The Executive Committee of La Roche Homeowners Association v H & H Bruyn

The Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) received an application for dispute resolution dated 15 September 2023 involving The Executive Committee of La Roche Homeowners Association as applicant and H & H Bruyn as respondent. The matter was adjudicated under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019. Before adjudication on the merits, the applicant requested that the application concerning arrear levies be withdrawn because the matter had already been handed to attorneys for collection, as reflected in correspondence dated 11 April 2024.

• Whether the CSOS adjudication should proceed after the applicant sought to withdraw the dispute concerning arrear levies.
• Whether the matter should be removed from the adjudication roll and the file closed in the circumstances.

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

Where an applicant in a CSOS dispute requests withdrawal of the application because the matter is being pursued elsewhere, and no merits determination is sought, the adjudicator may remove the matter from the roll and close the file. The order is procedural and does not determine the underlying rights of the parties.

No substantive obiter dicta appear from the text. The adjudicator merely recorded the procedural history, including that the parties were afforded an opportunity to make final written submissions and that the matter was handled under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019.

The order is procedurally significant rather than jurisprudentially significant. It illustrates the CSOS practice of removing matters from the roll where an applicant elects not to pursue adjudication, particularly where the dispute has been referred for collection through attorneys. No substantive legal issue concerning levies or homeowners association governance was decided.