Trustees of Greenstone View Body Corporate v MA Baloyi

The applicant, the Trustees of Greenstone View Body Corporate, brought an application under section 38 of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 seeking relief under section 39(1)(e) for payment of arrear levies and ancillary amounts owed by the respondent, MA Baloyi, the registered owner of unit 26 in the scheme. The applicant alleged that the respondent was indebted in the amount of R8 696.36 as at 14 September 2021, comprising levies and ancillary charges including monthly CSOS levies. The applicant stated that internal remedies had been exhausted and letters of demand had been sent. The respondent did not file any response or submissions despite being afforded an opportunity to do so. The adjudication proceeded on the papers.

• Whether the respondent, as owner of a unit in the sectional title scheme, was liable to pay the arrear levies and ancillary charges claimed by the body corporate.
• Whether the applicant had proved on a balance of probabilities that the amount of R8 696.36 was due and payable.
• Whether the charges reflected on the levy statement were lawfully imposed in terms of the STSMA, the prescribed management rules, and relevant trustee resolutions.
• Whether an order should be granted under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act for payment of the outstanding amount, and on what terms.

The application was granted. The respondent was declared indebted to the applicant in the amount of R8 696.36 in respect of levies and ancillary charges for unit 26. The respondent was ordered to pay this amount in six equal monthly instalments of R1 449.39, commencing on 1 April 2024, with the remaining instalments payable on the first day of each succeeding month. No interest was to accrue on the outstanding levy amount under the order. The respondent was also directed to continue paying the usual monthly levies and ancillary amounts, and on default the full outstanding amount would become immediately due and payable. No order as to costs was made.

A unit owner in a sectional title scheme is liable to pay levies and ancillary contributions duly raised by the body corporate in terms of the STSMA and the prescribed management rules. Where the body corporate proves on a balance of probabilities, through its levy statements and supporting resolutions, that arrear amounts are due, the CSOS adjudicator may grant relief under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act ordering payment of those amounts. The absence of any answering version from the owner strengthens the applicant's case where the documentary proof establishes the indebtedness.

The adjudicator remarked that defaulting owners are effectively subsidised by other members who pay levies conscientiously and that a body corporate cannot perform its statutory functions in the absence of funds from owners. These observations explain the policy rationale for enforcing levy obligations but were not independently necessary to the dispositive order. The adjudicator's decision to permit payment in instalments and to direct that no interest should accrue was also a discretionary remedial feature rather than a general rule of law.

The matter illustrates the CSOS's role in enforcing levy obligations within sectional title schemes through paper-based adjudication under the CSOS Act. It confirms the principle in South African community schemes law that unit owners are obliged to pay duly raised levies and ancillary contributions, and that a body corporate may obtain statutory relief under section 39(1)(e) of the CSOS Act for payment of arrears. The order is also practically significant because it shows that the adjudicator may grant repayment by instalments and disallow interest in the interests of fairness while still enforcing the body corporate's statutory entitlement.