Community scheme stakeholders are not happy with the Community Schemes Ombud Service (“CSOS”). There is an ever-increasing number of complaints about poor service and operating practices. An example of one such criticism is Auren’s article in this edition of Paddocks Press. It is legitimate to criticise a state-owned National Public Entity such as the CSOS…
On the 23rd of June 2020, during the early stages of the National COVID-19 Lockdown, the Community Schemes Ombud Service (“CSOS”) published an amendment to the Practice Directive on Dispute Resolution, 2019 which continues to apply to this day. The amendment boiled down to doing away with the requirement of face-to-face adjudication proceedings and introduced…
It has been almost six years since the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act (“the CSOS Act”) came into operation and by now it is generally understood by most stakeholders in community schemes that any person who is dissatisfied by an adjudicator’s order, may appeal to the High Court, but only on a question of law,…
The July 2021 edition of Paddocks Press is now available.
The June 2021 edition of Paddocks Press is now available.
On 01 June 2021, the High Court (Western Cape Division, Cape Town), delivered a judgment in respect of an urgent application in which relief was sought in relation to the reasonableness of a body corporate’s conduct rule prohibiting short-term letting and the validity of the trustees’ decision to install a biometric access control system. Interestingly,…
The May 2021 edition of Paddocks Press is now available.
The Community Scheme Ombud Service has been in operation for over six years and it now has a new chief ombud, Mr. Adv. Boyce Mkhize, who took office on 1 April 2021. So we need to look at the CSOS, assess the effect it has had on the community scheme industry as well as the…
Readers may recall that at the end of September 2020 I questioned the correctness of the part of the judgment in Kingshaven Homeowners’ Association v Botha and Others (6220/2019) [2020] ZAWCHC 92 in which the judge agreed with the Community Schemes Ombud Service adjudicator’s view that she could not have ordered an owner to stop…
The Community Schemes Ombud Service has published a reasonable number of adjudicator orders, all of which are available at https://www.csos.org.za/csos_adjudication_orders/. I have added to these various orders that have been sent to me and, excluding orders that are merely formal or record settlements, in total, I now have the text of 83 Gauteng orders, 83…
When tenants complain to the body corporate about the incredibly noisy and disruptive neighbours living in the apartment next door, they are often told to take the matter up with their landlord, as the body corporate and/or managing agent won’t deal with queries from those who are not members of the body corporate. Unfortunately, with…
A sectional title body corporate is responsible for management and administration of its scheme. It must ensure that the provisions of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act (the Act) are complied with and it must enforce the provisions of its management and conduct rules. These responsibilities must be carried out in the best interests of…
The Provincial Ombud for the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape, Maletsatsi Wotini, opened the proceedings and welcomed those present. Sindisiwe Ngxongo, the National Department of Human Settlements’ Acting Director General: Chief Operational Officer confirmed that the meeting was an attempt to address the reputational issues that have arisen and restore confidence in the Community Schemes…
By now, you should be aware that the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act (“the STSMA”) and the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act (“the CSOSA”) came into operation on 7 October 2016. In our consulting department, we receive many queries from home owners’ associations (“HOA’s”) as to whether the provisions of the STSMA are applicable to…
Previously, I wrote a blog post titled “Must the trustees send levy statements to owners in sectional title schemes?” which dealt with whether this is a requirement and if so, what needs to be included in the levy statement. With the adoption of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 (“the STSMA”) and the…
