{"id":93940,"date":"2025-12-08T19:26:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates"},"modified":"2025-12-08T19:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:33:06","slug":"major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates","title":{"rendered":"Major Win for Residents of Complexes and Estates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>A landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that homeowners, bodies corporate and those in residential schemes can bypass the Community Schemes and Ombud Service (CSOS) and take their disputes directly to court.<\/p>\n

According to Johlene Wasserman, Director of Community Schemes and Compliance at Sandton-based law firm VDM Incorporated, the ruling ends years of uncertainty around the laws.<\/p>\n

Previous rulings by the High Court set a precedent that residents or schemes could only approach the High Court for resolution of their problems after going through CSOS.<\/p>\n

Escalation to court could only happen under \u201cexceptional circumstances\u201d, with the common interpretation being that the CSOS held sole jurisdiction over most cases.<\/p>\n

However, the new ruling from SCA has rejected this interpretation, ensuring that litigants have full options when looking to handle disputes.<\/p>\n

The CSOS was established under the CSOS Act to resolve disputes relating to community schemes, giving those living in community schemes and sectional title units a more affordable way to resolve disputes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom disputes around unreasonable levies, misuse of scheme funds, improper conduct by trustees, challenges to AGM decisions, enforcement of conduct rules, to maintenance problems, CSOS is the ideal starting point,\u201d Wasserman said.<\/p>\n

The legal expert noted that CSOS orders are also legally binding, making it an ideal route for resolving smaller disputes.<\/p>\n

However, the CSOS is also limited, particularly for complex matters or high-value disputes.<\/p>\n

In this sense, the laws put a host of administrative and procedural hurdles in front of litigants to get their matters heard by the High Court.<\/p>\n

Wasserman stressed that the SCA\u2019s ruling does not undermine the valuable role of CSOS. \u201cCSOS and South Africa\u2019s courts are both available to handle property disputes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However, earlier interpretations that required parties to prove exceptional circumstances before approaching the High Court have been decisively rejected.<\/p>\n

\u201cLitigants are entitled to proceed either through CSOS or directly to court, depending on their strategic, financial, and practical considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

What changed<\/b><\/p>\n

Johlene Wasserman, Director of Community Schemes and Compliance at VDM Incorporated<\/p>\n

The SCA ruling<\/b> followed litigation between a retirement village in the Western Cape and a property company that owned cottages on a neighbouring plot of land.<\/p>\n

The property company wanted to incorporate these units into the estate by changing the Homeowners\u2019 Association\u2019s (HOA\u2019s) constitution.<\/p>\n

Certain groups within the estate opposed the move, raising various procedural issues and concerns about the handling of the proposal.<\/p>\n

The company attempted to amend the HOA constitution twice\u2014without challenge from the HOA trustees\u2014but the residents rejected it. The company then bypassed the CSOS, taking the matter to court.<\/p>\n

The court found that \u201cexceptional circumstances\u201d existed for the matter to be heard by the court.<\/p>\n

However, after the court ruled against the company (siding with the residents), it sought to appeal the ruling and move the matter to the CSOS.<\/p>\n

This raised the question of whether the High Court had initial jurisdiction over the case and whether it had erred in hearing the matter in the first place.<\/p>\n

The SCA noted that the residents themselves had argued that the matter should have been heard by the CSOS.<\/p>\n

It also said that taking the matter to the CSOS would have shown goodwill and intent to resolve the dispute, rather than taking an aggressive stance in court.<\/p>\n

Regardless, the Supreme Court said that the CSOS Act does not explicitly or implicitly exclude the High Court\u2019s inherent jurisdiction to hear community scheme disputes<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, the high court has authority to hear any matter that comes before it, unless the specific law or rule expressly limits that authority or grants it to another tribunal,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the Ombud has wider powers does not imply the exclusion of the court\u2019s jurisdiction. In our view, the Act was designed to co-exist with the court system, providing the parties with a choice of a forum, not to replace it entirely,\u201d the court said.<\/p>\n

According to Wasserman, the SCA judgement overrules all High Court decisions that followed the previous, restrictive precedent, bringing uniformity to the country\u2019s jurisprudence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt showed that the CSOS Act does not remove the High Court\u2019s inherent jurisdiction; that nothing in the CSOS Act\u2014either expressly or by implication\u2014prevents the High Court from hearing disputes arising in community schemes, and that the existence of CSOS does not exclude the High Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. A landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that homeowners, bodies corporate and those in residential schemes can bypass the Community Schemes and Ombud Service (CSOS) and take their disputes directly to court. According to Johlene Wasserman, Director of Community Schemes and Compliance at Sandton-based law firm VDM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-93940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nMajor Win for Residents of Complexes and Estates - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that homeowners, bodies corporate and those in re ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Major Win for Residents of Complexes and Estates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that homeowners, bodies corporate and those in re ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T19:26:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T19:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/12\/sm_1765209720.287391.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Major Win for Residents of Complexes and Estates\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-08T19:26:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-08T19:33:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates\"},\"wordCount\":751,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/12\/sm_1765209720.287391.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/major-win-for-residents-of-complexes-and-estates\",\"name\":\"Major Win for Residents of Complexes and Estates - 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