A PARKTOWN attorney has withdrawn her service to transfer an abandoned property after accusing the seller of "hijacking and selling" it to an unsuspecting buyer.

A PARKTOWN attorney has withdrawn her service to transfer an abandoned property after accusing the seller of "hijacking and selling" it to an unsuspecting buyer.

The buyer in return has accused the conveyancer, Malwande Dumeko, of unlawfully withholding his R526000 after failing to transfer the "hijacked" house.

The buyer, Friday Ukhurebor, has been trying to buy property since 2007 but has not been lucky.

Not that he was in breach of contract but the seller's conveyancers have been unable to transfer properties to his name.

In both instances he had to askConsumer Line to help him recover his money from the attorneys.

Ukhurebor had bought a house through Remax One in October last year, but the property could not be registered in his name.

Ukhurebor said he then bought another house from Uche Ugwu for R500000 . He also paid R26000 transfer fees . The payment was made between December and January this year.

But Ukhurebor said attorney Malwande Dumeko could not transfer the property to his name and had withdrawn her services.

Ukhurebor said Dumeko sent clearance information in July from the city of Johannesburg for R335332, which he had to pay the seller before the property could be transferred.

He went to the municipality's clearance department, where he was issued with a certificate for R110125. He handed it to the attorney to continue with registration.

But Dumeko did not proceed with the transfer until last month when she called the buyer, the estate agent and the seller to a meeting.

Ukhurebor said Dumeko caught them by surprise when she withdrew her services.

The agent confirmed the allegations. An e-mail in possession of Sowetan also shows that the agent has been contacting the attorney to try to get Ukhurebor's refund after the deal was cancelled.

T his is the second time Ukhurebor has been let down by attorneys.

Last year he had to use Consumer Lineto get his refund of R800000 from an attorney who also failed to transfer a house to his name.

Dumeko told Consumer Line that she withdrew her services because Ugwu and Ukhurebor were involved in an illegal transaction.

"The two were hijacking and selling properties," said Dumeko, adding that she was compiling a report for the National Intelligence Agency so that an investigation could be instituted.

The matter is also being probed by the commercial crime unit, she said.

"That is the story you should be writing," Dumeko said.

She denied she was unlawfully withholding Ukhurebor's money, claiming her busy schedule made it difficult for the refund to be processed on time.

Ukhurebor denied he was buying hijacked properties as Dumeko alleged and so did Ugwu.

But Ugwu added that he identified an abandoned property and gave Dumeko an instruction to find the owner and negotiate a sale price.

"She accepted the instruction and money to do just that. When that failed she should have returned the money instead of accusing me of hijacking properties," Ugwu said.

He said if he were selling hijacked properties, Dumeko should not have agreed to locate the homeowner from Meadowlands in Soweto to negotiate the sale.

Ukhurebor said if he did not get his refund by the end of this week he would approach the Law Society of the Northern Province to intervene in the dispute.