Home/Body Corporate Management
Body corporate management for sectional title schemes
Levies, budgets, AGMs, the prescribed rules and CSOS compliance — run by managing agents who work inside the STSMA every day, for schemes across Gauteng.
Sectional title administration, done properly
Body corporate management is the administration of a sectional title scheme on behalf of its trustees: raising and collecting levies, running the administrative and reserve funds, holding the statutory meetings, enforcing the rules and keeping the scheme compliant with the STSMA and the CSOS Act.
It is a specialised discipline, and getting it wrong has consequences the owners pay for. A scheme that under-funds its reserve pays for the roof through a special levy. A scheme that misses its AGM window has a governance problem before it has a maintenance one. A scheme that applies its conduct rules inconsistently loses the ability to enforce them at all.
Every scheme is different in its finances, its age and its community. We build a management plan around each one — financial administration, maintenance planning, rule enforcement and stakeholder engagement — and we hold scheme funds in a dedicated trust account, separate from our own.
Financial management
Administrative and reserve fund budgets, levy billing and collection, creditor payments, accounting, audit support and monthly reporting to trustees.
Governance and compliance
CSOS registration and annual returns, statutory requirements under the STSMA, and administration of the prescribed management and conduct rules.
Meeting administration
AGMs, special general meetings and trustee meetings: notices, agendas, proxies, quorum, minutes and resolution tracking.
Maintenance management
The ten-year maintenance, repair and replacement plan, reserve fund planning, contractor management and emergency repairs.
Insurance administration
Replacement-value building valuations, annual policy review, renewals and claims processing on behalf of the scheme.
Owner and resident relations
Stakeholder communication, conduct rule enforcement applied consistently, and support through CSOS dispute resolution where needed.
What professional management changes
Without it, schemes drift in predictable ways: arrears build because nobody wants to chase a neighbour, maintenance is deferred because there is no reserve to fund it, and compliance lapses quietly until a dispute exposes it. All three erode the value of every unit in the scheme.
Professional management is mostly the discipline of doing unremarkable things on time, every month, for years.
- Compliance with STSMA and CSOS requirements, evidenced
- Transparent financial reporting and levy management
- Professional meeting administration and governance
- Reserve funding and ten-year maintenance planning
- Consistent conduct rule enforcement across every owner
- Support through CSOS conciliation and adjudication
- A dedicated body corporate administrator for the scheme
Our body corporate management process
Scheme analysis
A review of the scheme's financials, governance, arrears, maintenance backlog and compliance position, set out plainly for the trustees.
Transition
Handover from the outgoing agent with complete documentation, financial reconciliation and a trustee briefing on the opening position.
Active management
Financials, levies, compliance, maintenance, meetings and communication, run month to month by a named administrator.
Continuous improvement
Regular reviews, reserve and maintenance planning, and recommendations ahead of each budget and AGM cycle.
Body corporate questions
What is a body corporate?
A body corporate is the legal entity made up of all the owners in a sectional title scheme. It comes into existence automatically when the first unit is transferred, and it is responsible for managing, maintaining and administering the scheme's common property, funded by the levies that owners pay.
What legislation governs bodies corporate in South Africa?
Three pieces of legislation matter most. The Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 and its regulations govern how the scheme is run, including the prescribed management rules and conduct rules. The Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986 deals with the survey, registration and sectional plans. The Community Schemes Ombud Service Act 9 of 2011 requires registration with CSOS, payment of CSOS levies and provides the dispute resolution route.
The Companies Act does not apply to a body corporate — it is not a company. That is one of the practical differences between a body corporate and most homeowners associations.
How are levies calculated?
The trustees prepare budgets for the administrative fund and the reserve fund, and the AGM approves them. Each owner's levy is then raised according to the participation quota of their section, unless the scheme's rules or a special resolution provide for a different basis.
The reserve fund contribution has a legal minimum. Under the STSMA regulations, if the reserve fund balance is less than 25% of the annual administrative fund budget, the scheme must contribute at least 15% of that budget to reserves. The CSOS levy is raised in addition and paid over to CSOS.
What is the role of the trustees?
Trustees are elected by the owners at the AGM and act for the body corporate between meetings. They manage the common property, enforce the management and conduct rules, approve expenditure within the approved budget, and must act in good faith and in the interests of the scheme as a whole.
Trustees may delegate the administration to a managing agent, and most do. What they cannot delegate is accountability — which is why the quality of the reporting they receive matters.
Can you help with dispute resolution?
Yes. Most disputes are resolved internally first: written notice, engagement by the trustees, and consistent application of the conduct rules.
Where that does not resolve it, the route is the Community Schemes Ombud Service. An application is made under section 38 of the CSOS Act, and the matter moves through conciliation and, if necessary, adjudication. An adjudication order is enforceable in the same way as a court order. We prepare the documentation and support the trustees through the process.
Other services
Is your scheme getting the administration it pays for?
Send us your latest financials and we will tell you what we see — arrears position, reserve funding and compliance gaps — before you commit to anything.