INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF PROPERTY SALES IN ZIMBABWE

• Regulation
• May be done-self actor or through middle man (estate agents)
• Agreement reduced in writing
• Transfer – done by conveyancers
 In Zimbabwe, the following laws apply to the regulating of property
transactions, depending on the nature of the transaction. The major
legislation pertaining to property transactions are:
The Capital Gains Tax Act [Chapter 23:01]
The Commercial Premises Lease Control Act [Chapter 14:04]
The Commercial Premises Lease Control Act Rent Regulations [S.I 676
of 1983]
The Housing and Building Act [Chapter 22:07]
The Housing and Building Rent Regulations [S.I. 32 of 2007]
The Deeds Registries Act [Chapter 20:05]
The Land Acquisition Act [Chapter 20:10]
The Rural Land Act [Chapter 20:18]
The Land Survey Land [Chapter 20:12]
Urban Councils Act [Chapter 29:15]
Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13]
Value Added Tax Act [Chapter 23:12]
 PROPERTY SALE
• Real property is land and any property attached directly to it.
• It also entails the right of use, control and disposition of the
land and its attached objects.
• Property Sale functions as a legally binding agreement
between two parties concerning the terms of purchase or
transfer of real property.
• It involves the bundle of rights transferred from seller to buyer
upon the sale of a property.
• These rights include the right of possession, control,
exclusion, enjoyment and disposition
 PROPERTY SALE
• When you want to buy immovable property its
important to know what to do and where to start. A
lack of this know-how has led many people’s hard
earned cash into the evil hands of fraudsters
• Before you do anything its critical for you to know
that only two people are allowed by the law to SALE
immovable property legally and these are the
property owner and a registered estate agent.
 WAYS OF SELLING
PROPERTY
• Willing buyer willing seller
• Forced sale
• Auction
 INITIATING A SALE
• MENTAL APPROACH-NAOTTUMO &
RUSS (1991)
Get attention
Gain interest
Create Desire
Secure conviction
Get action
 SELLING PROCESS
• Prospecting
• Preapproach
• Approach
• Presentation
• Trial close
• Determine objection
• Meet objections
• Trial close
• Close
• Follow up
 Process
• Have process manual-record everything until
sale is complete
• Tree of accomplishment model –
Shenkel(1985)
• Roots
• Trunk
• Branches
 Roots:

• Obey statutory requirements

• Obey professional conduct rules
• Have fair knowledge of property market,
knowledge of your listings, finance available,
construction, communication skills, telephone
techniques, effective advertisement
 TRUNK
• Securing good listing mandate
• Getting seller cooperation
• Package the house for sale
• Identify amenities and benefits
• Find prospects, qualify them
 Bad Practises
• When you negotiate and make sales
• In relation to a seller who is your client:
• giving them a false impression of the interest
in their property, for example by inventing or
exaggerating feedback from viewings
• telling them a potential buyer will be able to
buy without needing a mortgage when you do
not have evidence that this is the case (in
order to induce the seller to accept the offer)
• creating false offers or misrepresenting the
detail of an offer (for example whether the
offer is conditional on something else, such as
obtaining finance).
• Quoting false high offers to induce a potential
buyer to put in their own offer at a higher price
(to outbid those 'rival' offers) or false low offers
to encourage a seller to accept a genuine offer
that would otherwise be rejected as too low.
 When you deal with complaints

• When you deal with complaints

• Claiming that you follow a specific code of practice, or
have an internal complaints
• system that has been approved by a recognised body
when you do not, or claiming
• to be a member of a recognised redress scheme when
you are not.
• Misinforming a complainant about their rights under a
redress scheme, or under the
• law.
 Material information
• material information - 'the information that the
average consumer needs, according to the context,
to take an informed transactional decision‘
• In practice, this means equipping the average
consumer with all the information they need to make
a particular transactional decision on an informed
basis. Consumers need to be provided with the right
information at the right time, so that they are able to
find the product that is right for them in a
straightforward way.
• Where a consumer is thinking of contracting
with you, the material information that you
must provide beforehand is likely to include:

• a description of the services you will provide

• your fees and charges,
• how they will be calculated and when they will
be payable
• terms of business (for example whether sole
agency or with sole selling rights - and when your
fees become payable under these arrangements)
• the length of the agreement and how it can be
terminated

