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October/November 2016
News
Housing
H
owever, there is no provision
in the Act that caters for the
change of ownership during a
period of special levy raising and pay-
ment, and this lack of provision some-
times makes a situation such as this
complicated, says Mandi Hanekom,
Operations Manager of sectional title
finance company Propell.
The Act simply says that the per-
son who is the registered owner of
a unit on the date that the trustees
raise a special levy is liable to pay it.
There could be complications though
when special levies are paid off over
a period of time in instalments and
during this time a unit changes hands.
According to Hanekom, the way to
establish who is responsible for the
payment is to ask who the registered
owner was on the date that the trust-
ees passed the resolution to raise a
special levy.
If the seller was registered as
owner then he/she is still responsible
for the full payment of the special levy
– even if the instalment payments
continue after the person has left the
scheme. Hanekom recommends that
the outstanding amount of the spe-
cial levy is included in the sale price
and that this amount is then settled
by the new owner.
“The option is available to the
seller to pass the responsibility of
the payment of the remainder of
the special levy on to the buyer, but
this would involve getting the body
corporate, as well as the buyer, to
Special
levy
liability
When a sectional title unit is
sold, the pro rata ordinary or
general levies for the period
r ema i n i ng o f t he cu r r en t
financial year automatically
becomes the responsibility of
the new owner, according to the
Sectional Titles Act.
agree,” says Hanekom. If the unit is
transferred before the resolution is
passed to raise a special levy the new
owner can will be responsible. Even
although the new owner was not
aware or involved in any discussions
about the special levy being raised.
In some instances, a loan to cover
the full amount of the special project,
instead of raising a special levy, is
preferred. Hanekom concludes,
“A lump sum loan is paid off via a
slight increase in normal levies each
month and this does reduce the
complications of raising large sums of
money from the owners of units. This
alsomakes it easier for thosewanting
to sell, knowing that they won’t be
fully responsible for the special levy,
nor will the potential buyer be ‘put
off’ by the prospect of a large lump
sumhaving to be paid towards a spe-
cial levy a win-win solution for all.”
■
D
evelopers and contractors
need to consider tenants’
needs and connectivity is
one of the most desirable aspects
in ensuring that the apartment,
townhouse, house or development
is lettable.
DFA Open Access Network CEO,
Thinus Mulder, explains that optic
cable networks improve data and cell
phone communications for tenants.
The company was established nine
years ago and today DFA employees
700 people with a network invest-
ment of R7 billion covering 9 500 km
from small cities and towns around
South Africa.
The open access pioneer built and
maintains all the countries major
cellular networks. Mulder says that
in new greenfields developments
installing all the utilities accounts
for 70% of labour costs. The ram-
pant theft of copper and wire, apart
from hitting the bottom line, can
take weeks or months to replace.
Fibre optic is cheap to supply and
fibre achieves 150 million cell calls
simultaneously – fibre is cheap to
manufacture, there is no energy cost
to run and offers a high quality signal.
The benefits includes no electromag-
netic interference, non-flammable,
no sparking, high security and quality
signal. There is no network conges-
tion or weather interference.
With 10% increase in high speed
internet connections, economic
growth (Gross Domestic Product)
increases by 1,3% according to the
World Bank. Mulder says that fibre is
like the oil of the 21
st
century.
To improve the lives of residents in
a development all it takes is a Wi-Fi
aerial, container to aggregate traffic
and link to CCTV, geyser control, no
load shedding, Showmax costs R100
per month using fibre optics.
Optical fibre can connect all the
essential services, sanitation, water,
electricity and telecommunications.
There is no doubt that connectiv-
ity is a marketing and selling tool.
■
Save costs and attract tenants