in relation to the bank’s bond.Can the buyer choose the bond registration attorney?No. The buyer cannot normally choose the bond registration attorney where the purchase is being financed by a bank home loan. The buyer’s bank appoints that attorney because the attorney is registering the bank’s mortgage bond over the property as security for the loan being granted. The legal interest being protected is the bank’s interest, not the buyer’s personal preference as to which law firm should attend to the registration. That is why banks use firms from their approved bond panels. The buyer will still have direct contact with the bond registration attorney because documents must be signed, FICA requirements must be met, and costs must be paid, but that does not mean the attorney was appointed by the buyer. The appointment remains the bank’s decision. This often feels counterintuitive to buyers because they are paying the bond registration costs, but conveyancing separates payment from appointment. The bank is taking security over the property, so the bank appoints the attorney who handles that work.