• if you are acting for a client seller, the services

you will offer to potential buyers  any personal
interest you may have in the sale of the property
• Context is very important when deciding
whether material information has been left
out, hidden, not made clear or not given in
good time.
• Context means: the factual context (for
example what you actually know even if it is
something you would not ordinarily be
expected to enquire into)
 Why sales people fail
• Shenkel (1985)
• Over aggressiveness
• A concerted attitude
• Actions that reflect bad manners
• An attitude of indifference
• A sarcastic or critical attitude
• Habitual complains
• Prejudicial or intolerant attitude
• A begging and nagging personality
 Characteristics of successful sales people

• Psychological(optimism, enthusiasm, confidence,

sincerity, determination, dependability, initiative
and imaginative)
• Social (friendly nature, social grace,
conversational ability, poise)
• Physical (grooming clothing and bearing,
mannerism, good health)
• Have superior sales personality
Hair, Notturno and Russ (1991)
 Transactional decision
• - consumers need to be able to make informed
decisions when dealing with a business
carrying on a commercial practice.
• A transactional decision can include a decision
to find out more about your services, or to rule
out using the services of one of your
competitors. It is a very broad concept, and is
not limited to decisions with financial
consequences
• . A transactional decision means any decision
taken by a consumer concerning a ‘product’
(which includes property), including: whether
or not to make further enquiries, or arrange a
viewing, whether or not to buy or sell, whether
or not to pay in whole or part, whether or not
to retain or dispose of a product, whether or
not to exercise some contractual right, and/or,
how, and on what terms, to do these things.
 Other issues
• Sale through registered agent
• Estate Agents Act(Chapt 27:17)
• Estate Agents Professional Conduct rules s.i
200/87
• Estate Agents( Professional Conduct)
(Ammendment) Rules, 2016 (No.6)
 TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP
• Registration of property is regulated by Deeds Registries Act (chapter
20: 05).
• The legislation prescribe the right over land through the process of
registration.
• The process is done by the Registrar and the conveyancer.
• The process of registration, examination, control and monitoring and
preservation of the title all are in the eyes of law.
• The issuing of title deeds gives certainty to financial institutions and
town developers.
• The registry also provide the fundamental rights to property, no one can
be deprived of property except in terms of Law.
• Without controversy, the protection of real property is protected by
registration in the Deeds Office.
CONVEYANCING

• Conveyancing is the act of transferring ownership of

real estate from one “person” to the other.
• The process begins when an Estate Agent receives
an instruction from the seller to dispose the property.
• The Estate Agent has to conduct due diligence
checks to verify the ownership of the property.
• The Estate agent’s role is to market the property.
 AGREEMENT OF SALE
Comprises of the following
i. Full names, addresses, I.D nos, contact telephone
numbers (home and business) of the seller and the buyer.
ii. Full address and description of the property to be sold.
iii. Tenure- whether freehold or leasehold.
iv. Purchase price should be clearly stated.
v. Conveyancers
vi. Transaction costs- Transfer fees, Stamp duty, Capital
gains Tax
 RATES CLEARANCE
• The conveyancer applies for a rates clearance
certificate from the local authority.
• The local authority normally asks for payment of any
arrear rates plus payment of three months in advance
to ensure that no moneys are outstanding at the date of
registration.
• The seller is responsible for the payment of the
outstanding rates and taxes
• The purchaser is responsible for the advance payment.
 CAPITAL GAINS TAX
• Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is a tax levied on the capital
gain arising from the disposal of a specified asset.
• Specified asset means immovable property (e.g. land and
buildings) and any marketable security (e.g. debentures,
shares, unit trusts, bonds and stock).
• The Capital gains tax is assessed by ZIMRA (20% of the
gain).
Documents required
• Completed CGT 1 form by the seller.
• Copy of Agreement of sale for the property in
question with full description of the property.
• Copy and original of Deed of transfer/title deeds for
the specified property.
• Two utility bills from two different service
providers with service address i.e. ZESA, TELONE
or Local Authority.
Documents Required for CGT Clearance
• Letter of undertaking to pay withholding tax where
client is represented by a depositary.
• Receipt for payment of CGT/Withholding Tax.
• Valuation reports three where there is a relationship
between the seller and the buyer.
• Certificate of incorporation, CR14, CR6 and
minutes of resolution to sale where the seller is a
company.
CAPITAL GAINS TAX CLEARANCE
CERTIFICATE

