Many Zimbabweans pay for a stand or house in instalments and wait years for title. When the seller dies before transfer, buyers are often left unsure whether the property is theirs. Law firms and court rulings give a consistent answer: the buyer is not yet the owner, but the sale does not simply die with the seller.

This is a general news explainer, not legal advice. Anyone affected should speak to a registered legal practitioner or conveyancer.

Paying is not owning

Harare firm David K Law Group, in an article on its website, says ownership in Zimbabwe "passes only upon registration of transfer in the Deeds Registry". It says this applies even where a purchaser "has paid the full purchase price and taken occupation of the property". Until transfer is registered, the seller remains the legal owner.

That means that when a seller dies before transfer, the property forms part of the seller's deceased estate.

The estate steps into the seller's shoes

According to DK Law Group, the obligations of a deceased seller "ordinarily pass to the deceased estate" and are handled by the executor appointed to wind it up. The firm says the executor "effectively steps into the shoes of the deceased". Where the agreement of sale is valid and enforceable, it says the executor "will generally be required to facilitate completion of the transaction" and may sign transfer documents in the buyer's favour.

The firm adds a key limit: until an executor receives authority from the Master of the High Court, "no person may lawfully dispose of or transfer property belonging to the estate". It lists the main risks for buyers as an insolvent estate, family disputes, defective agreements and administrative delays. Its advice to people buying in future is to pay into a conveyancer's trust account, with the money released only when transfer is registered.

What the law says about estates

The Administration of Estates Act, published on the legal database ZimLII, sets the starting point. Section 5 requires the nearest relative to send a death notice within 14 days. In Harare it goes to the Master of the High Court, in Bulawayo to the Assistant Master, and elsewhere to the local magistrate. Failing to do so without just cause is an offence.

Where no executor has been named in a will, or the named executor will not act, section 25 requires the Master to publish a Gazette notice calling the surviving spouse, next of kin, legatees "and creditors" to a meeting to appoint one. Once appointed, an executor must advertise for claims against the estate under section 43. That claims window is where a buyer would ordinarily lodge their claim.

What the courts have done

Zimbabwe's High Court has heard buyers' cases long after a seller's death. In Hwara v Mudimu, decided in Bulawayo in February 2015, a buyer of a house in Nketa asked the court to order the Assistant Master to reopen the late seller's estate so the buyer's claim for transfer could be considered. According to the judgment, the buyer signed the agreement in 1994, the seller died in 1997, and the estate was not registered by the family until 2013. The estate's executrix opposed the application, arguing among other things that the claim had prescribed. Justice Mutema found the written agreement of sale valid and ordered the estate reopened "for the purposes of determining the claim of the applicant".

In an earlier Harare case, Chigodora v Rodrigues (2010), buyers sought an order directing the sellers to take "all necessary steps (including obtaining the Master's Consent) to pass transfer". The agreement in that case had been made expressly "subject to the Seller obtaining the necessary authority from the Master of the High Court" to sell an estate's share. Both cases show the Master's office at the centre of any transfer out of a deceased estate.

The open questions

The sources checked do not settle how long buyers have to bring claims. Prescription was raised as a defence in the Hwara case, which shows that time limits can become an issue. Procedures for buyers living abroad, and for stands held under council cessions rather than title, vary and were not confirmed.

For owners who already hold title, a separate deadline applies: old deeds must be validated for the new digital register by July 2027. Zimbo Grapevine covers that in a separate story.

Sources: David K Law Group, "When Death Interrupts a Property Transfer": https://thedklawgroup.co.zw/when-death-interrupts-a-property-transfer-what-happens-if-the-seller-dies-before-transfer-is-registered-in-zimbabwe/ · Administration of Estates Act [Ch 6:01], ZimLII: https://zimlii.org/akn/zw/act/ord/1907/6/eng@2025-02-24 · Hwara v Mudimu & Anor [2015] ZWBHC 33, SheriaHub: https://sheriahub.com/cases/zw/caselaw/hwara-v-mudimu-anor-xref-drby-226-of-2013-2015-zwbhc-33-18-february-2015.pdf · Chigodora & Anor v Rodrigues & Ors [2010] ZWHHC 276, SheriaHub: https://sheriahub.com/cases/zw/caselaw/chigodora-anor-v-rodrigues-ors-hc-3796-of-2005-2010-zwhhc-276-28-december-2010

Related: Title deed holders have until July 2027 to validate deeds, fee capped at US$215