Greenstone Ridge 2 Body Corporate v Ruveer Jumunaparsad

The applicant, Greenstone Ridge 2 Body Corporate, is the body corporate of a community scheme. The respondent, Ruveer Jumunaparsad, is the registered owner of Unit 656, Greenstone Ridge, Greenstone Hill, Johannesburg. The body corporate brought an application under section 38 of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 seeking relief under section 39(1)(e) for payment of arrear levies. According to the applicant's statement of account, as at 8 October 2023 the respondent owed R25 761.24 in arrear levies, and the current monthly levy was R1 349.49. The applicant had sent arrear correspondence to the respondent in an effort to resolve the matter. The respondent filed no submissions, did not seek an extension, and did not apply for condonation. The matter therefore proceeded as unopposed and was directly referred to adjudication without conciliation in terms of the applicable CSOS Practice Directive.

• Whether the respondent, as owner of a sectional title unit, was legally liable to the applicant body corporate for the arrear levies claimed.
• Whether the applicant had established, on a balance of probabilities, the amount of R25 761.24 as due and payable.
• Whether it was appropriate for the adjudicator to grant payment relief under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act.
• Whether fairness and the interests of justice justified allowing the respondent to pay the arrears over a period rather than immediately in one lump sum.

The application was upheld in respect of payment of arrear levies. The adjudicator ordered that: (a) the respondent is indebted to the applicant in the amount of R25 761.24; (b) the respondent must pay R2 146.77 within a period of twelve months of receipt of the order; (c) the respondent must simultaneously pay current levies in parallel with the arrear payments, with the first payment due on 1 December 2023; (d) if the respondent fails to make payments on due date, the full amount becomes immediately due, owing and payable; and (e) there is no order as to costs.

An owner of a unit in a sectional title or community scheme is legally obliged to pay levies imposed by the body corporate, because levy liability attaches to ownership. Where the body corporate proves arrear levies on a balance of probabilities and the claim is not rebutted, an adjudicator may grant relief under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act ordering payment of the arrears, including by structuring repayment terms in the interests of justice.

The adjudicator's observation that it was in the interests of justice and fairness to grant the respondent additional time to settle the arrears, rather than requiring immediate full payment, was a discretionary comment on remedy. The note on the statutory right of appeal to the High Court on a question of law was also not part of the binding determination of the dispute.

The decision reinforces the established South African principle that payment of levies is an incident of ownership in a sectional title scheme and that a body corporate is both empowered and obliged to recover levies from owners. It also illustrates the CSOS adjudication process as an accessible forum for levy-recovery disputes in community schemes, including the adjudicator's ability to craft equitable payment arrangements while still enforcing the body corporate's financial rights.