Under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) there is now a wide scope for people suffering from buyers’ remorse to cancel the transaction at a very late stage without any real reason as the property will only be delivered to the purchaser after formal transfer has taken place. This will result in the registration of the transfer having to be cancelled and additional costs being incurred by the seller. The seller is also then required to return any payment already received from the purchaser, provided that the purchaser returns the property.
This has the potential to cause chaos at the deeds office, In addition to the chance of incorrectly captured records, the registration process will be slowed down even further due to the additional demand on and work for the deeds office. There may also be an administrative nightmare obtaining the requisite approvals and consents to cancel a transfer. A problem will also be created in the status of ownership in the gap between registration of the transfer and the cancellation of registration as the transaction has been cancelled but the purchaser is still the owner of the property.
