The purpose of this Act is for the:
– Establishment of bodies corporate to manage and regulate sections and common property in sectional title schemes
– Application of rules applicable to such schemes
– Establishment of a sectional titles scheme management advisory council
– Provision for incidental matters.
This Act is always used in conjunction with the Sectional Titles Act.
Overview of these Two Acts
Every sectional title scheme comprises three elements: owners’ sections, exclusive use areas, and common property. It is important for an owner to understand the differences so that they know what is theirs to use and what is not, and what use/entitlements they are paying levies toward.
- Owners’ Sections
These are the houses within a scheme that are individually owned and are registered in the name of the owner. These areas can sometimes include gardens, storerooms, or garages. The extent of your section is determined from the sectional plans filed in the Deeds Office. The client should always check precisely what they are buying before making a purchase. It often happens that Property Practitioners and even sellers are unaware of what they own, leading to unsuspecting owners receiving less than they bargained for when the transfer takes place.
A unit is comprised of a section in a scheme, together with an undivided share of the common property in the scheme, calculated in accordance with the unit owner’s participation quota in the scheme. When a purchaser buys into a scheme, they do not only buy their section; they also buy a bit of common property, owning a portion of it along with every other owner, but in undivided shares (it cannot physically be divided up and allocated to each of the co-owners individually).
- Exclusive Use Areas
These are portions of the common property for which an owner will pay a levy for the exclusive right of use and which can then be used exclusively by the owner, to the exclusion of all other owners in the body corporate.
Common types of exclusive use areas include parking bays, gardens, storerooms, and balconies. However, as mentioned above, you need to check the sectional plans (and sometimes the body corporate rules) to determine whether a particular piece of ground is an exclusive use area, part of a section, or part of the common property.
There are two types of exclusive use rights – those shown on the sectional plan and those recorded in the scheme’s rules. Exclusive use areas are transferred or allocated to an owner in a scheme in a different way than a unit is transferred, so a purchaser needs to check that any parking bay, storeroom, garden, etc., that they are buying is being ceded or otherwise allocated to them at the same time as transfer passes for their unit.
- Common Property
This is the remainder of all the land that comprises the scheme (including exclusive use areas but excluding owners’ sections). All common property is owned by all of the owners in the scheme in undivided shares based on each owner’s participation quota and is for the use and benefit of all members of the scheme. Examples include a pool area, communal garden, or driveway. The rights of use of common property areas can, however, be limited in terms of the rules of the scheme. It is essential for a purchaser to check the rules thoroughly to ensure that they are happy with them before signing a sale agreement to purchase a unit in the scheme.