The Mooikloof Glen Estates Home Owners Association took a stand owner to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in an effort to seize his stand after he failed to build a house within a year of buying the piece of land.  Read the article…………………………….

In the serene, gated communities of South Africa, where security and exclusivity offer a promise of tranquility, a storm brews beneath the surface. At the heart of this tempest are the Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs), embroiled in controversial practices that may not only be unethical but potentially illegal. It’s a narrative that delves deep into the dynamics of power, ambition, and the seismic shifts in the property market, unwrapped by Jan le Roux, CEO of the Real Estate Business Owners of ...

It doesn’t matter if you’re a potential tenant, first-time home owner, investor owner, new family, empty nester or retired, if you’re looking for a community of like-minded individuals, with a mutual interest in protecting your investment with priorities of security, aesthetics, financial stability and maintaining value, then community scheme living is for you.    Read the article…………………………………

In the sprawling green expanse of Johannesburg’s elite Eagle Canyon Golf Estate, a conflict has hatched that echoes far beyond its manicured lawns and gleaming facade. The dispute is not about the rising price of property or a disagreement over the color of a fence. It’s a battle about governance, about power, about the right to make decisions that bind all who live within this gated paradise   Read the article……………………………..

A month ago, Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi, delivered an address at the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) Indaba in which she said that community schemes (which include sectional title complexes, homeowners’ associations, retirement housing schemes, share block companies and housing cooperatives) should be subject to mandatory ‘economic transformation’.   Read the article………………………..

An innovative way to create jobs for previously disadvantaged people? Or, as the Democratic Alliance claim, a scheme aimed at capturing gated communities for B-BBEE companies connected to cadres”?   Read the article………………………..

A resident and homeowner at an upmarket Johannesburg golf estate will no longer be able to call on the Community Scheme Ombud Service to resolve the disputes between her and the homeowners association.   Read the article………………………..

According to a statement by the Directorate for Priority Crimes (Hawks) Holtzhauzen was employed as a financial administration manager at Zandspruit Homeowners Association NPC situated in Hoedspruit. “Some of her responsibilities as a manager, include paying service providers for services rendered.  Instead of paying the service providers, the accused created fictitious claims and transferred the money    Read the article………………………..

“Between January 28, 2019 and October 24, 2019, the accused was employed as a financial administration manager at Zandspruit Homeowners Association NPC situated in Hoedspruit. Some of her responsibilities as a manager were to pay the service providers for services rendered for the company,” Maluleke said.   Read the article………………………..

Savoy Estate Residents Association (Sera) and Waverley Ratepayers Residents Homeowners Association (WRRHA)’s vision for Weinberg Family Park includes: planting trees, maintaining infrastructure, and fixing the fencing.   Read the article………………………..

The worsening load-shedding crisis is causing homeowners to seek alternatives to Eskom’s electricity supply.  Many consumers have since opted for Solar power, an attractive option if you’re considering an entry-level solution to survive power outages or looking to get completely off the grid……Owners of standalone homes have leeway when installing solar power systems. But what rules and regulations should you consider if you live in a residential estate or complex?     Read the article………………………..

Unlike stand-alone homeowners, those who live in residential estates or complexes in South Africa have several rules that need to be considered when looking to install solar.   Read the article………………………..

South Africans building in an estate must ensure construction remains on track or face costly fines.  Legal firm Wright Rose-Innes has noted a spike in clients who have received a large penalty on their monthly levy account from their corporate body or homeowner’s association for not starting/completing the building of a property on their estate’s land.   Read the article………………………..

The Chapman’s Bay Estate Homeowners’ Association has lost its application to review and set aside an adjudication order by dispute resolution resource the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) on levies that the association imposed on a property.  Read the article………………………..

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has published its 2023 guidelines for tax-exempt institutions, alerting Home Owner Associations (HOA) to their tax obligations.  While HOAs are partially exempt institutions, they are still subject to some obligations, SARS said.   Read the article………………………..

The duties of body corporate trustees and HOA directors reached the next level of complexity when “asbestos management” was effectively added to their compliance checklist.   Read the article………………………..

THE City of Cape Town has presented Kuilsriver residents with a proposal to end the protracted dispute over the erection of a security gate.  Read the article………………………..

