The Trustees of Oaklands Place Body Corporate v Arthee Naidoo

The applicant, the Trustees of Oaklands Place Body Corporate, is the body corporate of a sectional title scheme situated at 66 Oaklands Road, Orchards, Johannesburg. The respondent, Arthee Naidoo, is the owner of unit 401 in the scheme and was stated by the applicant to own multiple units on the fourth floor, including unit 401. The body corporate, acting through its duly appointed executive managing agent, 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 outstanding levies and ancillary charges. The applicant alleged that the respondent had received monthly levy statements but failed to pay the amounts due. A reconciliation of the account and a trustee resolution authorising interest were submitted. The respondent did not file a substantive written response despite being afforded opportunities to do so, and merely sent a copy of her current levy statement. The amount claimed, inclusive of levies, CSOS levies and interest, was R6 321.54 as at December 2023.

• Whether the CSOS adjudicator had jurisdiction under sections 38 and 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act to grant an order for payment of outstanding levies and ancillary amounts.
• Whether the respondent, as owner of a unit in the sectional title scheme, was obliged under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 and the management rules to pay levies and related contributions to the body corporate.
• Whether the applicant had proved on a balance of probabilities that the respondent was indebted in the amount of R6 321.54.
• Whether the applicant was entitled to include interest in the amount claimed on the strength of a trustee resolution and the applicable management rule.

Application upheld. The adjudicator ordered that the respondent, A. Naidoo, owed the applicant R6 321.54 in respect of levies and ancillary amounts as at December 2023, and must pay that amount within 30 days of receipt of the adjudication order. The order recorded that interest was already included in the amount, that the order did not affect the respondent's ongoing obligation to pay regular monthly levies and ancillary charges, that upon default on any one payment the full amount would become immediately due and payable, and that there was no order as to costs.

An owner of a unit in a sectional title scheme is statutorily obliged under the STSMA and applicable management rules to pay levies and ancillary contributions lawfully raised by the body corporate. A body corporate may, through CSOS proceedings under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act, obtain an order for payment of arrear levies and related amounts, including interest, where it proves the indebtedness on a balance of probabilities and the interest has been properly authorised by trustee resolution in terms of the management rules.

The adjudicator observed that owners who fail to pay levies are effectively subsidised by owners who pay timeously, and that a body corporate cannot perform its statutory duties without funds from owners. The adjudicator also remarked, by reference to authority, that interest on arrears is not punitive but compensatory, serving to protect the value of the debt against the effects of delay and inflation. These comments were explanatory and supportive of the decision rather than independently necessary to the order.

This decision affirms the CSOS's role as an accessible statutory forum for the recovery of unpaid levies in sectional title schemes. It reinforces the principle that unit owners are under a continuing statutory obligation to pay levies and ancillary charges, and that bodies corporate are entitled and obliged to recover arrears in order to perform their functions. The order also confirms that interest on arrear levies may be included where properly authorised under the management rules. Although an adjudication order rather than a court precedent, it reflects the consistent application of South African sectional title law and supports the financial sustainability of community schemes.