SECTIONAL TITLE SCHEME ADMIN CHAOS: WHAT A COURT WILL CONSIDER BEFORE APPOINTING AN ADMINISTRATOR
The Body Corporate of Stamford Hall v Molapo and Another (A3086/2021;9568/2020) [2022] ZAGPJHC 498 (3 August 2022)
Sectional title management law is, presently, premised on the basis that proper management and administration of a scheme is best achieved by putting owners in the scheme in charge. Owners therefore choose trustees who, in turn, may appoint managing agents to assist with this substantial responsibility. The premise is further that an owner will take care in these appointments because it affects his own investment in the scheme. A court will therefore not easily interfere in this legislative ‘self-management’ model. But, as this judgment illustrates, where the scheme management is in such disarray that the interests of the owners therein are at risk, a court will interfere and put the management in the hands of an outsider, an administrator.
The Judgment
Summary of the Judgment
ACCESS TO NEIGHBOUR’S LAND: REGISTER YOUR RIGHTS OR LOSE THEM
Stoch and Another v Mntambo N.O. and Others (38240/2020) [2022] ZAGPJHC 544 (11 August 2022)
If owner A’s garage is situated on owner B’s land by virtue of an oral agreement, neighbour law judgments’ alarm bells should be heard loud and clear. The parties in this matter had such an arrangement in place and, although commencing steps to register a servitude, never bothered to see it through. When their relationship soured, the Court was asked to intervene. Property owners should note, as the Court emphasized, that because the deliberations between the owners regarding the servitude were not finalised and reduced to writing and signed, there was no agreement nor compliance with the Alienation of Land Act. Make sure to regularise and register rights over another’s land; the judgment illustrates the difficulties that otherwise arise.
