Nippes Body Corporate v G & P Moopanar

The applicant, Nippes Body Corporate, is the body corporate of a registered sectional title scheme in Queensburgh, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The respondent, G & P Moopanar, is the owner of garage unit 22 in the scheme and therefore a member of the body corporate. The body corporate alleged that the respondent failed to pay levy contributions due to the scheme. According to the applicant’s November 2023 statement, the arrears totalled R33 112.25, inclusive of interest at 15% per annum. The applicant stated that it had requested payment, exhausted internal remedies, and obtained a trustees’ resolution to proceed via the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS). A certificate of non-resolution was issued after conciliation failed, and the matter proceeded to adjudication on the papers. The respondent did not provide a reasonable explanation for the non-payment despite being afforded an opportunity to do so.

• Whether the CSOS had jurisdiction under sections 38 and 39(1)(e) of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 to determine the dispute.
• Whether the respondent, as an owner in the sectional title scheme, was liable to pay the arrear levy contributions claimed by the body corporate.
• Whether the applicant had provided sufficient evidence of the levies raised and the amount outstanding.
• Whether interest on overdue levies could be charged in terms of the STSMA and management rules.
• Whether a costs order should be made.

The application was granted. The respondent was ordered to pay arrear levy contributions of R33 112.25 to the applicant in full on or before 30 April 2024. No order as to costs was made.

A body corporate in a sectional title scheme may recover levy contributions from an owner through CSOS where the levies were duly raised in terms of the STSMA and supporting rules, and where sufficient evidence of the arrears is produced. An owner cannot avoid or withhold payment of levies in the absence of a valid legal basis, and unexplained non-payment justifies an order under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act for payment of the outstanding contributions, together with applicable interest if properly authorised.

The adjudicator observed that non-payment of levies can seriously destabilise a scheme and negatively affect the collective interests and investments of all owners, because levies fund maintenance, repair, insurance, security and other common expenses. The adjudicator also remarked generally that parties before CSOS are usually expected to bear their own costs, with costs orders more commonly arising in matters that are frivolous, vexatious or non-compliant under section 53.

This decision affirms the power of a body corporate to recover unpaid levy contributions through CSOS under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act. It reinforces the established principle in South African sectional title law that owners are obliged to pay levies when duly raised and may not withhold payment because of disagreement with the body corporate’s decisions. The order also illustrates CSOS’s role as an accessible enforcement mechanism for community schemes seeking recovery of arrear contributions.