Welcome

Welcome to Mc Naught and Company's new inter-active law site. Here you will be able to read about our latest news and views, link to other useful sites that concern the process of buying or selling a home and find out all you will need to know.

You can also post questions or comments and we will help you as best we can. Thank you for taking the trouble to find us.

Relief for sellers in meeting requirements for electrical compliance

New rulings regarding the issuing of electrical compliance certificates for residential properties effective from May 1 will simplify the demands made on sellers and buyers of residential property.

Sellers previously had to call in a registered electrician to inspect the electrical network and issue a current certificate and this had to be done prior to the transfer.

Now, however, any certificate issued in the last two years will be deemed valid, provided that no work has been done on the installation in the interim. Furthermore, the buyer does not have the right to demand a new certificate. If he wants such a certificate he must pay for it himself.

The electricians issuing such certificates now have to re-register annually, whereas before a once-off registration was acceptable. Under the new rulings it is now permissible for the owner or lessor to sign an agreement with the purchaser or lessee whereby the latter accepts the responsibility for the safety and maintenance of the electrical system. In addition, the electrician no longer has to guarantee the system is in full working order. He has only to certify that it is, in fact, completely safe.

This is a welcome clause because in the past electricians found themselves hauled over the coals time and again on account of minor malfunctions that they had not spotted, some of which may well have cropped after the transfer. An important provision in the new rulings, is that the test certificate has to accompany any new electrical compliance certificate issued. Such a certificate, would cover the entire electrical network.

What to do with the interest rate cuts??? INVEST!!

Good news! The Reserve Bank has again cut interest rates by a further 1%!!! This equates to a considerable saving on your monthly mortgage bond repayment.

Just this 1% drop will save a home owner with a bond of R1 million a total of R600,000.00 in interest over 20 years, and a drop of 3% in the interest rate will make a difference of more than 1 million rand in interest repaid!

Accordingly, investing in property is getting more and more attractive and we say, bring on the interest rate cuts!!!

Is Rental property still a good investment?

Tenants all around the country are defaulting on rentals, with 18% of KZN tenants not paying their dues.

Statistics show however that tenants in the R3,000.00 to R7,000.00 per month income bracket are the most loyal regarding payments with 61% of these tenants making payment in full and on time.

A good credit check and sound lease agreement can however help landlords keep a good return on their investment in rental property, and Mc Naught and Company are ideally positioned to assist in both these aspects.

Year-end Function 2008

We almost cannot believe we have nearly got to the end of the year and Christmas is around the corner. Seen in the photos at our Year-End function are the girls from Seeff (above), and Gail, Leon and Karen from Seeff (below) with Val (in blue) from our office.

Enjoying lunch with the bunch from Mc Naught and Company are Hettie, Hein and Jaco from Re/Max Bluff. Thank you guys for all of your support during 2008.

Instalment Sale Seminars

It's been a busy time at Mc Naught and Company running Instalment Sale Seminars for those in the property industry.

In the photos are from top.. Mark Leathers from our Bluff Office helps out with the running of the Seminars, Pravashni (Bluff) and Colin (Toti office) give a hand with the lunch after the Seminar, agents from Eagle Estates, Huizmark, Re/Max and Pam Golding Properties share a lighter moment, Wendy of Colliers Toti enjoys her lunch, Agents from Sotheby's, Eagle Estates, Re/Max, Acutts and Pam Golding attend, and bottom Dave Mc Naught gives the Seminar presentation.

Registration as a Registered Credit Provider

The National Credit Regulator has prescribed forms to register as a credit provider in terms of the National Credit Act.

Please see the link to the forms and the registration fees.

Mc Naught and Company are there to assist in all aspects of the registration process and our expert service is only a phone call away.

Many owners with properties near the sea or perched on hill sides, have suffered in recent months with storms and washaways. Collapsing front boundaries, walls and driveways as well as structural cracking are problems.

Lack of landslip insurance or inadequate storm water drainage are main causes of the hardship. Up to R80000,00 per owner are some of the costs we have heard about.

To prospective property purchasers, we would recommend that all properties on slopes or with visible cracks be inspected carefully and owners be questioned about building and boundary stability to save costs and later fights with sellers.