SA
M
PL
E
 Deeds Registry

LODGEMENT AND REGISTRATION

• The conveyancer is now ready to lodge the transfer documents in the
Deeds Registry.
Stamp Duty
• In terms of the stamp duty act (Chapter 23:09)
• Paid before registration of transfer or bond at the Registrar of deeds
• Calculated in terms of the Schedule to Chapter 2 of the Finance Act
( Chapter 23:04).
• Value of duty is based on declared value or the fair market value as at the
date of acquisition of the property.
• Declarations indicating the value of the property and the improvements
thereon should be submitted to the Registrar.
• It is the duty of the registrar to ensure that the adequate and appropriate
duty is paid.
 Stamp Duty
• If the Registrar feels that the value quoted is too low he
may determine the fair market value through instructing
the Government Valuers to conduct a valuation
• If the acquisition of the property is cancelled by a
competent court no duty is payable and if any duty was
paid it should be refunded
Registration Fees
• Payable where registration is required of documents
which are required in terms of the Act to be attested or
prepared by a conveyancer such as deeds of transfer,
mortgage bonds e.t.c
 LODGEMENT AND REGISTRATION

• The conveyancer will prepare a lodging cover wherein he files

all documents required for registration of the transfer.
• The front of the lodging cover will appear like this
a) By legal practitioner or conveyancer
lodged by
1) Transfer from A to B
Documents lodged
a……………………….
b……………………….
c……………………
LODGEMENT AND REGISTRATION

• The documents are examined in the Deeds

Office by qualified examiners.
• The process takes not more than ten working
days.
• When the Deeds Office is satisfied with the
accuracy of the documents, the transfer is then
registered.
 E
PL
M
SA
 Certificate of registered title
• Entails the substituting a one deed for another. It is
also explained in terms of the Deeds registries Act.
• The registrar is authorized to issue certificate and
replace the existing title.
This is done by the Registrar in the event that there is
no appearer who executes before the Registrar.
It is used to correct error on the same land.
This has a prescride form
 DUE DILIGENCE
Due diligence is the process
of information gathering and
thorough investigation of the
subject property.
 Due diligence ctd….
• It confers the right value to the property, makes a complete
analysis of it from a construction, city planning or
environmental point of view, the urban compliance removes any
doubt about the existence or fewer obligations, of collateral and
clarifies who the property is attributed to.
• It begins by studying the documentation; you proceed by
requesting their missing integration, if necessary, and by
carrying out technical surveys for verifying compliance between
what is written down and the objective reality of the facts. Also
in this case, if inconsistencies or losses have been verified, you
should proceed by completing or correcting the thing that is not
right.
 Due diligence ctd….
•NB
• Each transaction is unique in its
complexity, confidentiality different
risk factors and characterised by the
fact that it differs by the dictates of
variable key approaches.
 CASE STUDIES
• MISCONDUCT BY AN ESTATE AGENT
THE CASE OF NET SEVEN REAL ESTATE
Police established that between November 2013 and October 2014, Mazenge
agreed to sell 120 residential stands in Rangemore for the complainant.

Net seven sold $48,250 worth of stands but never deposited the cash into a
CABS bank account as agreed. The victim said he lost a total of $86,505 in
the process.

Mazenge is alleged to have duped four other residents on whose behalf he sold
stands.

"He allegedly fleeced another home seeker of $10,500 after promising to sell
her a residential stand in Waterford suburb.

"The homeseeker had paid him in cash but he became dodgy in delivering the
piece of land," she said.
LACK OF DUE DILIGENCE
BY AGENT
R.CHIRIMUTA vs ACTION PROPERTY SALES
(PRIVATE) LIMITED 13 February 2007
Chirimuta purchased a stand through Action Property Sales, A.
Coetzee was the negotiator on behalf of the company.
Coetzee told the Chirimuta that the Marange Brothers owned
the property, who had given her mandate to sell on their behalf.
She told Chirimuta that she had a copy of deeds and Chirimuta
was not shown the deeds.
In actual fact the Marange Brothers who has approached Action
Property Sales were imposters and the deeds were fake which
was later on discovered by the conveyancer.
 Lack of Due Diligence
The court then ruled in favour of Chirimuta citing
that : -
• Coetzee breached its duty of care towards
Chirimuta by failing to take reasonable steps
conforming with the requisite standards of
diligence. Coetzee’s conduct was clearly
negligent and the defendant, qua her employer,
must be held vicariously liable therefore.
• Court ordered that Chirimuta be restituted.
 REFERENCES
• . Mhishi L, A guide to the law and practice of conveyancing in
Zimbabwe.,legal resource foundation, 2005.
• Harris C. & Roddell A, Property Law and Practice, college of law,2012.
• http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/zimbabwe/registering-pr
operty
• Black H,C, blacks Law dictionary, west publishing,1996.
• Deed registries Act (Chapter 20:05)
• Stamp duties Act (Chapter 23:09)

• Finance Act ( Chapter 23:04)

• Capital Gains Tax Act (Chapter 23:01)