Key takeaways
- A sheriff’s auction, or sale in execution, is a public auction at which a sheriff, an officer of the court, sells property that was attached to satisfy a court judgment. The owner has not chosen to sell.
- A property sale is advertised in the Government Gazette and a local newspaper 5 to 15 court days before the auction, and the conditions of sale lie for inspection at the sheriff’s office for 15 court days before it (Uniform Rules, rule 46, as amended to 27 December 2024).
- In a High Court sale, the prescribed conditions (Form 21, in force since 27 December 2024) require a 10% deposit in cash or by EFT on the day and a financial institution’s guarantee for the balance, and make the purchaser liable for the sheriff’s commission, municipal amounts, levies and transfer costs on top of the price.
- Under the High Court rules a reserve usually comes from a preferent creditor, the municipality or body corporate, or, for a home, the court, and the conditions of sale state it. Without one, the property goes to the highest bidder, though the sheriff may refuse a bid from someone who seems unable to pay. If a court-set reserve is not reached, the court decides what happens next.
- Form 21 gives no warranty of vacant occupation, and an occupier can only be evicted with a court order, in most residential cases under the PIE Act.
- Dynamic Auctioneers is not a sheriff and holds no bank repossession contracts.
What a sheriff’s auction is
A sheriff’s auction, properly a sale in execution, turns a court judgment into money. When a debtor does not pay what a court ordered, the creditor can have the debtor’s property attached and sold by the sheriff: an officer of the court appointed by the Minister of Justice, who needs a fidelity fund certificate from the South African Board for Sheriffs (Sheriffs Act, sections 2, 30 and 32).
The owner has not chosen to sell, and the sheriff who sells has never lived in the house or driven the car, so nobody can vouch for its condition. The terms come from the court rules and the sheriffs’ tariff, not a negotiation.
High Court matters follow rules 45, 46 and 46A of the Uniform Rules; Magistrates’ Court matters follow that court’s own rules, including rule 43A for homes. High Court property sales must comply with section 45 of the Consumer Protection Act and its regulations (rule 46(8)(a)(v)); since 27 December 2024 the rules say so for movables too, and allow an electronic platform alongside the physical auction (rules 45(7)(a) and 46(7)(a), GNR 5560).
How a property gets to a sheriff’s auction
In the High Court, rules 46 and 46A of the Uniform Rules (as amended to 27 December 2024) set the steps. Every period is in court days, which leave out weekends and public holidays (rule 46(16)).
- A court order. A home can be sold only after a court orders execution, and a primary residence only if the court finds that warranted (rule 46A(2)).
- Attachment. The sheriff serves notice on the owner, any occupier and the registrar of deeds, who records it against the title (rules 46(1)(b) and 46(3)).
- A sale date at least 45 court days after the notice of attachment, unless a magistrate allows otherwise (rule 46(7)(a)).
- Conditions of sale, settled at least 20 court days before the sale and open for inspection at the sheriff’s office for the last 15 (rule 46(8)).
- Advertising in a local newspaper and the Government Gazette 5 to 15 court days before the sale, and on notice boards at least 10 days before (rule 46(7)).
- The auction: public, to the highest bidder, subject to any reserve (rules 46(10) and 46(12)).
A listed date is never certain. Where the debt is a home loan or other credit agreement, the owner can often stop the sale by paying the arrears, the creditor’s prescribed default charges and reasonable enforcement costs (National Credit Act, section 129(3), as amended in 2014), and a court can suspend execution (rule 45A).
Where sheriff’s auctions are advertised
No rule requires a central list. A property sale in execution appears in the Government Gazette (free online from the Government Printing Works), a local newspaper, the district magistrate’s court notice board, near the venue, and at the sheriff’s office named in the notice, where the conditions lie for inspection (rule 46(7) and (8), as amended to 27 December 2024).
To locate a sheriff, the Department of Justice points to the South African Board for Sheriffs (DOJ: sheriffs FAQ). From a Gazette notice you may have only five court days to read the conditions, search the title and arrange the deposit. Check anything from notice websites with the sheriff.