These are two of the developments Mc Naught and Company have recently transferred properties in that are now faced with large unforeseen repair bills.



Finding the ideal home is a challenge for all, especially in the demanding market we currently find ourselves in. The usually arduous task of finding your home is now made easier. Check out this page!

Calculate your bond repayments

We have found the link to the bond calculator here quite useful.

This link is provided as an information source and there is no agreement between ourselves and the bank regarding the use thereof.

Affordable homes being registered

Whilst many home owners are battling with the increases in the mortgage interest rates over the past two years, the demand for housing is still not met. Mc Naught and Company specialise in property transfers and sectional title developments and continue to provide developers and contractors with advice and help in resgistering development schemes fast.

Pictured are examples of the types of development our offices have been involved in and are able to register fast.

Agents must apply to display

For the second year running, Cape Town's estate agents and auctioneers must register individually with the municipality for permission to display property marketing boards and directional signage on city council property.

The City of Cape Town announced in a statement on Tuesday that agents and auctioneers will be expected to register from July 1, with all applications due in by July 20.

The city said in its statement that each agent would be required to pay an annual registration fee of R551 and a display fee of R659. Any agent who had not contravened the regulations over the past year would only have to pay the registration fee and R10 for six permit stickers, it said.

Six permit stickers will be issued per agent for 2008/09, which will limit the number of directional signs allowed on council-owned property.During the past year, the city has removed directional boards found with photocopied or counterfeit permit stickers.

Municipal by-laws allow the city to withdraw offending agents' permits, and the city has warned that it would prosecute any agent or auctioneer who used fraudulent stickers.

This perhaps illustrates how other local authorities are applying more restrictive condtions for property advertising and similar rules could soon be seen here too.

The Outlook for the SA Property Market

A war of words has broken out between estate agents and bond originators as news of a pending property crash gathers force, with price drops from 10 percent to 40 percent predicted.

While some agents insist homeowners should not be swept up in the panic, others are frank that the property market is in serious trouble.

On Monday, the Cape Argus received an e-mail marked "urgent" from ooba, formerly Mortgage SA, which charged that "recent alarmist forecasts by property market commentators" had caused homeowners "undue concern". Homeowners, they urged, should not be swept up in the "scaremongering" because the current weakness was only a "short-term situation".

The fracas started with a letter from Lew Geffen, head of Sotheby's International Realty South Africa, to his franchise owners in which he predicted the pending crash at a 40 percent decrease, adding that there were 60 percent fewer buyers in the market now than at the same time last year.

These stirrings in the property industry are indicative of the problems now faced. With individual sales and transactions, Mc Naught and Company have the experience and expertise to help with each property sale and re-introduce certainty and reliability with each transaction being handled by our offices. We also offer guidance to estate agents' on customised clauses to help strengthen a sale agreement.

Seminar Success

January started off with a bang, despite the damp squib property market as Mc Naught and Company launched it’s series of seminars to help those in the property industry sharpen pencils and make things happen. We are also putting together an exciting package for property developers which will help put owners, architects, bank financing and conveyancing expertise together to help get building projects off the ground in 2008.

Captured by the camera:

↑Dave delivers his audio-visual presentation on Sales Contracts and clauses.
→ Delegates share a lighter moment at the Sales Contract Seminar held in January at Mc Naught and Co’s offices.

Contract Seminars

Mc Naught and Company will again be hosting seminars on sale contracts for estate agents in the Amanzimtoti Area.

These seminars cover everything from wording of suspensive conditions through to guidelines on how to save a sale, and give estate agents an opportunity to question us on various legalities that they might want more information on.

The seminar takes place in the morning, followed by lunch and is the perfect opportunity to hone skills in a relaxed environment.

To book for the 30th January 2008 or 13th February 2008 seminars taking place at our Amanzimtoti offices, just call Daphne on 031 903 7307.

Tax Update - Deduction of Medical Expenses

Presently, in terms of section 18 of the Income Tax Act, a taxpayer may deduct medical expenses for immediate family members from taxable income, provided these expenses exceed 7.5% of the member's taxable income. SARS has found it difficult to verify these expenses as medical schemes issue certificates in respect of all medical scheme beneficiaries, an not only for immediate family members who are the potentional subjects of deductions.

