RepoLens

Buyer's guide

Frequently asked questions

Plain-English answers to the questions buyers ask before bidding at a South African sheriff sale or buying a bank-repossessed home.

What is a sheriff sale in execution?
A sheriff sale in execution is a court-ordered auction of immovable property used to recover an unpaid debt — most commonly a defaulted home loan. After the High Court grants judgment plus a Rule 46A order, the local sheriff is appointed to sell the property to the highest bidder, subject to a reserve price set by the court. The sale is publicly advertised in the South African Government Gazette before the auction date.
How is a repossessed property different from a sheriff sale?
A bank-repossessed property is sold by the bank itself after it has already taken transfer of the home (usually via a sheriff sale where the bank was the only bidder). Repossessed sales are commonly listed on bank portals or partner sites and tend to be private treaty rather than auction. A sheriff sale is the public auction step that happens before — and often results in — repossession.
Where does RepoLens get its listings?
RepoLens ingests sale-in-execution notices published every week in the South African Government Gazette — both the National Legal Gazettes and the nine Provincial Gazettes. PDFs are downloaded from gazettes.africa, parsed automatically, deduplicated across jurisdictions using case number plus address plus auction date, and re-confirmed on every subsequent run.
Why does RepoLens show a "last confirmed on" date for every listing?
Because most SA repo-property sites do not. A listing without a freshness date can be hours old or months out of date, and buyers waste time on auctions that have already happened. Every RepoLens listing has firstSeenAt, lastConfirmedAt, and an ACTIVE / STALE / DELISTED status that updates automatically after each weekly Gazette scrape.
What is a reserve price at a sheriff sale?
A reserve price is the minimum the property may be sold for at auction, set by the High Court when granting the Rule 46A order. If no bid meets the reserve, the sheriff must stop the auction and refer back to the court. If a bid does meet or exceed the reserve, the property is sold to the highest bidder on the spot. Reserve prices are typically well below market value.
Do I need cash to bid at a sheriff sale?
You need a 10% deposit on demand by the sheriff at the fall of the hammer, plus the sheriff's commission (capped at R40,000 + VAT on sales over R400,000). The balance of the purchase price is payable against transfer and must usually be secured by an approved bank guarantee within 21 days. You can use bond finance for the balance, but the deposit must be immediately available.
Can I get a home loan for a sheriff-sale property?
Yes. South African banks routinely finance sheriff-sale purchases, including bond pre-approval before the auction. Use the RepoLens bond calculator on the listing page to estimate monthly instalments at the current prime rate. Approval depends on the property condition (banks may decline visibly distressed properties) and your affordability assessment.
What is FICA, and why does the sheriff need it?
FICA (Financial Intelligence Centre Act) compliance means proving your identity and address before you may register as a bidder. The sheriff will require a certified copy of your ID, proof of residential address less than three months old, and (for companies) the trust deed or CIPC documents. Most sheriffs also charge a small registration fee in cash or EFT.
What other costs come with buying a sheriff-sale property?
Apart from the reserve price plus sheriff's commission, you will pay transfer duty (or VAT), conveyancing attorney fees, deeds-office levies, any outstanding municipal rates and body-corporate levies (often payable from the sale proceeds but disputed), and bond registration costs if you are financing the balance. Budget 8–12% above the hammer price to cover these.
Are RepoLens listings free to view?
Yes. Browsing listings, viewing reserve prices, address-mapping a property, and using the bond calculator are all free with no sign-up. Some Deeds Office lookups (previous owner, last-sold price, bond history) are paywalled because the underlying Deeds data itself is paywalled — those unlocks are clearly marked.