Benoni City Body Corporate v Mlungisi Tembekile Mazibuko

The applicant, Benoni City Body Corporate, a sectional title body corporate in Benoni, Gauteng, brought an application under sections 38 and 39(1)(e) of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 to recover arrear levies from the respondent, Mlungisi Tembekile Mazibuko, the registered owner of unit 403 in the scheme. The body corporate alleged that the respondent had failed over a period of time to make regular levy payments due in respect of his unit. According to the September 2023 statement, the outstanding amount was R9,914.65, inclusive of interest calculated at 24% per annum. The trustees had resolved to proceed with recovery action through CSOS after internal remedies were exhausted. The respondent did not provide a substantive response or defence despite being invited to do so. A certificate of non-resolution was issued on 29 November 2023 after conciliation failed, and the matter was referred for adjudication on the papers.

• Whether the CSOS had jurisdiction under sections 38 and 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act to determine the levy recovery dispute.
• Whether the body corporate established, on a balance of probabilities, that the respondent owed arrear levy contributions in the amount claimed.
• Whether the body corporate was entitled to recover interest on overdue levies pursuant to the applicable management rules and trustee resolution.
• Whether any valid defence existed to justify the respondent's non-payment of levies.
• Whether a costs order should be made in the circumstances.

The application was granted. The respondent was ordered to pay arrear levy contributions to the applicant in the amount of R9,914.65 in full on or before 30 April 2024. No order as to costs was made.

A body corporate in a sectional title scheme is entitled, under the STSMA and section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act, to recover arrear levy contributions and authorised interest from a unit owner where the levies were properly raised, the amount due is sufficiently proved, and the owner fails to dispute liability or establish a valid defence. Non-payment of levies undermines the administration of the scheme, and owners are not entitled to withhold levies because they disagree with the underlying decision to impose them.

The adjudicator observed that levies are the 'lifeblood' of shared living schemes because they fund maintenance, repair, insurance and security, and that non-payment can destabilise a scheme and prejudice the collective interests of owners. The adjudicator also commented generally that costs orders are not usually made in section 54 CSOS adjudications, unlike in matters dismissed as frivolous, vexatious or without substance under section 53.

This adjudication reinforces the enforceability of levy obligations in sectional title and community schemes through the CSOS dispute-resolution process. It confirms that a body corporate may recover unpaid levies and authorised interest from an owner where it provides adequate documentary proof and the owner fails to raise a substantive defence. The order also reflects the broader South African principle that levy payments are essential to the sustainability of sectional title schemes and cannot ordinarily be withheld because of dissatisfaction with the body corporate's decisions.