01
Owners
Levies and statements, voting at meetings, renovations, letting your unit and what the body corporate looks after.
For owners and tenants
Your scheme, explained plainly.
Short guides to levies, rules, repairs and meetings for owners and tenants in sectional title schemes. And Manje on WhatsApp when you need to report something or ask a question.
Block B · Unit 14
Manje
There’s water coming through my ceiling. Who fixes that?
via WhatsApp
Sorry about that. I’ve logged it for your managing agent, who will confirm who’s responsible and let you know. Here’s how leaks usually work.
Guide: maintenance and repairs
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Start here
Find what applies to you. Owners and tenants have different rights.
Choose your role for the guides and contacts that fit it.
02
Tenants
Moving in, the conduct rules that apply to you, reporting problems and knowing who to contact for what.
03
Trustees
Your duties as an elected trustee, running meetings and making decisions about the scheme’s money with owners.
Guides
Sectional title, without the jargon. Each guide takes a few minutes.
Levies and statements
What your levy pays for, how it’s set and how to read your statement.
Conduct and management rules
What the rules cover, who they apply to and how they’re changed.
Maintenance and repairs
What the body corporate fixes, what’s yours, and how to report a problem.
AGMs and meetings
Notices, voting, proxies and what happens at the annual general meeting.
Insurance and claims
What the building policy covers, what to insure yourself, and how claims work.
CSOS and disputes
Resolving a complaint inside the scheme first, and when to go to the CSOS.
Moving in and out
Telling the body corporate, access, deposits and inspections.
POPIA and your information
What personal information is kept, why, and your rights.
Reporting a problem
Report it once. Follow it through to done.
Send a WhatsApp or use the portal. Every report becomes a case you can follow. For a burst pipe, fire or anything dangerous, call your scheme’s emergency number first.
Manje logs your request straight away. A person at your managing agent decides what happens next.
Send Manje a WhatsApp
Describe the problem and add a photo if it helps. Manje reads back a short summary and logs it once you say yes.
Your report becomes a case
Neighbours reporting the same problem join the same case, so nothing is handled twice.
Your managing agent reviews it
A person checks whether it’s a body corporate matter or the owner’s, and tells you why.
The next step is arranged
For body corporate work, a contractor and an access time are confirmed with you. If it’s the owner’s to fix, you’re told what to do.
You hear when it’s done
Updates come back on the same channel, and the case closes with a record of the work.
Meet Manje
Meet Manje. Our WhatsApp assistant.
Manje logs maintenance requests, answers common questions about your scheme and points you to the right guide, any time of day. It passes everything to your managing agent, who decides what happens next. Manje is a bot, and it never makes promises on anyone’s behalf.
Scan to chat with Manje
Please don’t send banking details or ID numbers.
Resources
Official sources. Read the rules for yourself.
Community Schemes Ombud Service
The official body for sectional title disputes, for when the scheme’s own process hasn’t resolved a complaint.
Visit csos.org.zaSectional Titles Schemes Management Act
The law that sets out how bodies corporate, trustees, levies and rules work.
Read the Act
Questions
What owners and tenants ask. Answered plainly.
The body corporate is all the owners in the scheme together. It comes into being by law once the first unit is sold. Owners elect trustees at the annual general meeting to run the scheme between meetings. Many bodies corporate also appoint a managing agent, a company paid to handle day-to-day administration under the trustees’ direction.
As a rule, owners look after the inside of their own section, and the body corporate looks after common property such as the roof, outside walls, gardens and shared pipes. Some items fall in between, such as a pipe that serves only one unit, and the scheme’s rules decide. If you’re not sure, report it to the trustees or managing agent and ask them to confirm in writing.
The trustees prepare a budget, owners approve it at the annual general meeting, and levies are shared between owners by participation quota unless a rule says otherwise. Increases usually come from municipal water and electricity, security, insurance and the reserve fund, which pays for major repairs in the scheme’s 10-year maintenance plan. You’re entitled to a levy statement at least once a year and whenever your contribution changes.
Yes. The conduct rules apply to everyone who lives in the scheme, not only owners. The body corporate must give every occupier a copy of the rules, so ask your landlord or the managing agent if you don’t have one.
Check your scheme’s rules first. Work inside your section may still need the trustees’ consent and usually has set working hours. Changes to the outside of the building, its structure or common property need approval, and extending your section needs a special resolution of owners.
Yes. You can appoint a proxy in writing to vote for you. One person can be proxy for no more than two owners. A meeting that will vote on a special or unanimous resolution needs at least 30 days’ written notice, stating the resolution.
Start with the scheme’s own process, usually a written complaint to the trustees or managing agent, and keep a record of it. If that doesn’t resolve it, you can apply to the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS), which may ask for proof that you tried to resolve it internally first. To ask CSOS to set aside a decision of the body corporate, apply within 60 days of the decision.
This is general information about sectional title schemes in South Africa, not legal advice. Your scheme’s registered rules and the law decide your specific situation.
Your scheme
Log in to your scheme. Any time.
Owners see their unit, levies and scheme documents. Tenants follow requests, bookings and notices.