Reyno View Body Corporate v Jeffrey Lindokuhle Gumede

The Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) received an application for dispute resolution on 2 October 2023 brought by Reyno View Body Corporate against Jeffrey Lindokuhle Gumede. The matter was adjudicated under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019, and the parties were afforded an opportunity to file final written submissions. Before determination of the merits, the applicant requested withdrawal of the application insofar as it concerned arrear levies, stating that the issue was being pursued in another forum. This was confirmed by Blue Dot Properties, the managing agent, in correspondence dated 23 April 2024.

• Whether the adjudication should proceed where the applicant seeks withdrawal of the dispute relating to arrear levies because it is being pursued in another forum.
• What procedural order should be made by the adjudicator in the circumstances.

The matter was removed from the roll and the file was closed.

Where the applicant indicates that the dispute, specifically the claim concerning arrear levies, is being pursued in another forum and seeks withdrawal, the CSOS adjudicator may make a procedural order removing the matter from the roll and closing the file rather than adjudicating the merits.

No substantive obiter dicta appear from the text. The order is brief and purely procedural, with no wider non-binding observations on the law.

The order illustrates the CSOS adjudicative practice where a dispute is not decided on the merits if the applicant elects not to proceed and indicates that the issue is being pursued in another forum. It is procedurally significant rather than jurisprudentially substantive, as it contains no developed legal reasoning on the underlying levy dispute.