Selling Your Home: Why Smart Sellers Sign the Declaration First

By Louise Fourie | Principal, Africa Estate

The seller who tells everything, sleeps well. Every seller wants the same three things: a good price, a buyer who stays, and the money in the bank without a phone call months later. One signature brings you closer to all three: your declaration, the mandatory disclosure form.

Your sale stays sold

When a problem is on your signed declaration and the buyer buys anyway, that problem is settled. Nobody can come back after transfer and say they did not know. That is the difference between a sale that is done and a sale that only looks done.

Buyers trust an open seller

A buyer who reads an honest declaration at the viewing makes an offer with confidence. There is nothing to discover at the inspection, nothing to renegotiate at the last minute, and no reason for the buyer to walk away. Openness is not a weakness in a sale. It is what makes the buyer sign.

Your word, on paper

Telling the buyer is good. Signing it is what counts. The Property Practitioners Act only recognises what is on the signed form attached to the contract (section 67). Your signature turns your honesty into your protection.

Voetstoots works best for the honest seller

Voetstoots protects you against what you did not know. It was never meant to cover what you knew and kept quiet about. Declare what you know, and voetstoots can do its job for the rest.

Ten minutes that protect your sale

Sign your declaration before your property is advertised. Think about the roof, damp, the electrics and plumbing, building work without approved plans and, on a farm, the water, boreholes and fences. Your Africa Estate agent brings the form and explains every question. The answers are yours.

Sign first, sell with confidence

At Africa Estate the declaration is signed before we market a single property. It is how we keep our sellers' sales sold. Want the legal detail? Read Mandatory Disclosure Form: What the Law Requires. Ready to sell? Ask us what your property is worth.

Source: Property Practitioners Act 22 of 2019, section 67. This article is general information, not legal advice.

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