Law Society of Zimbabwe (Conveyancing Fees) By-laws, 2024

The Minister of Justice has approved new conveyancing fee by-laws adopted by the Law Society of Zimbabwe under section 63 of the Legal Practitioners Act [Chapter 27:07]. They repeal and replace the 2020 by-laws, S.I. 28 of 2020. Fees are payable in the currency of the transaction, and the conveyancer must add and separately itemise VAT at the current rate.

The headline rates are in the Table to the tariff: a conveyance of immovable property costs 3 per cent of the purchase price or value of the property, and a mortgage or notarial bond costs 2.5 per cent of the debt secured. On a US$100 000 house that is US$3 000 in conveyancing fees, plus VAT.

Flat fees cover the rest. Transfer by endorsement where no beneficial interest changes hands and no consideration passes is US$120. A partition or rectification transfer is US$600, plus US$50 for each additional property. Certificates of title under sections 34 to 41 of the Deeds Registries Act are US$400, as is a certificate of consolidated title under section 40, with US$20 for each extra property. Cancellation of bonds, releases, waivers and mortgagee consents are US$75, cession of a bond US$100, an extra US$100 where a bond has been lost, and US$120 to agree a variation of a bond's terms. Endorsements of title under section 42 or section 64 of the Deeds Registries Act or section 58 of the Administration of Estates Act are US$100 each, a change of name or rectification endorsement US$100 plus US$30 per outside consent, an application for a certified copy of a lost deed US$100, a certified copy where no advertising is needed US$50, a Surveyor-General's certified diagram copy US$75, and a Deeds Registry attendance or search US$15. Supervising a registration handled by another conveyancer is US$100, and a corresponding conveyancer who lodges for a principal takes 20 per cent of the principal's fee.

The tariff fee is all-inclusive of ordinary conveyancing work — taking instructions, drafting deeds and powers of attorney, perusals, rates payment, clearance certificates, Deeds Registry attendances and correspondence. It does not cover drafting agreements of sale, suretyships, donations or exchanges, separate acts of registration, or obtaining capital gains tax clearance certificates, certificates of no present interest and exchange control approval; those are charged separately. Abandoned or incomplete matters are scaled: 80 per cent of the tariff where the work was done up to lodging, 30 per cent for a power of attorney to pass bond incorporating the bond terms, and between 20 and 30 per cent for any other uncompleted matter. Where work is complex or not in the tariff, the general legal practitioners' tariff or the High Court tariff applies.

One cross-referencing slip is worth flagging: Section 1, on transfers of immovable property, directs the reader to 'column B of the Table', but column A of that Table is the 3 per cent transfer fee and column B is the 2.5 per cent bond fee. Read in context, transfers take column A.