Larenhill Villas Body Corporate v Barbara Lynn Erasmus

The applicant, Larenhill Villas Body Corporate, a sectional title body corporate in Knysna, brought an application under section 38 read with section 39(1)(e) of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 for payment of arrear levy contributions. The respondent, Barbara Lynn Erasmus, is the registered owner of unit 2 in the scheme and a member of the body corporate. The body corporate alleged that the respondent had failed over a period of time to make regular levy payments due in respect of her unit. As at February 2024, the arrear levy account amounted to R7 104.53. The applicant stated that requests for payment had been made, internal remedies had been exhausted, and the trustees had resolved to proceed through CSOS. A certificate of non-resolution was issued on 23 February 2024 after conciliation failed. The respondent did not provide a substantive defence or dispute the material allegations.

• Whether the CSOS had jurisdiction under sections 38 and 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act to determine the levy dispute.
• Whether the body corporate had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the respondent owed arrear levy contributions of R7 104.53.
• Whether a body corporate is entitled to recover duly raised levies from a unit owner through a CSOS adjudication order.
• Whether any 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 R7 104.53 in full on or before 31 May 2024. No order as to costs was made.

A body corporate may obtain a CSOS order under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act compelling a unit owner to pay arrear levies where the body corporate proves, on a balance of probabilities, that levies were duly raised and remain unpaid. In a sectional title scheme, owners are obliged to pay validly imposed levies, and absent a substantive defence, documented proof of the arrears justifies a payment order.

The adjudicator observed that non-payment of levies can seriously destabilise a scheme and negatively affect all owners because levies fund maintenance, insurance, security and other shared expenses. The adjudicator also noted, for completeness, that Management Rule 21(3)(c) allows interest to be charged on overdue amounts pursuant to a written trustee resolution, although the order in this case concerned only the arrear levy amount. The discussion that costs orders are more readily made under section 53 in frivolous or vexatious matters was also ancillary to the main decision.

The decision reinforces the enforceability of body corporate levy obligations through the CSOS adjudication process. It confirms that arrear levies constitute a financial dispute squarely within section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act and illustrates that where a body corporate provides adequate documentary proof and the owner does not raise a substantive defence, an adjudicator may grant payment relief on the papers. The order also reflects the broader South African sectional title principle that levy obligations are fundamental to scheme governance and cannot be withheld unilaterally by owners.