Buying Property in South Africa

Foreigner’s right to buying property in South Africa.

South African Law allows a foreigner to buy property in the Republic of South Africa. Foreigners are furthermore permitted to sell property in South Africa at any time and repatriate the original capital expended plus their profit at such time of their choosing.

In as much as SRA's residents are subject to certain exchange controls, foreigners are required at the time of wishing to repatriate their funds, to establish that the funds initially utilised for purchasing the property were imported into the Republic at the time of purchase from foreign sources.

This is best achieved by opening a special “non-resident” bank account with a South African commercial institution and ensuring that all funds expended for purposes of the property investment, travel through that account.

The opening of this account is however not a prerequisite to the purchase of the property. In such circumstances the funds would be remitted directly to the conveyancing attorneys appointed to attend to the registration of the transfer of ownership of the real estate purchased who will, if requested, cause the title deed issued to the foreign investor to be endorsed by the attorneys’ own bankers, and thereby facilitate the repatriation of the funds when required.

This “endorsement” will serve as proof that the purchase price of the the real estate was paid with imported funds.