A new symptom of the Covid-19 crisis and work-from-home business model is plaguing residents in community housing schemes like sectional title complexes and residential estates: barking dogs.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Much has already been said about the Property Practitioners Act (PPA) and Regulations which came into effect on 1 February and the immediate effects on consumers in the property sector as well as all the estate agents, brokers, property managers, auctioneers, bond originators, bridging financiers and home inspectors that fall under its ambit.   Read the entire article……………………………….

For permanent residents, units rented out on a short-term basis – whether through Airbnb or other channels – can be bad news, jeopardising the development’s reputation, property values and security. For many property investors, however, short term rentals are their bread and butter.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Balwin Properties has lost its case against unit owners of the Blyde Riverwalk Estate in Pretoria.  In a ground-breaking ruling the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) ruled that changes to the regulations at the estate were to be set aside.    Read the entire article……………………………….

There is trouble brewing in paradise, as homeowners living at Pretoria’s “beach” are clashing with the property developers over new regulations within The Blyde Riverwalk Estate.   Read the entire article……………………………….

With the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia) coming into effect on Thursday (1 July), community housing schemes need to urgently appoint their official information officers and ensure that they are registered with the Information Regulator, says Andrew Schaefer, managing director of property management company Trafalgar.    Read the entire article……………………………….

Being a good neighbour means enjoying the comfort and convenience of your home without interfering with your neighbours, and vice versa.  Neighbour disputes are common, often relating to things such as noise, parking and encroaching trees.    Read the article……………………………….

The duties of directors of property development-related associations have at times been an uncertain area of law – one could argue that many associations have seen themselves as somewhat “special” and “separate” from the Companies Act. In many instances believing that only the Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) is applicable, often forgetting that contract law, being the contractual agreement between owner and association by means of the MOI, cannot overrule the legislative requirements of the Companies Act or other overarching legislation ...

The Act provides for personal information to be kept in such a way that it is protected from unauthorised access – by computer hackers, for example – and for it not to be sold to or exchanged with any other organisation.   Read the article……………………………………

A senior Molemole Local Municipality official was arrested for alleged theft of R4.8 million from a communal property organisation.   He was mentoring the Makgatho Community Property Association when he convinced them to invest in a company linked to his wife   Read the article…………………………………..

A residential complex in Bloubergstrand tried to stop one resident from habitually using visitor parking, because he has three vehicles and one of his two garages is full of other stuff.   Read the article……………………………..

If you live in an estate, you know that there are always those who are reluctant and slow to pay their monthly levies – and a few who won’t pay at all until the homeowners’ association (HOA) has already started to take legal action against them.   Read the article…………………………

If you’re buying a property in an estate or cluster complex run by a homeowners’ association (HOA), you need to know that you might not be able to resell that property without the approval of the HOA.   Read the article…………………………

South African residential estates are now using drones to keep their perimeters secure, according to Kim James, director of Drone Guards – a company which has been contracted to provide drone security services to a number of residential estates in the country.    Read the article………………………….

Private gated estates are entitled to draw up their own rules, including setting speed limits on internal roads and imposing “fines” for exceeding them, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday.  The ruling, by Judge Visvanathan Ponnan (with four judges concurring), overturned a previous judgment delivered by judges in KwaZulu Natal who declared invalid “road rules” at Durban’s luxury 890-unit Mount Edgecombe estate saying the management association was usurping the role of the transport MEC and local municipality.

Property tycoon Niemesh Singh is prepared to fight the Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate in the highest court should they appeal against a landmark high court judgment against gated estates.  On Friday, Singh successfully contested the “draconian rules”, including restrictions placed on the movement of domestic workers at the swish estate, in court this week. He said he was prepared for the “journey against arrogance”.  Residents were fined when their domestic workers were found walking on the pristine pathways, or ...

Telkom has won what it calls a “landmark” court case against Vodacom regarding the use of its infrastructure.  The case was resolved in the Western Cape High Court on 26 July, following an urgent application brought against Vodacom by Telkom. The application related to Vodacom’s “unlawful use of its infrastructure in the Dennegeur Residential Estate”.  Telkom brought the application against Vodacom following its use of Telkom’s duct infrastructure without consent. ……..Vodacom and the Homeowners’ Association are ordered to pay Telkom’s ...

Pet ownership generally creates problems in sectional title schemes and HOA run estates as many will either have conduct rules which stipulate “no pets allowed” or “one or two pets, of a small nature” but what happens when an owner goes against the rules, the trustees turn a blind eye for a period of time because the pets are not a nuisance to anyone else in the scheme and then later realise they have made a mistake?     Read more…….