Test the words “sale in execution” in an auction house’s advert: they are allowed only if at least 75% of the lots are offered under a court order, the lots were not bought for resale, and the advert explains the order and names the court (CPA regulations, GN R293 of 1 April 2011, regulation 20(6)). An advert may still flag particular lots as sold under a court order, if that is clear and true (regulation 20(8)). An auctioneer can also be employed to conduct a Magistrates’ Court property sale (rule 43(10), cited in the tariff below): confirm such a sale with the sheriff. See how to spot an auction scam.
The reserve price, and who sets it
Do not assume there is no reserve. Condition 2 of Form 21 (in force since 27 December 2024) states either “without reserve” or the reserve, so read it first, with any conditions the court ordered (rule 46(8)(a)(ii)). A reserve can come from (rules 46 and 46A, as amended to 27 December 2024):
- Preferent creditors (such as a prior bondholder), the municipality if the property is rated, and the body corporate for a sectional title unit. Each may stipulate a reasonable reserve within 10 court days; if they do not respond in time, the sale can go ahead without it (rule 46(5)).
- The court, for a home. It must consider a reserve, weighing market value, the debts against the property, who lives there and the chance of no sale (rule 46A(9)).
If a court-set reserve is not reached, the sheriff reports the highest bid and the bidders to the court within five court days, and the court decides how execution proceeds, which can include a sale to the highest bidder (rule 46A(9)(c) to (e), in force since 22 December 2017). See also the reserve price explained.
The conditions of sale: deposit, guarantee and commission
High Court conditions must correspond substantially with Form 21 (in force since 27 December 2024). The terms that matter most:
| Term | What Form 21 says |
|---|---|
| Deposit | 10% of the price, in cash or by EFT, on the day of the sale (condition 7(a)) |
| Balance | Paid against transfer, secured by a financial institution’s guarantee within the days the conditions state (7(b)) |
| Commission | The sheriff’s commission, for the purchaser’s account (9(a)) |
| Rates, levies, HOA dues, transfer costs | The purchaser is liable, within 10 days of the conveyancer’s request (9(b)) |
| Occupation | No warranty of vacant occupation (10(d)) |
| Default | A judge may cancel the sale, and you can be held liable for any loss on the resale (8) |
The money you pay stays in the sheriff’s trust account until transfer (rule 46(13)): confirm the account with the sheriff’s office before you pay. In a Magistrates’ Court sale, do not assume the conditions match Form 21.
The sheriff’s commission
On a sale of immovable property, the High Court tariff in force since 28 November 2025 (rule 68, item 5(c)(xiv), GN R6753) sets 6% on the first R100,000, 3.5% from R100,001 to R400,000 and 1.5% on the balance, with a minimum of R3,000 and a maximum of R40,000, and puts it on the purchaser. The Magistrates’ Courts tariff, amended from the same date (Annexure 2, Table C, GN R6752), uses the same scale, and a lower one (3%, 2% and 1%, capped at R22,850) where an auctioneer is employed under its rule 43(10). Check your sale’s formula and whether VAT is added.
At a sale in execution only commission above 5% of the price is added to the value for transfer duty, which on the High Court scale happens only at low prices (below about R167,000 before VAT, higher if VAT on the commission counts). Arrear rates, levies and other debts of the owner you pay under the conditions are added too (Transfer Duty Act, sections 6(1)(a) and (c); SARS Transfer Duty Guide, Issue 6 of 25 July 2023, paragraph 6.3.1). Have the conveyancer confirm the dutiable amount (see transfer duty and the calculator).
Arrears, occupiers and the state of the property
Arrears. Form 21 condition 9(b) makes you liable for all amounts due to the municipality, not limited to any period, plus levies and HOA dues. Transfer needs a municipal clearance covering the two years before the application (Municipal Systems Act, section 118(1)) and, for a sectional title unit, a levy clearance (Sectional Titles Act, section 15B(3)), which the body corporate may withhold until all money due is paid, legal costs included (Marsh Rose v Steinmuller, SCA, 2023; see sectional title on auction). After transfer a new owner is not liable for the previous owner’s municipal debts (Jordaan v City of Tshwane, 2017), but that does not undo a condition you signed. Get the figures before you bid.
