One of the reasons that the Community Scheme Ombud Service (CSOS) was established in 2016 is to regulate the behavior of residents in a community scheme in terms of the legally governing rules of the scheme. This is achieved by resolving disputes between parties where one party is seeking relief in terms of section 39 of the CSOS Act. But what if the CSOS adjudicator makes a decision that the applicant disagrees with? What is the process that can be followed in order to get an adjudicator’s ruling overturned?
In the CSOS Act the only way to have an order of a CSOS adjudicator changed / amended or removed, is to take the matter to the High Court on appeal. The CSOS Act in Section 57 (1) provides that an applicant may only appeal an adjudicator’s order in the High Court, and only if the adjudicator has made a wrong decision based on the wrong interpretation or understanding of applicable South African law.
This Court’s jurisdiction to determine the matter under the Act is confirmed by the provisions of section 57(1) of the Act, which provide for a statutory appeal as follows: “An applicant, the association or any affected person who is dissatisfied by an adjudicator’s order, may appeal to the High Court, but only on a question of law”. This would require that the law was not properly interpreted by the adjudicator when they formulated their decision.
 However, precedent in the various High Courts have allowed an additional alternative route to be followed. This involves taking the decision of the adjudicator on judicial review pursuant to the provisions of section 6 of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (“PAJA”). 
In some cases, applicants appealing an adjudicator’s decision have done so using both means as argument, to get a matter heard, as often the question of law is not defined in the statute books. The judge will then make a ruling under which of the two applications he will hear the matter – as a review in terms of PAJA or an appeal in terms of Section 57(1) of the CSOS Act on a question of law.
Sometimes a matter is better dealt with as a statutory appeal under section 57 of the CSOS Act rather than as an application for judicial review under PAJA, even though the PAJA review references may not be irrelevant. The reason for this may be that the determination of the dispute does turn mainly on a question of interpretation, which is a question of law, and on which the judge is properly trained and equipped to make a judgement.
Information about the CSOS, the CSOS Legislation, the various practise directives pertinent to community scheme living issued by the CSOS Ombud, their address and contact details, and the role the CSOS plays in the management of community schemes and dispute resolution between parties through mediation and adjudication, can be found on the CSOS Website www.csos.org.za , or can be obtained from Whitfields by emailing info@whitfields.co.za or by contacting your scheme’s customer service consultant.