Unlike some overseas countries, when buying a property the buyer’s money is not given to the seller until the property ownership is in the buyer’s name.
This is done by the exchange of bank guarantees. Usually a buyer does not have cash for the full purchase price and wishes to put down a deposit and get a bank mortgage loan for the balance of the purchase price. Payment of the deposit should be made to the conveyancing attorney’s trust account with instructions to invest the money for the buyer and issue a bank guarantee for payment to the seller on the day the property is registered in the buyer’s name. Similarly if a mortgage bond is obtained for the balance of the purchase price, the bank’s attorneys arrange a bank guarantee for that balance, also to be paid on the day of transfer.
In this way, none of the buyer’s money passes to the seller until confirmation is obtained that the registration of transfer of ownership has been registered in the Deeds Office, and on that day the funds are released for payment to the seller.
This protects the buyer and guarantees payment to the seller once ownership of the passes to the buyer.