Occupiers. Nobody may evict an unlawful occupier without a court order, and doing so is a criminal offence (PIE Act 19 of 1998, section 8). The court orders eviction only if it is just and equitable (section 4), and that protects a former owner who stays on after a sale in execution (Ndlovu v Ngcobo; Bekker v Jika, SCA, 2002). A tenant with a valid lease may be entitled to stay: ask an attorney before bidding on a let property.
Condition. The CPA auction regulations, which apply to sales in execution, require a reasonable, free opportunity to inspect the goods before the auction (regulation 28(5), GN R293 of 2011), and the Act’s “goods” include land (CPA, section 1). How that works for an occupied home is not settled, and in practice you may see only the outside: ask the sheriff what inspection is offered, and take advice before relying on it. Form 21 frees the sheriff from liability for any deficiency (condition 13) and says nothing about compliance certificates or repairs: budget for both. See our voetstoots guide.
Vehicles and other movables
Movables follow a lighter procedure (Uniform Rules, rule 45, as amended to 27 December 2024). The sheriff attaches the goods and sells them by public auction to the highest bidder after a newspaper advert, not less than 15 court days after seizure (rule 45(7)(a), read with the definition of court day in rule 1).
- Other people’s rights survive. Goods subject to a third party’s real right are sold subject to it (rule 45(10)). A financed vehicle may still belong to the finance house, and then only the debtor’s interest in it is attached (rule 45(8)(b)): check the title holder on the registration certificate.
- There is no Form 21 for movables. Ask the sheriff’s office how payment and collection work.
- Commission differs. The High Court tariff in force since 28 November 2025 charges 9% on the first R15,000 and 6% after that, capped at R14,444 (item 5(d)(x), GN R6753); in a Magistrates’ Court sale the cap is R12,417 (Annexure 2, Table C, Part II, item 12, GN R6752, in force the same day). Unlike the property scales, neither puts this on the purchaser: check the notice for anything added to your bid.
- You may inspect the goods, free, before the auction starts (regulation 28(5)). See buying a vehicle on auction.
A sheriff’s sale and an auctioneer’s sale compared
Both are public auctions under the Consumer Protection Act’s auction rules, which cover sales in execution too (regulation 18(4), GN R293 of 2011). The rest differs (High Court property terms from Form 21, in force since 27 December 2024):
| Sheriff’s sale in execution | Auction house sale, such as ours | |
|---|---|---|
| Reserve | Set by a preferent creditor, the municipality or body corporate, or the court, if at all | At ours, agreed with the seller in advance |
| Deposit and commission | High Court property: 10% on the day (Form 21); otherwise as the conditions on file state. Commission from the tariff | As each auction’s conditions set out (see buyer’s premium explained) |
| Viewing | An inspection opportunity is required, but access to an occupied home is often limited: ask the sheriff | At ours, viewing times are published with each auction |
| Registration | Identity verified to FICA standard before the auction starts (regulation 26) | The same; where one of our auctions asks for a registration deposit, it is refunded if you do not win, as that auction’s terms provide |
Our distressed property comes from deceased and insolvent estates, liquidations and business rescue, sold voetstoots (see estate auctions, property auctions and buying on auction); our SAIA and PPRA numbers are on our credentials page.
Before you bid at a sheriff’s auction
- Read the conditions at the sheriff’s office: reserve, guarantee period, commission formula, occupational rent and interest.
- Search the title for bonds, servitudes and the attachment.
- Get the arrears figures and add them to your cost.
- Find out who lives there, and ask the sheriff what you can inspect.
- Line up the money: in a High Court sale the 10% deposit (Form 21, condition 7(a), in force since 27 December 2024), the commission and a bond pre-approval that lets your bank issue the guarantee in time (see buying on auction with a bond).
- Register before the auction starts, with a letter of authority if you bid for someone else, and a certified resolution for a company (regulation 26).
- Confirm the sale is still on with the sheriff named in the notice, then set your top bid after every cost (see what buying on auction really costs).
If you would act on any of the law here, have a conveyancer or attorney read the conditions with you first.