Case Law[2023] ZASCA 143South Africa
Body Corporate of Marsh Rose v Steinmuller and Others (149/2022) [2023] ZASCA 143; 2024 (2) SA 270 (SCA) (2 November 2023)
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
2 November 2023
Headnotes
Summary: Property law – Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986 – reliance on transfer registration embargo established in terms of s 15B(3)(a)(i)(aa) of the Sectional Titles Act – whether purchaser at a sale in execution is entitled to challenge the amount payable to a body corporate and to compel issue of clearance certificate.
Judgment
begin wrapper
begin container
begin header
begin slogan-floater
end slogan-floater
- About SAFLII
About SAFLII
- Databases
Databases
- Search
Search
- Terms of Use
Terms of Use
- RSS Feeds
RSS Feeds
end header
begin main
begin center
# South Africa: Supreme Court of Appeal
South Africa: Supreme Court of Appeal
You are here:
SAFLII
>>
Databases
>>
South Africa: Supreme Court of Appeal
>>
2023
>>
[2023] ZASCA 143
|
Noteup
|
LawCite
sino index
## Body Corporate of Marsh Rose v Steinmuller and Others (149/2022) [2023] ZASCA 143; 2024 (2) SA 270 (SCA) (2 November 2023)
Body Corporate of Marsh Rose v Steinmuller and Others (149/2022) [2023] ZASCA 143; 2024 (2) SA 270 (SCA) (2 November 2023)
Download original files
PDF format
RTF format
Links to summary
PDF format
RTF format
make_database: source=/home/saflii//raw/ZASCA/Data/2023_143.html
sino date 2 November 2023
THE SUPREME COURT OF
APPEAL OF SOUTH AFRICA
JUDGMENT
Reportable
Case no: 149/2022
In the matter between:
THE BODY CORPORATE OF
MARSH ROSE
(SECTIONAL TITLE
SCHEME NO: SS269/2012) APPELLANT
and
ARNO STEINMULLER
FIRST
RESPONDENT
THE STANDARD BANK OF
SOUTH AFRICA
LIMITED SECOND
RESPONDENT
THE SHERIFF OF HALFWAY
HOUSE THIRD
RESPONDENT
HAASBROEK &
BOEZAART
INCORPORATED
FOURTH RESPONDENT
Neutral
citation:
The Body Corporate
of Marsh Rose v Steinmuller and Others
(149/2022)
[2023] ZASCA 143
(2 November 2023)
Coram:
DAMBUZA AP, ZONDI, MOLEMELA, GOOSEN and MOLEFE JJA
Heard:
15 March 2023
Delivered:
2 November 2023
Summary:
Property law –
Sectional Titles Act 95 of
1986
– reliance on transfer registration embargo established in
terms of
s 15B(3)
(a)
(i)
(aa)
of the
Sectional Titles Act – whether
purchaser at a sale in
execution is entitled to challenge the amount payable to a body
corporate and to compel issue of clearance
certificate.
ORDER
On
appeal from:
Gauteng Division of the
High Court, Johannesburg (Matojane J with Nichols AJ concurring and
Adams J dissenting, sitting as court
of appeal):
1 The National
Association of Managing Agents NPC is granted leave to intervene in
the appeal as co-appellant.
2 The costs occasioned by
the opposition to the application to intervene are to be paid by the
first respondent.
3 The appeal is upheld
with costs, including the costs of two counsel where so employed.
4 The order of the full
court is set aside and replaced with the following order:
‘
1.
The appeal is upheld with costs, including the costs of two counsel
where so employed.
2. The order of the high
court is set aside and replaced with an order dismissing the
application with costs, including the costs
of two counsel where so
employed.’
JUDGMENT
Molefe and Goosen JJA
(Dambuza AP, Zondi and Molemela JJA concurring):
Introduction
[1]
This
appeal concerns the interpretation of
s 15B(3)
(a)
(i)
(aa)
of the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986
[1]
(the Act) (hereinafter the ‘embargo provision’) in the
context of a sale in execution. For a property in a sectional
title
scheme to be transferred into the name of a purchaser, the body
corporate must issue a clearance certificate. The embargo
provision,
however, entitles a body corporate to refuse to issue such
certificate until all moneys owed to it in respect of the
property
have been paid, or provision has been made, to the satisfaction of
the body corporate, for the payment thereof.
[2]
The appeal is against the decision of the
Full Court of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Johannesburg
(the full court), which
ordered the appellant, a sectional title body
corporate, to issue a clearance certificate in respect of a property
sold in execution,
against the security of an amount paid into the
purchaser’s (the first respondent) attorneys’ trust
account, pending
the outcome of proceedings to be instituted by the
appellant for the recovery of amounts owing in respect of the
property. The
appeal is with the special leave of this Court.
The facts
[3]
On 30 January 2018, the first respondent,
Mr Steinmuller, purchased unit 24 of the sectional title scheme Marsh
Rose (the property)
at a sale in execution conducted by the third
respondent, the Sheriff of Halfway House (the Sheriff). The property
had been attached
and sold in execution at the instance of the second
respondent, the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Standard
Bank). Prior
to the sale in execution, the appellant, the Body
Corporate of Marsh Rose (the body corporate), had also taken judgment
against
the previous owner of the property in an amount of
R43 380.09. The judgment debt was still outstanding when Mr
Steinmuller
bought the property at the sale in execution.
[4]
During February 2018, the body corporate
provided Mr Steinmuller with
an amount that it alleged
was due to it
in respect of the property in the
sum of R312 903.21 (the clearance figures) to be paid before it
would issue the clearance
certificate. On 19 February 2018, Mr
Steinmuller’s attorneys requested the body corporate to provide
documents upon which
the aforesaid amount was based, together with
all the resolutions authorising the levying of the charges reflected
in the clearance
figures. On 17 April 2018, the body corporate
provided Mr Steinmuller’s attorneys with a reconciled account
in the amount
of R295 044.81, which included charges for levies,
water consumption and sewerage services, an arrear cost liability,
interest
charges and legal fees.
