In mid-2011 it was announced that two new Acts affecting Sectional Title and Community Schemes in South Africa had been signed by the President and were expected to become operational by the end of the same year. However, the end of 2012 is in site and these two Acts are still not operational

The executives in many sectional title schemes use fines as a way of discouraging rule breaking by members or tenants. 

A difficult situation may arise when it comes to voting at sectional title scheme general meetings and the correct procedures have not been followed with regard to proxies, or if those present are excluded from voting for various reasons, says Michael Bauer, general manager of the property management company IHFM

There is one issue that can be guaranteed to cause dissension among members of sectional title schemes and that is the raising of special levies for rescue or repair purposes, says Michael Bauer, general manager of the property management company IHFM

Increasingly, buyers are choosing to invest into sectional title schemes because of factors such as the level of security and the community lifestyle as well as the affordability compared to full title homes, and the reduced costs of maintenance. As such Sectional title has become one of the most popular forms of property ownership in South Africa. But do buyers really understand the rules governing and protecting them once they move in?

The trustees of bodies corporate are allowed to implement a new budget and levies from the beginning of the financial ahead of the AGM; also important for sectional title schemes is when the levies are due and products are available in assisting Bodies Corporate to successfully turn their arrears debtors into cash and alleviating the collections headaches associated with non-payers

One of the issues that often causes difficulties in sectional title schemes is the right to exclusive use of a common area in the scheme and the costs thereof;  should the exclusive use come at an extra cost, etc? 

People often don’t realise when they sign up to be trustees in sectional title schemes the responsibility that they hold in terms of the rand value of the scheme

Michael Bauer, general manager of sectional title management company IHFM, has drawn attention to a recent TPN (Tenant Profile Network) report where, according to Stats SA, it mentions that 75% of landlords are actually micro-landlords (own one to ten properties and rent them out).  If you are this type of landlord it is important to be quite careful in selecting the type of unit you will invest in and what rental category it falls under.

It sometimes happens that sectional title buildings encounter problems of mismanagement and become run down, even possibly unsafe in some cases and where the trustees have not taken due care of the management of the building, said Michael Bauer, general manager of IHFM, a sectional title management company.