The Body Corporate: Running the Scheme

Think of the body corporate as the invisible landlord of the entire complex — the legal entity that holds everything together once you and your neighbours own your individual units. It's not a company you register, a committee you elect, or a club you join by choice. It comes into existence automatically, by operation of law.

The moment the very first unit in a sectional title scheme is transferred to someone who is not the original developer, a body corporate is deemed to be established for that scheme. From that point on, every single person who subsequently purchases a unit in that building or complex becomes a member of the body corporate as a matter of law. There is no opt-in, no application form, and no way to abstain — ownership of a unit and membership of the body corporate are inseparable.

The body corporate's primary job is straightforward: enforce the rules, and manage, control, and administer the common property for the benefit of all owners in the scheme. It acts in the interests of the collective, not any individual owner.

Importantly, the Companies Act has no application to the body corporate — it is its own creature of statute, governed entirely by the Sectional Titles Act and, more importantly today, the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act (STSMA). The developer continues as a member only for as long as they own a unit — once they've sold everything, their involvement ends.

The body corporate wears many hats simultaneously: financial manager, insurer, maintenance team, rule enforcer, and long-term custodian of the scheme. Here are the core responsibilities that the law places squarely on its shoulders.

Owners who hold exclusive use areas — like a registered parking bay or garden — may also be required to contribute additional amounts toward the costs specifically associated with those areas, including their rates, insurance, and maintenance, unless the rules make the individual owner responsible.

The monthly levy is the financial lifeblood of a sectional title scheme. It funds everything from the security guard at the gate to the garden maintenance, the communal electricity, the insurance policy on the building, and the reserve for the next roof repair. Understanding how it's calculated — and when it's due — matters enormously.

The amount each owner must pay is determined by the trustees at a general meeting, typically at the annual budget-setting meeting. Once the resolution is passed, it is legally binding and the contributions become due. The body corporate can recover unpaid levies by making an application to the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS).

When you sell your unit, the conveyancer will request a levy clearance certificate from the body corporate's managing agent. This certificate confirms that all amounts owed to the body corporate have been settled — and without it, the Deeds Office will not register the transfer. As a seller, you are responsible for clearing any arrear levies before registration can take place.

Life in a sectional title scheme rarely runs exactly to budget. Sometimes a pipe bursts, the lift breaks down unexpectedly, or the boundary wall needs replacing urgently. When the reserve fund isn't sufficient to cover a sudden expense, or when the scheme needs to raise money for something beyond the normal budget, the trustees can pass a resolution levying a special contribution.

For a long time, the rules governing how sectional title schemes were managed lived alongside the rules about registration in the same piece of legislation — the Sectional Titles Act. This was a bit like having your household budget and the title deed to your home filed in the same drawer. In 2011, Parliament decided to separate the two, and the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act was born.

The STSMA — Act 8 of 2011 — came into full operation on 7 October 2016, bringing with it a comprehensive overhaul of how schemes are governed. Every management obligation that had previously been tucked into the Sectional Titles Act was repealed from that Act and re-enacted in the STSMA, which now stands alone as the primary governing statute for the internal workings of sectional title schemes.

Two sets of rules are prescribed under the STSMA and contained in its regulations — these default rules apply automatically to every scheme unless they are formally substituted or amended through the proper process:

Any change to either set of rules must first be submitted to the Chief Ombud for approval. The Chief Ombud will only approve the changes if they are reasonable and appropriate for the scheme. Once the Chief Ombud issues a certificate approving the changes, those changes come into operation from that date.

You don't run an entire apartment complex yourself — you elect a group of people to do it on everyone's behalf. These are the trustees, and together they form the executive committee of the body corporate. Think of them as the body corporate's board of directors: they make the day-to-day decisions, approve the budget, engage service providers, and pass the resolutions that keep the scheme running.

Trustees are elected at general meetings of the body corporate. Their mandate comes from the owners as a collective. The management rules set out how many trustees there must be, how they are elected, and how long they serve. Critically, when the trustees pass a resolution — for example to levy a special contribution — that resolution is made by the body corporate as a whole, not just by the trustees personally.

The managing agent plays a particularly important role in the transfer of sectional title property. When a unit is sold, the conveyancer applies to the managing agent (not the body corporate directly in most cases) for the levy clearance figures and, ultimately, the levy clearance certificate confirming that the seller's account is clear.

Living in a sectional title scheme means sharing walls, parking areas, gardens, lifts, and pools with your neighbours. Rules are what make that coexistence possible. From the moment the body corporate is established, the scheme operates under two sets of rules — and both bind everyone.

What happens when trustees stop attending meetings, when the body corporate fails to maintain the building, when owners who dominate the scheme abuse their position, or when a scheme slides into financial chaos? South African law has an answer: the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS).

The CSOS was established under the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 (also effective from 7 October 2016) as a specialised dispute resolution body for sectional title schemes and other community schemes. It provides an accessible, relatively informal and affordable mechanism for resolving disputes — one that was specifically designed to take pressure off the courts.

Here's how the process works when a dispute lands at the CSOS:

Every community scheme must also pay an annual levy to the CSOS and file an annual return, including its financial statements, within four months of its financial year-end. This allows the CSOS to monitor the health of schemes across South Africa.