Beverley Maureen Smith obo Cumberland Mews Body Corporate v Hilda Joy Reijnders (Late Estate)

The Community Schemes Ombud Service received an application for dispute resolution concerning arrear levies. The applicant was Beverley Maureen Smith acting on behalf of Cumberland Mews Body Corporate, and the respondent was Hilda Joy Reijnders (Late Estate). The matter was adjudicated under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019, and the parties were afforded an opportunity to make final written submissions. Before adjudication on the merits, the applicant requested that the application, which had been registered on 21 August 2023, be withdrawn because the respondent and her daughter, who was a tenant, had both subsequently passed away. The applicant indicated that the matter would instead be dealt with internally, relying on correspondence from Mrs Smith of PRN-Estates (Pty) Ltd, the managing agent, dated 8 January 2024.

• Whether the CSOS adjudication concerning arrear levies should proceed after the applicant requested its withdrawal.
• Whether, in the circumstances of the deaths of the respondent and her daughter/tenant, the matter should be removed from the adjudication roll and the file closed.

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

Where, before determination on the merits, the applicant requests withdrawal of a CSOS dispute and the matter cannot appropriately proceed in its existing form due to supervening circumstances, the adjudicator may remove the matter from the roll and close the file rather than adjudicate the substantive dispute.

No meaningful obiter dicta appear from the order. The adjudicator merely noted the surrounding circumstances, including the deaths of the respondent and her daughter and the applicant's intention to deal with the matter internally.

This order is procedurally significant rather than substantively significant. It illustrates that where an applicant elects not to pursue a CSOS dispute, and supervening events such as the death of relevant parties arise, the adjudicator may remove the matter from the roll and close the file without deciding the merits. It establishes no substantive principle on arrear levies or body corporate liability.