The Collonades Body Corporate v Gareth Nel

The applicant, The Collonades Body Corporate, represented by its managing agent 2nd Storey Property Management, administers a residential sectional title scheme in Radiokop, Roodepoort, Gauteng. The respondent, Gareth Nel, is the registered owner of unit 36 in the scheme and therefore a member of the body corporate. The body corporate alleged that the respondent failed over a period of time to pay levy contributions due in respect of his unit. According to the October 2023 account statement, the arrear levy amount was R14 089.14. The applicant stated that it had requested payment, exhausted internal remedies, and then referred the dispute to the Community Schemes Ombud Service under section 38 of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011, seeking relief under section 39(1)(e) for payment of contributions. A certificate of non-resolution was issued after conciliation failed on 30 November 2023. The respondent did not provide a substantive response or valid defence despite being invited to do so.

• Whether the CSOS had jurisdiction under the CSOS Act to adjudicate a dispute concerning unpaid levy contributions in a sectional title scheme.
• Whether the body corporate had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the respondent was liable for arrear levy contributions of R14 089.14.
• Whether an order under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act should be granted compelling payment of the arrear levies.
• Whether any costs order should be made in the adjudication.

The application was granted. The respondent was ordered to pay arrear levy contributions of R14 089.14 in full on or before 31 May 2024. No order as to costs was made.

A body corporate in a sectional title scheme is entitled, under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act read with the STSMA, to obtain an adjudication order compelling a unit owner to pay arrear levies where it provides sufficient documentary proof of the contributions due and the owner fails to dispute liability. On a balance of probabilities, uncontested evidence of arrear levy statements and the body corporate's authority to raise levies is sufficient to justify a payment order.

The adjudicator remarked that levies are the 'lifeblood' of shared living schemes and that non-payment can destabilise a scheme and prejudice the collective interests and investments of all owners. The adjudicator also noted, for completeness, that Management Rule 21(3)(c) permits interest on overdue amounts where supported by a written trustee resolution, and cited authority that members cannot withhold levies because they dispute the necessity or financial wisdom of the levies. These observations were general contextual comments rather than essential to the order for payment of the arrears.

This adjudication illustrates the CSOS's role in enforcing body corporate levy obligations in sectional title schemes. It reaffirms that levy contributions are enforceable through section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act, that a body corporate may recover arrears on paper-based evidence where the owner does not raise a substantive defence, and that non-payment of levies is treated as a serious threat to the functioning of community schemes. The decision is also practically significant in showing the interaction between the CSOS Act, the STSMA, and management rules in routine levy-recovery disputes.