Selling a house: the compliance certificates your transfer needs
Four certificates are set by regulation and one by convention, and no official page lists them together. Check which ones your sale needs, who may legally issue each, and which issuer registers can actually be checked, with every rule cited. Verified 2026-07-17.
Which certificates does your sale need?
Answer what you know. The checklist below narrows to your property; anything unanswered stays listed with its condition, so nothing gets quietly dropped. Rules verified 2026-07-17.
Your checklist (5)
- Electrical Certificate of ComplianceAn electrical certificate is normally needed for a sale. It must be less than two years old at transfer, and any additions or alterations need a certificate covering at least that work. Ask your conveyancer about the narrow historic exception in the regulations.Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009 (GN R242, Government Gazette 31975), regulations 7 and 9 (opens in new tab)
- Gas Certificate of ConformityRequired only if the home has a fixed gas installation, such as a built in hob, gas fireplace or gas geyser. Portable bottled appliances do not count.Pressure Equipment Regulations, regulation 17(3) (opens in new tab)Browse the SAQCC Gas public register entries we have found
- Electric Fence System Certificate of ComplianceRequired only if the property has an electric fence system. The certificate transfers with the property when the system is unchanged.Electrical Machinery Regulations, 2011, regulations 12 and 13 (GN R250, Government Gazette 34154) (opens in new tab)
- Water Installation Certificate (City of Cape Town)Required only for properties within the City of Cape Town. Other municipalities do not require this certificate.City of Cape Town Water Amendment By-law, 2018, section 8 (substituting section 14) (opens in new tab)
- Beetle certificate (not required by law)Not required by any law. In coastal areas your bank or the sale agreement may ask for one; the agreement decides, so check it with your conveyancer.Coastal conveyancing convention, not statute (opens in new tab)
The beetle certificate: convention, not law
Not required by law anywhere. Banks and standard sale agreements often ask for one in coastal areas, mainly the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, to confirm accessible timbers show no wood destroying beetle infestation.
Read the sale agreement: whether a beetle certificate is needed, who pays, and how recent it must be all come from the agreement, not from a statute. Your conveyancer will confirm what your bank expects.
Worth knowing
- By convention the seller obtains and pays for the statutory certificates before transfer, and the sale agreement records it. The beetle certificate is negotiable either way.
- Some municipalities ask for additional documents of their own before transfer, and the requirements vary from place to place. Your conveyancer will know what your municipality expects.
Check the person before they certify
The gas certificate can only come from an SAQCC Gas registered practitioner: browse the SAQCC Gas public register entries we have found. For plumbing work, PIRB registration is a national quality signal worth looking for alongside the City registration the Cape Town certificate requires. And for any of them, you can check the business by name or browse tradespeople with public evidence.
Common questions
Which compliance certificates do I need to sell a house in South Africa?
An electrical certificate of compliance applies to every home with an electrical installation. A gas certificate of conformity is needed when the home has a fixed gas installation, and an electric fence certificate when there is an electric fence. Within the City of Cape Town a water installation certificate is also required before transfer. The beetle certificate is not required by any law; it is a coastal convention driven by banks and sale agreements.
How long is an electrical certificate of compliance valid?
The certificate carries no expiry date of its own: it stays valid until the electrical installation is added to or altered. The two year limit belongs to the transfer, not the certificate: at a change of ownership, conveyancers and banks apply the regulations by requiring a certificate not older than two years.
Does an electric fence certificate expire?
No. The regulation sets no expiry and says in terms that the certificate is transferable, so a seller can hand the existing certificate to the buyer. A new one is only needed if the fence was installed, added to or altered after the certificate was issued. Guides that put a two year life on it are describing the electrical certificate's transfer rule, not this one.
Who can issue the certificates, and can I check them?
Each certificate has its own legal issuer: a registered person for the electrical and fence certificates, an SAQCC Gas authorised person for gas, and a plumber registered with the City of Cape Town for the Cape Town water certificate. We hold the SAQCC Gas register and can show you the practitioners we track. The electrical and fence registers sit with the Department of Employment and Labour and we do not hold them, so there we can show a business's public track record instead.
This is guidance from the public rules, not legal advice. Your conveyancer runs the transfer and confirms what your sale needs, and regulations change. Check the cited regulation or the official body's page before you rely on any single rule.
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