When you buy into a sectional title, you must understand the rules and regulations that govern the entire complex. These have been formulated to protect all the buildings and shared spaces, as well as to ensure harmony between the residents. The body corporate of a sectional title comprises all owners, and is managed by the owner’s elected choice of trustees. One of their roles is to ensure that the entire estate follows the regulations of the Sectional Titles Act, and that every owner abides by those.
The Sectional Titles Act
Part of this Act makes the body corporate responsible to approve any extension of boundaries or the floor areas of a unit by owners. So before you even think about the property you wish to buy in a Sectional Title, and what you’d like to change, your first step is to check if what you want to do is even allowed, and in accordance with the rules and regulations of both the Act and the scheme in which you own. Also in consideration is by how much the extension increases the unit’s boundaries or floor area.
All sectional title schemes, in their rules and regulations, contain a rule governing alterations and extensions to their units. Note that there is a difference between alterations and renovations, which largely impact on the interior of a section; and extensions, which change the boundaries or increase floor space.
Body Corporate rules and regulations
Regardless of how you want to extend, you need to carefully understand what the rules and regulations of the scheme will allow you to do. The next step would be to consult an architect or surveyor, who also need to regard the sectional title’s scheme’s rules and regulations, and can advise whether the Surveyor-General would approve the extension. There is no point in progressing to the next approval stage if your plans are unlikely to be approved by this body.
The next step is to get permission from the body corporate, which means a vote will need to be cast by at least 75% of the other owners, either at the annual general meeting or a special general meeting. They will be concerned about how the extension will impact on the aesthetics of the entire property, neighbours, structural implications, and whether it has an impact on the shared public areas within the scheme.
Another aspect of this special resolution is that if the extension does encroach on the common property, a compensation fee may be required. The body corporate will need to decide what that compensation equates to as it impacts on the participation quota of all the other residents. If that quota is more than 10%, a conveyancer’s certificate is required confirming that the all who are impacted, agree to the registration of the extension, and this is because it may impact on their home loans. This part of the process can take months, especially if there are adjoined units that are bonded by common walls.
CSOS
If your application to the body corporate is not passed, the unit owner may apply to the Community Schemes Ombudsman Service (CSOS) to make a ruling. However, this may cause some antagonism within the scheme, and if the CSOS does find in favour of the applicant, the owner may find complaints are rife as the reconstruction progresses, such as noise complaints, time frames etc.
Registrar of Deeds
Assuming your plans are approved, you will also need to apply for the extension to be registered with the Registrar of Deeds.
It is clear that just the application to extend is quite a process, is time-consuming and costly, and at no stage can you be assured that any of the official avenues you have to go down, will ensure approval.
