Electrical COC for selling a house: who pays and when to book
When you sell a house in South Africa, the seller normally arranges and pays for the electrical Certificate of Compliance, and it goes to the conveyancer for the transfer. Book the inspection early, because any defects must be repaired and retested before the electrician can issue the certificate.
Who must provide the COC when a house is sold
The seller normally provides the certificate and pays for it. That is how secondary sources, such as this explainer on COC requirements when selling a house, describe the usual arrangement.
The word "normally" matters. The offer to purchase can allocate costs differently, and a buyer sometimes agrees to take the risk of repairs. Read your agreement and ask your conveyancer before you assume either way.
The certificate itself comes from the electrical rules in force for installations. The Electrical Installation Regulations 2009 sit under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, and you can read them on SAFLII. Only a registered person can inspect, test and issue the certificate, as we explain in who can issue an electrical COC.
When to book the inspection
Book the electrician as soon as you decide to sell, before the first viewing if you can. An early inspection shows you what needs fixing while you still have time to choose your own contractor and compare quotes.
Leaving it until the buyer's offer is signed puts you under pressure. The transfer process moves on its own timetable, and a failed inspection discovered late can delay registration or push you into a rushed repair.
A practical order of events:
- Ask a registered electrician to inspect and test the installation.
- Get a written list of anything that fails and a quote to fix it.
- Have the work done and the installation retested.
- Receive the certificate and pass it to your agent and conveyancer.
What happens if the installation fails
If the installation does not meet the standard, the electrician cannot issue a certificate until the defects are corrected. In general terms, the faults are repaired, the installation is tested again, and then the certificate is issued.
Common reasons for a failed inspection include missing earth leakage protection, unsafe or unlabelled distribution boards, exposed wiring and unapproved additions. Repair cost depends entirely on what is found, so treat the quote as part of your selling budget, not an afterthought.
If you disagree with a failure, ask the electrician to point to the specific fault. You can also get a second opinion from another registered person, who will be doing their own inspection and putting their own name on the certificate.
The two year point for transfers
For property transfer, ECA(SA) says a COC is valid for two years. After that it is valid for the life of the installation unless the installation is altered, and alterations need a supplementary certificate. See ECA(SA) on how long a certificate is valid.
In practice, that means an old certificate you already hold may still work if it is under two years old and nothing has changed. If the house has been sitting on the market, check the date before the transfer is lodged. Our article on how long an electrical COC is valid goes through the points where sources disagree.
Indicative cost
Online blog estimates in 2026 put the cost of an inspection and certificate at roughly R850 to R3,500. Treat that as an indicative range only. It varies with the size of the property, the number of distribution boards and your region, and it does not include repairs.
Get at least two quotes, and ask what is included: the inspection, one retest and the certificate itself. Nothing we found treats any single blog as an authoritative price list.
For a table of what six public sources quote, with dates, see electrical COC cost in South Africa (2026). If you are new to the term, what a COC certificate is explains it in plain English.
Getting the paperwork to the conveyancer
Send the conveyancer the full certificate, not a phone photo of the first page, and keep your own copy. Ask them what format they accept. Some firms are happy with a PDF, others want the original, and the safe approach is to confirm which.
If you are the electrician, a clean pack makes your customer's life easier: certificate first, then the test report and any photos of the board. EZ COC lets you file the certificate PDF or image, photos with a section and description, and the address, then generate one page-numbered PDF with the certificate first and a photographic-record annexure after it. It stores and packages certificates you issued elsewhere. It does not issue or register certificates. For setting up that kind of pack, see combining a COC, test report and photos into one PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for the electrical COC when selling a house?
Normally the seller. Secondary sources describe the seller as the party who provides and pays for the certificate, but the sale agreement can say otherwise, so check yours and confirm with your conveyancer.
Does a cash sale need an electrical COC?
Sources say the COC is still normally required when the buyer pays cash, because the requirement attaches to the transfer, not the financing. Confirm with your conveyancer before you decide to skip it.
How long does it take to get an electrical COC?
It depends on the size of the property, the electrician's diary and whether repairs are needed. We found no reliable figure to quote, so ask your electrician for a date and allow extra time for any defects.
General information, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with the regulations and your registered electrician.
Electrician? Keep every COC findable and ready to send.
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