Chianti Heights Body Corporate (Giuliana Agostini) v Adriaan Abrahams

The Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) received an application for dispute resolution dated 20 October 2023 involving Chianti Heights Body Corporate, represented by Giuliana Agostini, as applicant, and Adriaan Abrahams as respondent. The application appears to have included a dispute concerning arrear levies. Before final adjudication, the applicant requested that the application regarding arrear levies be withdrawn because the account had been settled, as recorded in correspondence from the applicant's property administrators, Marite Property Administrators, dated 29 February 2024. The matter was adjudicated under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019, and the parties were afforded an opportunity to provide final written submissions.

• Whether the dispute should remain on the adjudication roll after the applicant withdrew the arrear levies claim due to settlement of the account.
• Whether it was appropriate for the CSOS adjudicator to remove the matter from the roll and close the file in the circumstances.

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

Where a CSOS dispute, including one concerning arrear levies, has been rendered moot by settlement and the applicant seeks withdrawal, the adjudicator may remove the matter from the roll and close the file instead of deciding the merits.

No substantive obiter dicta appear from the text. The order is brief and procedural, containing no broader non-binding observations.

The order illustrates the CSOS practice that where the underlying dispute has been settled and the applicant withdraws the claim, the adjudicator may remove the matter from the roll rather than issuing a substantive determination on the merits. It is procedurally relevant to community schemes disputes, especially levy matters, but it does not establish a substantive legal precedent on levy liability or body corporate powers.