Living in a Sectional Title Scheme

Considering the number of sectional title schemes in the greater Table View/Blouberg area, it is astonishing to find how few people know anything about the Sectional Titles Act.

In my humble opinion if you live in a sectional title scheme; be it as a tenant or owner, you should at the very least, be familiar with the conduct rules of that scheme - having a copy of the management rules on hand for reference wouldn't hurt either.

In this post we will take a look at the pros and con's of living in a sectional title scheme.

The Pros

• First on the list has to be a sense of security from living in a close, and often gated community.
• Buying into a scheme is usually cheaper than buying a free standing home, because the cost of maintaining the common property is shared by all the owners.
• There is a greater sense of community living in a sectional title scheme.
• When you buy into a sectional title scheme you automatically become a member of the "Body corporate" this means you have a say as to how the common property is managed/maintained. The Annual General Meeting gives owners the opportunity to have their say in the affairs of the body corporate.
• For investors, buying into a sectional title scheme, means not having to maintain the whole property as they would in a freehold property. The common property is maintained by the trustees of the body corporate.

The Cons

• In order for people to live harmoniously in a close knit community there has to be rules. These are called:  "The conduct rules".
• The outside walls of your section are common property, this means that, before you decide to mount a satellite dish - you need to gain permission from the body corporate trustees, through the managing agent.
• Before taking occupancy of your new home, you need to apply to the body corporate to keep a pet. This is again done by writing to the managing agent.
• You may think that having a braai with friends is no ones business but yours, however, if your braai smoke drifts into the unit next door, you are breaching a conduct rule the states that you can not do anything that causes a nuisance to other members of the body corporate.
• Before undertaking any alterations in your section you again need to apply in writing to the BC through the managing agent. This is to ensure that the integrity of the building is not compromised.

Generally speaking living in a sectional title scheme realy does require equal measures of consideration and tolerance - Its not for everyone - but for people who enjoy community living. Its a fulfilling lifestyle.

Projects 2012

Lighting Upgrade
After the "crow-bar" burglaries in the last quarter of 2011, a decision was taken to upgrade the existing lights in the park.  The trustees' considered various options and decided that we could accomplish two objectives in one operation.  "Improve the lighting and save on energy costs".

All the existing light fittings of the street lights in the complex were replaced and fitted with 45 Watt energy saver  fluorescent globes. In addition to this, two new street lights were installed to improve the illumination on the Birkenhead Road side of the complex. The existing complex garage lights were also replaced.

The new energy saver lights achieve a much better penetration and brightness. The picture below shows the illumination behind units 13 - 24.

Click  image to enlarge

Garage door painting
The main garage doors were beginning to look shabby, especially the North facing doors. So we took the decision to repaint them. The side pedestrian doors were also in need of a freshen up, so they were added to the project as were the wooden garden gates.  The idea behind the colour we chose, was to try and get close to the bronze colour of the existing aluminium frames used in the complex.

There was a need for some minor repairs to doors and gates; these repairs have now been completed.  The painting is nearing the half way mark, at the time of posting this article.  Our painting contractor is planning to complete the project by the end of May; weather permitting.  The trustees would like to thank owners and residents for their cooperation during this exercise.  You are helping us to enhance your property.

Unfortunately, we did have one resident threatening to shoot anyone who came into his yard, and another who argued that he was perfectly happy with his garden gate in it's then state of disrepair. Fortunately this only amounts to 2.22% of the Rietvlei community, so we are optimistic that the balance of the project will go off without to much fuss.

Our vision, is to maintain the excellent reputation we have with residents of the Table View and Flamingo Vlei areas, for keeping our complex neat and well maintained.  By doing this, we retain our status as being a worth while investment and a sought after address.