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Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act, 2011 (Act No. 8 of 2011)

3. Functions of bodies corporate

 

 

1) A body corporate must perform the functions entrusted to it by or under this Act or the rules, and such functions include—
a) to establish and maintain an administrative fund which is reasonably sufficient to cover the estimated annual operating costs—
i) for the repair, maintenance, management and administration of the common property (including reasonable provision for future maintenance and repairs);
ii) for the payment of rates and taxes and other local municipality charges for the supply of electricity, gas, water, fuel and sanitary or other services to the building or land;
iii) for the payment of any insurance premiums relating to the building or land; and
iv) for the discharge of any duty or fulfilment of any other obligation of the body corporate;
b) to establish and maintain a reserve fund in such amounts as are reasonably sufficient to cover the cost of future maintenance and repair of common property but not less than such amounts as may be prescribed by the Minister;
c) to require the owners, whenever necessary, to make contributions to such funds: Provided that the body corporate must require the owners of sections entitled to the right to the exclusive use of a part or parts of the common property, whether or not such right is registered or conferred by rules, to make such additional contribution to the funds as is estimated necessary to defray the costs of rates and taxes, insurance and maintenance in respect of any such part or parts, including the provision of electricity and water, unless in terms of the rules the owners concerned are responsible for such costs;
d) to require from a developer who is entitled to extend the scheme in terms of a right reserved in section 25(1) of the Sectional Titles Act, to make such reasonable additional contribution to the funds as may be necessary to defray the cost of rates and taxes, insurance and maintenance of the part or parts of the common property affected by the reservation, including a contribution for the provision of electricity and water and other expenses and costs in respect of and attributable to the relevant part or part;
e) to determine the amounts to be raised for the purposes of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c);
f) to raise the amounts so determined by levying contributions on the owners in proportion to the quotas of their respective sections;
g) to open and operate an account with any registered bank or any other financial institution;
h) to insure the building or buildings and keep it or them insured to the replacement value thereof against fire and such other risks as may be prescribed;
i) to insure against such other risks as the owners may by special resolution determine;
j) subject to section 17 and to the rights of the holder of any sectional mortgage bond, forthwith to apply any insurance money received by it in respect of damage to the building, in rebuilding and reinstating the building or buildings in so far as this may be effected;
k) to pay the premiums on any insurance policy effected by it;
l) to maintain all the common property and to keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair;
m) to comply with any notice or order by any competent authority requiring any repairs to or work in respect of the relevant land or building;
n) to comply with any reasonable request for the names and addresses of the persons who are the trustees of the body corporate in terms of the rules or who are members of the body corporate;
o) to notify the chief ombud, the local municipality concerned and the registrar of its domicilium citandi et executandi, which is its address for service of any process;
p) to ensure compliance with any law relating to the common property or to any improvement of land comprised in the common property;
q) to maintain any plant, machinery, fixtures and fittings used in connection with the common property and sections and to keep them in a state of good and serviceable repair;
r) subject to the rights of the local municipality concerned, to maintain and repair including renewal where reasonably necessary, pipes, wires, cables and ducts existing on the land and capable of being used in connection with the enjoyment of more than one section or of the common property or in favour of one section over the common property;
s) on the written request of any owner or registered mortgagee of a section, to produce to such owner or mortgagee, or any person authorised in writing by such owner or mortgagee, the insurance policy effected by the body corporate and the receipt for the last premium in respect thereof; and
t) in general, to control, manage and administer the common property for the benefit of all owners.

 

2) Liability for contributions levied under any provision of subsection (1), save for special contributions contemplated by subsection (4), accrues from the passing of a resolution to that effect by the trustees of the body corporate, and may be recovered by the body corporate by an application to an ombud from the persons who were owners of units at the time when such resolution was passed: Provided that upon the change of ownership of a unit, the successor in title becomes liable for the pro rata payment of such contributions from the date of change of such ownership.

 

3) Any special contribution becomes due on the passing of a resolution in this regard by the trustees of the body corporate levying such contribution and may be recovered by the body corporate by an application to an ombud, from the persons who were owners of units at the time when such resolution was passed: Provided that upon the change of ownership of a unit, the successor in title becomes liable for the pro rata payment of such contributions from the date of change of such ownership.

 

4) ‘‘Special contribution’’, for the purposes of this section, means any contribution levied under subsection (1) other than contributions which arise from the approval of the estimate of income and expenditure at an annual general meeting of a body corporate, determined to be a contribution to be levied upon the owners during the current financial year.

 

5) The body corporate must, annually or whenever there is a change in levy, certify in writing—
a) the amount determined as the contribution of each owner;
b) the manner in which such contribution is payable; and
c) the extent to which such contribution has been paid by each owner.

 

6) The body corporate is, for the purposes of effecting any insurance under subsection (1)(h), considered to have an insurable interest for the replacement value of the building and must, for the purposes of effecting any other insurance under that subsection, be considered to have an insurable interest in the subject matter of such insurance.