Litigation attorneys often say jokingly that Conveyancers do not do legal work, but that they are only tick donkeys. My name is Salomé van Wyk and I am a Director and Conveyancer of Millers Incorporated Attorneys. I have been practising as an attorney for the last 27 years of which the last 12 years as conveyancer in our Conveyancing Department. Some of the reasons why I moved from litigation to conveyancing was that my favourite part of the law is Contract law and most conveyancing is the result of a contract. So what happens in the day of a conveyancer?

This morning I first checked my e-mails to specifically look for a new transaction that came in form an Estate Agent. She phoned me yesterday on the public holiday and asked my advice as to how to draft a clause in a Deed of Sale. She also made a request that we draft the transfer documents on an urgent basis before 12:30 today as the Sellers are going overseas for 6 months.  I found the e-mail and checked the contract. Sometimes there are aspects in contracts that are not legally correct. Just last week I received a contract signed by a person on behalf of a Trust that still needs to be formed. Such a contract is invalid and I had to phone all the parties and suggest a legal solution to the problem, which I have and if you ever need that advice, phone me and I can help you.

After checking the contract I instructed my assistant to draft the documents and once she drafted it I checked it. Some of the drafting of transfer documents need to be done by me due to the technical difficulty thereof, but mostly my very capable conveyancing assistants would be able to handle it. Back in my office I checked my e-mails again to see which transactions were lodged today and which came on prep (ready for registration) and which registered today. I was glad to see a certain transaction registered today. Last week I tried to arrange with the parties for early occupation if registration took place later than today. It consisted of several phone calls and negotiations between the parties. 

I attended on the clients for signature of the transfer documents of the contract that we received this morning. Then I was approached by a staff member to peruse a Deed of Sale for a transaction that we are handling where the purchasers require us to give notice to a tenant timeously so that vacant occupation could be given to the new owner on registration. Part of my work entails negotiations when disputes arise and I spent more than an hour on telephone calls to make sure that I do what my client requires and that the necessary notice is given in time. 

In between the above I had to draft an Addendum to an agreement for a suspensive condition that will lapse, sign numerous approvals for payment of monies in transactions that registered today and make decisions on next steps to be taken for assistants that needed my help. I consulted with the Seller and Purchaser of a property and planned the transaction for them. The drafting of the new agreement is waiting for me, while I am prepping and signing transfer documents that are ready to go to Cape Town to be lodged in the deeds office. 

I have set aside the afternoon for a meeting with the co-director in the conveyancing department, Madeleine Goldie. We will be comparing conditions in Deeds of Transfer with a set of Surveyor General diagrams and plot where the servitudes run over certain farm properties. This work relates to the transfer, sub division and consolidation of farm properties that are sold by mutual clients. Nineteen transactions are linked in the batch of deeds and you really have to keep your head in the drafting process.

After a long day of attending to many queries from clients and helping assistants with problem solving, I go home and look forward to a nice glass of wine and my golf game over the weekend. Most days in the life of a conveyancer are challenging, but extremely satisfying.

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