Maintenance is not only vital to the appearance and upkeep of your scheme, but also assists in increasing the value to your hard-earned investments.
As one of the most debated and frustrating problems to handle within community schemes, it is imperative that owners and residents alike equip themselves with the knowledge needed to guide them through this burden and, to ensure that owners are provided with the tools that will strengthen knowledge and give clarity during these tricky situations when needed.
Introduction:
To ensure that all owners, trustees, management agents and suppliers/contractors understand the principles of maintenance within a community scheme, we will be elaborating further on what provisions are provided for within the Sectional Title Schemes Management Act.
As an owner/member in a sectional title scheme, it is your duty to equip yourself with the understanding that certain maintenance obligations will be your responsibility to attend to, and certain maintenance obligations will be the responsibility of the body corporate.
Elected Trustees, it is vital to ensure that you are completely aware of what your duties and responsibilities are towards maintenance, as well as your duty to enforce it.
The importance of your monthly levy:
All Body Corporate members and trustees within a Sectional Title Scheme need to understand the effect of your monthly contributions, these contributions and levies are vital towards the efficient and effective running and management of your scheme.
Should members withhold their monthly contributions, this would place the body corporate under constraints in terms of cash flow. And these constraints can very quickly lead to a lack of, or no maintenance being done within the scheme.
Owners Responsibilities
When becoming an owner in a sectional title scheme it’s important to understand one basic rule. Everything on the inside of your unit, is your responsibility – majority of everything outside your unit, is the body corporates responsibility.
To further elaborate on this, you are liable for the below listed items, which include but are not limited to:
- Plumbing – such as leaking taps, toilets, showers, baths, and basins. This includes cold-water pipes within your median of the wall.
- Your hot water system –although geysers are insured under the BC insurance, the repairs, upkeep, and compliance are still your responsibility. This includes all hot water pipes supplied throughout your unit.
- Lighting – all light bulbs, fixtures, and fittings
- Electrical work – wiring, cabling, connectors, stoves, and ovens, DB Board/Boxes etc.
- Painting of all internal walls, ceilings &doors
- Doors & Handles on all doors of the unit.
- All internal Cupboards & Fixtures
- All ventilation throughout your unit, especially bathrooms & kitchens.
- All internal flooring and skirtings
- Your personal household contents.
- The upkeep and cleanliness of your exclusive use area if allocated one i.e. – balconies, parking areas, gardens etc.
- Any pre-paid metering devices.
- Any internet and or fibre connections and appliances.
- Internal entrance doors and windows, including their latches.
It is important owners understand, the listed items are will always remain your responsibility to repair, replace and maintain.
When having repairs done inside your unit, always ensure that you obtain the valid COC’s from whichever contractor is appointed to verify that the repair is done correctly in accordance with law.
Additionally, you ALWAYS need to ensure that:
- You IMMEDIATELY report any internal damages which could be caused by your neighbouring or adjoining units, or the common property such as your roof.
- NEVER install a fixture outside of your unit without first obtaining the proper consent from the body corporate.
- Should a unit be situated above your unit, it's important to remember that everything from your celling down, is your responsibility.
- You should NEVER apply renovations to your unit that could affect the structure of the building or increase the number of rooms provided. All building works should always be communicated to your board of trustees and written consent should be obtained first.
The Body Corporates Responsibilities
One of the most important obligations of the body corporate and the trustees that represent it, is to properly maintain the common property and to keep it in good repair, and where applicable, in working order.
Majority of these responsibilities are herewith included, but are not limited to the following:
- The regular repainting of the common property exterior of the buildings.
- Waterproofing of the common property exterior of the buildings.
- Resurfacing of the common property tarmac, maintain roadways and paved areas.
- Electrical gate motors, pool pumps, lifts, and fencing energizers.
- Repairs to the land or buildings in the scheme that are required by a state, provincial, municipal, or other competent authority.
- Ensure that there is compliance with land and building laws.
- Maintain plant, machinery, fixtures, and fittings such as lawnmowers, grass and lawn trimmers, safety equipment, fuel tanks, benches and chairs, jungle gyms, etc.
- Maintain utility pipes, wires, cables, and ducts, such as (Only until the median line, halfway through the brick wall), water supply pipes, sewerage pipes, electricity supply and data cables, and plumbing ducts.
- Ensure that the building is insured and improvements are covered by an insurer.
- External Water, Electricity and or other utility supply meters.
- Lighting, wiring and all electrical systems on common property.
- Drainage and Storm water systems, including gutters.
- All roofing of the common property exterior of the buildings.
- Communication and service supply systems.
- All common property security systems and facilities.
- All recreational and community facilities such as club houses, entertainment areas and communal braais.
- Parking facilities and common area carports, shade netting etc.
- Flooring on common areas – all tiles, carpets, wooden floors, and skirtings.
- Enforcing maintenance of any Exclusive Use Area i.e. – balconies, parking areas, garden areas etc.
