The subject is VERY different from freehold. Last time I explained that freehold involves ownership of the land primarily, with the buildings tagging along. With Sectional Title (ST), neither are owned in true fact.
ST ownership is a creature of statute elevating conceptual ownership of a unit, to a class referred to in the Act as ‘urban immovable property’. So in theory, this is ‘intellectual property ownership’ not true titled ownership as people imagine it to be. You don’t own the land the unit is built on nor the buildings themselves either! Hard to imagine hey?
This odd situation finds true meaning in the legal description of a ST unit, i.e. “As shown and more fully described on sectional plan SS No____________”. So the key in ST is the Sectional Plan, a document carefully surveyed by a registered surveyor, then approved by the Surveyor General (SG) and finally registered in the Deeds Office over the title deeds to the underlying land.
Now when developers build ST schemes, indeed they have to have building plans approved for the buildings before construction commences. However, to the purchaser/owner of a unit, such plans are relatively unimportant, since the unit derives its real meaning (both legally and physically), by reference to the ST Plan – not the building plan. So frankly, whether the unit is or is not as shown on the building plans, is hardly as important (if at all) than being precisely ‘as shown and more fully described on the Sectional Plan’.
Unfortunately, the relevance of the above is often overlooked by Bodies Corporate (BC’s) and unit owners, when it comes to alterations to units within a registered ST scheme. NEVER should any such alterations be approved by BC’s without strictly applying the following conditions:-
- Building plans should be approved by the Local Authority prior to work commencing
- Once complete, a surveyor should be retained to draft an amending sectional plan of extension to be approved by the SG
- a conveyancer must be retained to register the said SG approved amending sectional plan in the Deeds Office.
Only once all three steps have been completed, are the alterations correctly approved from a plans perspective. The effort and cost involved should be carried by the unit owner wishing to make the alterations. All too often BC’s fail to apply these conditions strictly, with the consequence that big problems arise on sale of a unit. Point being, ST units should always physically be precisely ‘as shown and more fully described’ on the Sectional Plan as registered in the Deeds Office. The LA plans are of lesser importance, but should still match the Sectional Plans for completeness.
Enjoy your week!
Cheers for now – David
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For previous Davids Snippets articles click here
https://www.citizen.co.za/north-glen-news/148373/davids-snippets-collection-legal-articles-taken-real-life-conveyancing-office/
https://www.citizen.co.za/north-glen-news/149416/rates-refund-process/
https://www.citizen.co.za/north-glen-news/150289/davids-snippets-collection-legal-articles-taken-real-life-conveyancing-office-2/