In order to stremline the SARS registration and sudot processes, the reference to immediate family for medical scheme mebers has been extended to include all medical scheme beneficiaries. This should hopefully simplify the administration for both medical scheme members and their beneficiaries.

Toti Office Opening

Sat 17 November was our big bash opening of the new Amanzimtoti offices of Mc Naught and Company. The who's who of Amanzimtoti were there including in this photo friends from Fame Real Estate, ASI Property developers and BondExcel. More pics can be seen on the link - just click here.

Transfer Duty Amendments...

There is a positive amendment on the way with regards to transfer duty on sectional title units which form part of a rental pool.

If the purchaser of a sectional title unit which forms part of a rental pool, makes an election, in writing, to keep that unit as part of the rental pool after the transfer to the purchaser then the transfer is exempt from transfer duty.

If we have a look at the benefits that this holds for a prospective purchaser, the change is definately for the better as the transfer duty currently on a R1 million sectional title unit, if purchased by a natural person is R25 000.00. Quite a saving off your transfer costs if the requisite written election is made to keep the unit in the rental pool.

New sign for Mc Naught and Co

Check out the new illuminated sign at our Toti offices which will officially open this week. Blue is the colour of the day - night - and puts us firmly on the map in Amanzimtoti.

New Amanzimtoti Offices

We are very proud of our new Amanzimtoti offices and if you have not yet had an invitation to our official opening on Sat 17 November, please give Daphne a ring on 031-9037307 to secure your invitation. Seen in the photos are Dave Mc Naught in the reception, a close up of the mosaic mural crafted by artist Sue Knight which hangs in the reception and a view of the new buildings from Kingsway, Amanzimtoti.

Civil Unions and Marital Property

Mc Naught & Company are once again striving to stay at the forefront of legal services, and we are proud to announce that we are up to speed on the Civil Unions Act 17 of 2006.

As such, should you be wishing to register a pre-nuptial agreement before entering into a proposed civil union, just contact us for all the advice you need as well as an efficient registering of a pre-nuptial agreement in terms of the Civil Unions Act.

Once again, Mc Naught & Company are at your service!

Mc Naught and Co Staff do us proud!!

Val Herbert is Mc Naught and Company's longest serving staff member and quite the bowles afficionado.

Here we see Val as the runner up in the Women's Veteran Singles competition played at the Wentworth bowling club last week.

We wish her well in future competitions!

Tracking your Property Matters online!!

Mc Naught and Company are becomming ever more progressive in bringing technology into the conveyancing process.

Shortly, all our clients, estate agents and mortgage originators will be able to track their property transfers and mortgage bond registrations in real time - online!!

Just click on the image at the top of this post to take a run through the demo.

Watch this space for teh go-live date!

National Credit Act well underway!

Mc Naught and Company were there to see it start...

The National Credit Act has been the talk of the town for the past few weeks, due to it's coming into effect on 1 June 2007.

People have been saying that it's bad for the property market, will seriously put a damper on sales and generally make the process of obtaining a mortgage bond an absolute nightmare. Well, this is not quite the case.

Having examined the new legislation in detail, the National Credit Act is there to promote more responsible granting of credit by the banks and other credit providers.

How might this affect mortgage loans, you might ask? Well apart from a possible day or two extra that it might take to grant a loan, there is not going to be much of a change. The bank merely now looks at a potential mortgagor's total income in relation to total expenditure, rather than just the total income. This ensures that the mortgagor has sufficient surplus each month to cover his bond repayment.

Mc Naught & Company, your Specialit Property Attorneys and Convenayncers have lots more info on the NCA and are waiting to answer your questions!

Gearing up! March 2007

Photo Above - Agents enjoyed our recent Seminars on Contract skills.

The 2007 Budget has come and gone and good news for the Real Estate Industry is that there were no increases in Transfer Duty, VAT rates or other costs affecting the property industry. Stamp Duty on leases shorter than 5 years is being abolished and this will help reduce administration and costs of most short-term property leases—more good news for us, as all help is needed to maintain growth and confidence in the market.