- Maintaining of any external fixtures or fittings, such as barge boards, communal satellites, and communal solar systems.
- Boundary walls, fencing and building works.
- Internet and Fibre connectivity to guardhouses, clubhouses, or communal areas.
- External door maintenance and window maintenance.
It is important that the body corporate ensure that they have an active and up to date 10 Year Maintenance Plan, this will form the basis on which owners can make decisions, such as how much the body corporate should collect in its reserve fund to offset the accruing cost of common property maintenance, repairs, and replacement.
The requirement for this plan is based on the specific circumstances of the scheme. The trustees may prepare the MR&R plan themselves, looking at previous invoices, calling suppliers and contractors to obtain prices and meeting with a building inspector where necessary. If the scheme includes complex mechanical or electrical systems, you may need to consult experts to get sensible cost estimates.
There are also certain scenarios that paint a grey area when dealing with maintenance aspects of a community scheme. These areas are often debated amongst owners and the trustees.
Therefore, I have included the below scenarios and answers for all parties to be able to refer to when in doubt of where the responsibility of resolving these repairs would lie.
Scenario 1: Where is the boundary between my section (Unit) and the common property?
The boundaries of sections are drawn in solid lines on the scheme’s sectional plans and each section extends to the median line (or midpoint) of its boundary walls, floors, and ceilings. Imagine a double brick wall, the inside brick is your responsibility, the outside brick is: -
- The responsibility of the Body Corporate (if the wall is facing to the outside of the building (fresh air)
- The Responsibility of your neighbour if the wall is shared with your neighbour.
Scenario 2: Who would then be responsible for the maintenance of the doors and windows?
Where there is a door, window or other structure in a boundary wall, the median line deviates to go through the centre of that structure. Beyond the median line, there will usually be either another section or common property. In most cases, the repair cost to windows and doors would be split 50/50 between the owner and the body corporate.
Scenario 3: I own an exclusive use area, is the maintenance of that area for my account or the body corporate?
The owner who holds exclusive use rights is not responsible or entitled to maintain and repair that area, however, they are responsible for keeping the area neat and clean. In practice, the holders of exclusive use rights frequently do carry out maintenance and repairs on the areas they occupy. However, it is the body corporate that bears the statutory obligation to maintain and repair all the scheme’s common property, including all exclusive use areas. In addition, the STSMA confirms that the body corporate is obliged to recover from the holder of exclusive use rights any rates and taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs it incurs in respect of the exclusive use area.
Scenario 4: Where is the boundary of my exclusive use area?
The boundaries of registered exclusive use areas will often be a physical feature of a permanent nature, such as a survey beacon such as a steel peg driven into a concrete slab. These boundaries may also be fixed in relation to specific features of buildings, such as the exterior surface of a wall, or to the boundary of the land. When an exclusive use area abuts the outside wall of a section, the plan should specify whether the area extends to the median line or to the outside face of the wall.
Scenario 5: I have a service duct that passes through my unit, who is liable for the repair and maintenance of the duct?
Buildings often include ducts for the passage of water, sewerage, electricity, and other utility services. These may extend throughout each level of a multi-story building.
If a duct that is not shown on the sectional plan runs through a section or exclusive use area, it will form part of the section or the common property in that area. In this case, the provisions of sections 3(1)(r) and13(1)(a) of the STSM Act, dealt with below, will apply, requiring that.
- The body corporate must maintain, repair, and renew the pipes, wires, cables, and duct when reasonably necessary, and
- The owner through whose section the duct passes must permit the body corporate’s agents to enter the section or exclusive use area to inspect, maintain, repair, or renew the pipes, wires, cables, and ducts that are capable of being used in connection with the enjoyment of any other section or common property.
Scenario 6: Can the body corporate charge an owner should they damage the building?
If an owner or any other person causes damage to a part of the common property, for example driving into the entrance gates, the body corporate will have the right to recover the costs it must incur to repair the common property.
Scenario 7: Why am I responsible for my geyser when it is situated outside of my unit?
The STSMA requires that the owners who receive a flow of heated water from a geyser or other water-heating device must maintain, repair, and replace it at their own cost, even though the device may be situated on the scheme’s common property and insured under the body corporate’s policy.
Scenario 8: Can the body corporate enforce maintenance within my section/unit?
The body corporate has the right to maintain an owner’s section and recover the costs, if the problem threatens the stability or safety of the common property; or materially prejudices the body corporate, its members, or the occupiers. An example of such a situation would be where an owner has removed a supporting wall and refuses to restore it.
In conclusion, it is important to ensure that the common property and hot water systems are well-maintained to ensure the safety and comfort of all residents.
The body corporate is responsible for the maintenance of the common property, while the owners of the sections supplied with hot water from those installations must arrange and pay for their hot water cylinder maintenance.
By following these guidelines, you can help ensure that your sectional title scheme remains a safe and comfortable place to live.
"Knowledge is of no value, unless you put it into practice" -Anton Chekhov
