Q:
When a home loan is fully repaid, is it financially of any benefit to transfer into home owner’s name or should the deeds be held by the Bank until the death of the home owner? On death it would presumably go into the estate and then onto the spouse, if the will was set up like that. Does that mean double transfer costs from bank to estate and then to spouse, or is there provision made for waiving costs if going to a spouse? (I am in South Africa.)
A:
The home is actually already in the owner’s name, not the bank’s. There would not be a “double transfer” as you do not transfer from the bank to the owner, since the deeds are already in the owner’s name.
If the property is in a deceased spouse’s name, transfer costs would be incurred registering the property in surviving spouse’s name.
When you register a bond, the property is transferred into the owner’s name and a mortgage bond will be registered in favour of the bank that is granting the finance to them.
Holding the deed means the the bank has the right to repossess the house if the owners default on their mortgage but provided the bond payments are maintained, the property will remain in the owner’s name.
A copy of the deeds can held by the bank for safe keeping but this does not mean that they own the property. In general the deeds are always held at the Deeds Office.
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