Dave Mc Naught and Tanya (Chelin’s) celebrate our firm’s 23rd Birthday and Gail from Realty Marine’s birthday on board the Sea Joy last week.

MARCH IS OUR BIRTHDAY MONTH
The first of March saw our 23rd Birthday come and go without too much fuss and we are now proudly in our 24th year of service to the community. Look out for our big birthday bash as we approach 25!! Thanks again to everyone who has in some way contributed to the 23 years our offices have been open.

Mc Naught and Co will be opening our new offices presently nearing completion in Amanzimtoti shortly. This will be a branch office to complement our existing offices on the Bluff gearing up for the growth of Durban to the south. A small office/shop in Toti has been open since June last year and the new offices will enable us to provide a larger full-time staff complement here and our famous hands-on approach to conveyancing in both centres.
It has taken months of organising and construction but the end-product is now expected to be completed in April and we look forward to inviting you to our opening launch party there soon.

Mc Naught and Co turns 23!!!

Mc Naught and Company celebrated a full 23 years in business on the 1st of March this year.

That's 23 years we have been providing FastTrack mortgage bond registrations and property transfers to the Bluff, Durban, Hillcrest and Amanzimtoti communities!

As they say, with age comes experience, and we are only getting faster in registering matters.

Here's to the next 23 years of great service!!

Mc Naught and Co hits Top 10!

All attorneys are rated by the banks in terms of how fast we can register mortgage bonds.

Mc Naught and Company have just entered the Top 10 Attorneys list for the fastest registration times on Standard Bank Further Mortgage Bonds in Kwa-Zulu Natal!

Just another way we're trying to make conveyancing Simpler, Better and Faster!!

Seminar Success

Enjoying the recent seminars held by Mc Naught and Company are Real Estate Agents from Tyson's Properties, Pam Golding Estates, Acutts, Nationlink, Chelin's, Sotheby's, Re/Max, and Huizemark.

January 2007 News

Despite having staff on hand to register the last transactions during the festive season, the Deeds Office went on a go-slow during December.
We are still struggling to get registration of matters lodged in the first 2 weeks of December and this is causing endless problems for everyone concerned. There is no explanation for this and conveyancers are tearing their hair out.

What we need are some whips and chains, says Dave Mc Naught, principal of Mc Naught and Company. It is really unacceptable for matters lodged on the 12th December 2006 to only come up for registration now. Our office staff were on stand-by to effect registrations any day over December. May 2007 bring us a sense of urgency and efficiency!!!

Dave’s daughter Kate-Lynn (right) and neice Ola (left) try and catch some summer sun in the few days decent weather over Christmas. Kate-Lynn got 3 A’s, 3B’s and a C in her Matric exams.

The Contracts Seminars being run by Mc Naught and Company have been most successful with Agents thoroughly enjoying the informal but informative half day courses offered by Dave Mc Naught. The January Seminar bookings are now closed, but due to the demand, a February date has been added. Book your seat now.

Our 100 000th cheque

Wow!! It is the end of an era as banking for most firms moves from cheque-writing to electronic banking. Mc Naught and Company is no different and the days of writing cheques are over. However, not before reaching a milestone of 100 000 cheques in our banking history with Standard Bank. This means over the last 20 years we must have paid Standard Bank at least R1 mil in bank charges alone.

With us from Standard Bank for a ceremony to mark the occassion are (l to r) Mike Biyase, Kerry Daniels, Reinette Mandich (Branch Manager Jacobs), Dave Mc Naught (Mc Naught and Co), Keshni Govender, Jenny Ishwarlall, and Nathan Govender (Provincial Manager: Business Market).

Deeds Office - Pietermaritzburg

Tomorrow is the last day that we can lodge matters in the Pietermaritzburg Deeds Office if we want them registered before Christmas.

All at Mc Naught and Co are working aroung the clock to ensure that we get as many transfers and bonds to the Deeds Office by tomorrow!

For those of you who will not have transfers and bonds lodged by tomorrow, don't worry, they will be processed the next working day thereafter.

Just another reminder that our offices are closing from the 22nd of December '06 to the 2nd of January '07, and Dave is available during the break on 083 70333 29.