In February 2025, the Johannesburg Deeds Office was temporarily closed due to unsafe working conditions, which included broken lifts and fire safety non-compliance. The offices were meant to re-open within six weeks, but as of July they remain only partially open resulting in a growing backlog. For those outside the industry, this may sound like more bureaucratic noise, but for the attorneys, realtors and sellers caught mid-transaction, the delays are stalling progress and paralysing cash flow.
Registrations that usually took 6-12 weeks are now taking up to three months which means sellers are unable to access the proceeds of completed sales, realtors are waiting months for commissions that would ordinarily be processed within weeks, and attorneys are fielding calls from frustrated clients. Currently, there are more than 5,000 property transactions sitting in the backlog and the office is only expected to move to temporary accommodation found by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, by September 2025.
In addition to delays, the current working conditions have led to an increased number of errors and rejections which has further slowed registrations and increased frustration and costs.
The situation is the most visible example of a broader systemic strain where economic unpredictability, legacy processes and administrative bottlenecks converge to expose the fragility of property transaction flows in the country. For those locked in limbo, the disruptions are not felt equally.
Cash flow has always depended on alignment across legal processes, municipal clearances, and bank settlements. In theory, these systems operate sequentially, in practice, they don’t. Sellers carry a growing list of pre-transfer costs that include levies, compliance certificates, rates and taxes. These are expenses they have to cover before they’re paid. Realtors face a different reality: commissions that would have usually arrived within a month of a sale are now stalled for three or more, but their operational costs remain fixed.
To address this timing gap, sector-specific digital platforms like TransBridj have emerged, offering a new for sellers, realtors, and attorneys to access liquidity already in motion, without bypassing legal systems.
Conveyancing attorneys are often expected to mediate the fallout, manage expectations and continue administering stalled matters when they also don’t have visibility into when registration delays will ease.
It’s important to separate this discussion from broader economic constraints. The South African Reserve Bank reduced the repo rate by 0.5% in May 2025 and the National Treasury’s modest transfer duty adjustments from 1.1 million to 1.21 million in the same period have offered some relief. However, these measures do little to address the problem – it’s not about affordability or credit, it’s about liquidity that already exists in the system but cannot be released. Without registration, nothing moves.
This is where practical innovation becomes essential and platforms like TransBridj offer ways to access liquidity already in progress, providing short-term relief during unavoidable registration delays and work alongside it and give sellers, realtors and attorneys access to liquidity during periods of unavoidable delay. Secure, paperless access to funds already in motion is a smarter way of managing transaction-related obligations and while this approach doesn’t solve the backlog, it does solve for what it causes.
The truth is, resilience is tied to timing, especially in an unpredictable geopolitical climate. If it is possible to unlock funds already in process, then it is possible to build the capacity to move forward despite challenges or delays in the system. Technology-first platforms are now offering new ways to achieve liquidity from funds in motion ensuring transactional flows. They respond to the user’s actual role in the deal, whether it’s the seller needing to cover rates, reality awaiting commission, or an attorney wanting workflow efficiency. Each user journey is different, which is why a successful model requires tailored digital pathways for each.
And this is the nuance often missed in the broader discussion about property tech. TransBridj reflects this thinking, focusing not on ownership disruption, but on solving the real misalignment between when costs arise and when proceeds are accessible
In this context, bridging funding is a structural response to a structural problem, especially when thoughtfully integrated into the legal process. It offers sellers a way to meet unavoidable pre-transfer costs, for realtors to keep operating without disruption, and for attorneys to not become overwhelmed by administrative fallout. But this only works if the solution is designed with the system in mind and it respects legal workflows, adapts to the needs of different users and operates with clarity and compliance at the core.
As delays persist, the conversation needs to move from when things will resolve to how users can move forward despite of them. TransBridj is offering an answer with a purpose-built, fluid bridging funding solution that gives frictionless, fast-tracked funding within 24-hours, accelerating deal closures, ensuring instant fee settlements, and administering the antidote to paralysed liquidity.
