A dispute with the scheme governing body (ie Homeowners Association or Body Corporate), or with a neighbour over issues pertaining to your community-living property does not have to be stressful or costly affair when most disputes can be settled internally or via the Community Schemes Ombud Services (CSOS).
All Community Schemes fall within the jurisdiction of the CSOS and any person who is either a party to or materially affected by a dispute concerning a community scheme may submit an application for dispute resolution.
The entire dispute resolution process is designed to be as amicable as possible to settle disputes between parties in a friendly and effective manner.
The Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 provides for set categories that the rules of each scheme are required to regulate.
The rules and/or regulations should provide a conflict resolution platform, which is crucial to ensure fairness when dealing with disputes in Community Schemes.
The Community Scheme, consisting of all the owners, is managed by the Scheme Executives (i.e., Trustees or Directors) who must act through resolutions voted on by its members.
A Community Scheme has a statutory duty of care and skill when performing its functions.
If an owner believes that there is a breach of the standards and/or rules, or there may be an internal dispute with another resident or a Scheme Executive, then a complaint may be lodged with the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) which was established in October 2016, and provides a platform for settling disputes that cannot be resolved internally.
An Application for Dispute Resolution form must be completed and emailed to:
• Gauteng, Limpopo and North West – gp-complaints@csos.org.za
• KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Mpumalanga – kzn-complaints@csos.org.za
• Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape – wc-complaints@csos.org.za
There are specific details that need to be included when lodging a dispute with CSOS, such as:
the nature of the relief sought;
names and addresses of all affected parties;
An application must however be within the scope of the CSOS. Although areas of relief are extensive such as financial or monetary awards, behavioural or specific performance-based claims, alterations to internal rules or governance and other general issues
that may be experienced, there are certain limitations in terms of their authority and relief that may be provided.
Whitfields are able to assist all Community Schemes with a set of draft rules that have been approved by the CSOS, which would include a dispute resolution process.
Although there is a dispute resolution process that may be followed, the key is to try and resolve a dispute first by talking to each other.
In the words of the erstwhile Bob Gauld (Sectional Title Guru and mentor to many) :”Neighbours should talk to neighbours. When communication fails, so does neighborliness and apathy and friction follow”.
Article by Arthur Botha
