Sectional Title Lawyers.

It depends on the dispute, but our default position is court for most matters. CSOS works reasonably well for narrow, well-evidenced conduct rule or governance complaints where the parties don’t need urgent relief and the scheme is prepared to absorb its own legal costs. For everything else — levy recovery beyond demand, matters needing an urgent interdict, disputes with real monetary value where you want a costs order against the losing party, or matters where enforcement is likely to be contested — court is faster, cheaper in the medium term, and produces a directly enforceable judgment. We give a forum recommendation at the consultation based on the specific facts, not a default referral.

A body corporate has a statutory duty under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 (“STSMA”) to recover unpaid levies, special levies, and contributions from defaulting owners. The recovery process typically begins with a compliant letter of demand, followed by application for CSOS adjudication or a Magistrate’s Court summons depending on the quantum and circumstances. Interest accrues on unpaid levies and is recoverable as part of the judgment. Sectional title schemes can also obtain a court order preventing the defaulting owner from voting at general meetings while in arrears. We handle the full levy recovery cycle for bodies corporate and managing agents nationwide, on a No Success, No Fee basis for qualifying schemes, integrated with our broader sectional title and litigation practice.

Yes. The conduct rules of a sectional title scheme, registered under the STSMA, are binding on every owner, occupier, and tenant within the scheme. Enforcement typically begins with a written warning and follow-up letter from the trustees or managing agent, then escalates to a fine in terms of the conduct rules (where the rules expressly authorise this), and finally to a CSOS application or court interdict. Common conduct rule disputes include unauthorised alterations, pets in breach of scheme rules, noise complaints, parking, short-term letting (Airbnb), and unauthorised commercial use of a unit. We help trustees draft enforceable rules, advise on the correct enforcement step, and bring the matter to CSOS or court where the owner refuses to comply.

We act for both. Body corporates, trustees, and managing agents instruct us on levy recovery, CSOS adjudications, rule enforcement, and scheme governance. Individual unit owners instruct us on disputes with the body corporate, unfair conduct rule enforcement, contested levy assessments, voting irregularities, building defect claims against developers, and disputes between co-owners. We will not act on both sides of the same dispute, but the firm’s sectional title practice is set up to serve both audiences, with the conveyancer-level property expertise of director Hendré Vorster, an admitted attorney and admitted conveyancer since 2008.

Yes. Our sectional title practice is national. CSOS adjudications and STSMA matters are governed by national legislation and can be run from any provincial office, and we work with a network of correspondent attorneys for court appearances outside the Western Cape. Levy recovery, scheme governance advice, rule drafting, MOI amendments, and developer defect claims are all routinely handled remotely through electronic file management. Where a matter requires in-person attendance in a distant jurisdiction, we brief a local correspondent attorney from our long-standing national network.