Sectional title is a system in which 'sections' of buildings are individually owned. A 'sectional plan' shows the sections — which are individually owned — and the 'common property', which is the land and all parts of buildings that are not part of any section. Copies of the sectional plan for a scheme are available both from the local Surveyor General's office and from the relevant Deeds Registry. The common property is owned jointly/in common by all the people who own sections. Some parts of the common property may be set aside for 'exclusive use' by particular owners.

Sectional title ownership is secure. As with conventional property, the Deeds Registry keeps records of the owner of each section and of any registered 'exclusive use rights' to areas such as parking bays and garden areas.

Sectional title is not only used for homes, it can be applied to offices, hotels, shops, factories, holiday accommodation, resorts, etc. Sectional title ownership is possible in high-rise buildings, low-rise clustered structures or entirely separate buildings.

As a sectional owner you own your section — perhaps a number of sections, such as an apartment or townhouse and a garage. The boundaries of your section are the centre lines of the walls, floors and ceilings that surround it. You will also own a share of all the common property in the scheme. The size of your share in the common property is usually based on the floor area of your section and is shown in a 'Participation Quota Schedule' at the back of the sectional plan. This is usually the basis for the calculation of each section owner's contribution to the common expenses of the scheme — known as their 'levy' — and the value of the owner's vote at all meetings for the body corporate.

Your section, with its share in the common property, is known as a 'unit'. You may also have 'exclusive use rights' to one or more parts of the common property. These parts, known as 'exclusive use areas', are defined parts of the common property set aside for exclusive use by particular owners.

Scheme management

Every scheme has a body corporate which exists to administer the scheme and manage the common property. It is run by owners, who by law and by requirement of the prescribed management rules meet at least once in each financial year, and by its elected trustees. As a sectional owner you have a right to make yourself available to act as a trustee, but you do not have to do so.

The trustees are not normally paid for their services and in most schemes they employ 'managing agents' to help them perform the day-to-day management tasks. The managing agent usually provides a full accounting and levy collection service, deals with the payment of body corporate accounts and generally assists in all aspects of managing the scheme.

The body corporate must insure the buildings (which include the sections and the common property), all the common facilities and any movable property it owns to full replacement value. Owners must insure their own furniture, fittings and personal effects.

Each year a budget is prepared by the trustees or managing agent if you have one, estimating the scheme's income and expenditure for the forthcoming year. This must include a reasonable provision for future maintenance and repairs to the common property. The budget is approved by owners at an annual general meeting and is the basis for the annual levies raised by the trustees and payable by all owners.

Levies are the contributions, usually paid in monthly instalments, which each owner makes to the scheme's running costs. If the body corporate encounters a necessary and unbudgeted expense, the trustees can declare a 'special levy' without calling a general meeting and each owner will be liable for their share of the additional amount.

Rates have historically been paid by bodies corporate and recovered from owners, but local authorities are in the process of introducing separate rating of units. By mid-2009 owners of units throughout South Africa will pay their own rates and taxes calculated on the value of their units. Consumable utilities such as electricity, water and gas are sometimes supplied to the body corporate which then recovers the costs from individual owners. When they have the capacity to do so local authorities will bill sectional owners separately for these supplies.

An informal extension of a section is irregular and gives rise to inequities in levy liabilities — in order to cure such a situation the section has to be formally/legally extended and this has cost implications.

On page two: A handy checklist for buying sectional title property.

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