Ockert Johannes Van Heerden v Strawberry Fields Body Corporate

The Community Schemes Ombud Service received an application for dispute resolution from Ockert Johannes Van Heerden, the owner of unit 15 in the scheme. The dispute concerned maintenance in the scheme, specifically payment for maintenance, and was brought against Strawberry Fields Body Corporate, cited through its chairperson, Dave Eiserma. During the investigation and adjudication process under the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019, it was established that the dispute had been settled. It was further confirmed that the applicant had sold his unit on or about 16 April 2024. The adjudicator therefore found that there was no longer any cause of action to determine.

• Whether the CSOS dispute should remain on the adjudication roll once the underlying dispute had been settled.
• Whether the applicant retained a live cause of action after selling the unit concerned.
• What order should be made under sections 53 and 54 of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 where the dispute has become moot.

The matter was removed from the roll on the basis that the dispute had been resolved, and the file was closed.

Where a dispute referred to the Community Schemes Ombud Service has been settled and the applicant no longer has a direct and subsisting interest in the subject matter, there is no longer a live cause of action, and the proper order is to remove the matter from the adjudication roll rather than determine the merits.

No substantive obiter dicta appear from the brief order. The adjudicator's references to the amended Practice Directive for Dispute Resolution, 2019 and the applicant's sale of the unit serve as explanatory context for mootness rather than broader non-binding legal commentary.

The order illustrates the CSOS approach to moot or settled disputes: where the underlying complaint has been resolved and the applicant no longer has a direct interest, the Ombud will not decide the merits and will instead remove the matter from the roll. It underscores the requirement of a live dispute and a continuing cause of action in community scheme adjudication proceedings.