Cooling Off Period

Purchaser's right to revoke offer or terminate deed of alienation

Cooling off period

Purchaser's right to revoke offer or terminate deed of alienation

In terms of the Alienation of Land Act, a purchaser or prospective purchaser of land may within five days after signature by him or her, or by his or her agent acting on his or her written authority, of-

(a) an offer to purchase land; or

(b) a deed of alienation in respect of land,

revoke the offer or terminate the deed of alienation, as the case may be, by written notice delivered to the seller or his or her agent within that period.

The period of five days shall be calculated with the exclusion of the day upon which the offer was made or the deed of alienation was entered into, as the case may be, and of any Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

The written notice contemplated in subsection (1) shall be effective only if it-

(a) is signed by the purchaser or his or her agent acting on his or her written authority;

(b) identifies the offer or deed of alienation that is being revoked or terminated, as the case may be; and

(c) is unconditional.

A purchaser will not enjoy this cooling off right if-

(a) the purchase price of the land, or the price offered for the land by the prospective purchaser contemplated in that subsection, exceeds R250 000 or such higher amount as the Minister may prescribe in order to counter the effect of inflation;

(b) the purchaser or prospective purchaser contemplated in that subsection is a trust or a person other than a natural person;

(c) the purchaser or agent contemplated in that subsection has purchased the land at a publicly advertised auction;

(d) the seller and purchaser contemplated in that subsection have previously entered into a deed of alienation of the same land on substantially the same terms;