[5]
Mr Steinmuller, was, in terms of clause 4.4
of the conditions of sale in execution, obliged to pay all levies due
to the body corporate
in terms of the Act, or amounts due to a
homeowners’ association or other association which rendered
services to the property.
He refused to pay any amount other than the
levies due to the body corporate and demanded that he be furnished
with the ledgers
detailing the amounts claimed in respect of levies
for the relevant period, as well as resolutions by the body corporate
trustees
in respect of the interest charged thereon.
The litigation
[6]
The body corporate refused to supply the
information requested on the basis that Mr Steinmuller was not the
owner of the property
and was thus not entitled to the information.
This led to Mr Steinmuller launching an application in the Gauteng
Division of the
High Court, Johannesburg (the high court) for an
order that the body corporate sign all papers, and take all the steps
necessary
to facilitate the transfer of the property into his name,
and that an amount of R150 000 be paid by him into his
attorney’s
trust account as security in relation to the levies
due to the body corporate.
[7]
The high court, per Wanless AJ, granted the
order. It increased the tendered amount of R150 000 and ordered him
to pay R250 000
into his attorney’s trust account as
security to be held for any claim that the body corporate might have
in respect of the
property. The R250 000 was calculated by
specifically excluding the judgment debt amount of R43 380.09
which had been
obtained by the body corporate against the previous
owner of the property. The high court held that a judgment debt is
not a debt
owed to the property. The order further provided that the
body corporate was to institute an action or refer to arbitration its
claim against Mr Steinmuller and any other party in respect of the
property, within ten days of the granting of the order.
[8]
On appeal by the body corporate, the full
court held that under the embargo provision a transferee could make
provision for payment
of a debt owed to the body corporate as at date
of registration, instead of making the actual payment, provided that
such arrangement
is to the satisfaction of the body corporate. The
full court found further that the high court was entitled to assess
whether the
security in the form tendered by Mr Steinmuller was
sufficient to oblige the body corporate to issue the clearance
certificate.
The full court accordingly dismissed the appeal with
costs.
Intervention
application
[9]
At the hearing of the appeal before this
Court, the National Association of Managing Agents NPC (NAMA), a
registered non-profit
company comprising of approximately 400
members, sought leave to intervene as co-appellant. Its intervention
application was premised
on its status as a representative of
property managing agents, regional and national service providers,
and community scheme members.
NAMA’s contention was that: (a)
the judgment debt owed by the previous owner retains the character of
the underlying
causa
as an amount due in respect of the property; (b) the security put up
by Mr Steinmuller does not satisfy the requirements of the
embargo
provision; and (c) it would be impossible for the body corporate to
produce the clearance certificate so that transfer
can take place.
[10]
Mr Steinmuller opposed NAMA’s
intervention application on the basis that, firstly, NAMA does not
have a direct and substantial
interest in the subject matter of the
appeal, other than a purely financial interest. And secondly, that
NAMA wished to re-litigate
the same issues that were ventilated in
the high court, and that would prejudice him by delaying the
prosecution of the appeal.
[11]
The law regarding leave to intervene
requires the applicant to show that it has some right which is
affected by the order issued.
This was articulated by the
Constitutional Court as follows:
‘
It
is now settled that an applicant for intervention must meet the
direct and substantial interest test in order to succeed. What
constitutes a direct and substantial interest is the legal interest
in the subject-matter of the case which could be prejudicially
affected by the order of the Court.’
[2]
[12]
It
is recognised in our law that associations that exist to promote the
interests of their members have the power to intervene in
litigation
that affects those interests.
[3]
NAMA submitted that it brings this application to assert and protect
the rights of its members who may be prejudiced by the judgment
of
this Court, especially the rights encapsulated in the embargo
provision.
[13]
The full court found that the debt for
arrear levies owing by the erstwhile owner is ‘converted’
into a simple judgment
debt payable by the erstwhile owner, which
does not impede the transferability of the property to Mr
Steinmuller. In this Court,
NAMA argued that this finding has the
effect of watering down the security offered to body corporates in
terms of the embargo provision,
in that legal costs no longer attach
to the property and judicial novation has taken place. It was
contended that bodies corporate
may then be left in the invidious
position that they cannot recover amounts due by an erstwhile owner
who has no property to satisfy
the judgment debt. The findings of
this Court, NAMA argued, will influence the issuing of clearance
certificates, and in turn the
transfer of properties by the Registrar
of Deeds, and this will, in turn, adversely affect the property
industry in the country.
[14]
Mr
Steinmuller’s contention that NAMA may not intervene because it
only intends to ‘re-litigate’ the application,
has no
merit. It is not a requirement of an application to intervene that
the intervening party may only refer to an issue that
has not been
raised by the parties to the litigation, and/or that it is limited to
the introduction of new perspectives to the
court or arguments not
advanced by any other parties.
[4]
The issue of the contractual undertaking will only raise a new angle
for consideration in determining Mr Steinmuller’s liability
(if
any) to pay the body corporate. NAMA’s intervention will also
not prejudice Mr Steinmuller, as there will not be any
delay in the
prosecution of the appeal. The hearing of the intervention
application was heard on the same day as the appeal.
[15]
The legal interest advanced by NAMA on
behalf of its members satisfies the requirements set out by the
Constitutional Court. We
are therefore satisfied that NAMA made out a
proper case to intervene in this appeal as co-appellant and is
accordingly admitted.
There was, in our view, no proper basis to
resist the intervention application. The costs occasioned by the
opposition, if any,
ought to be paid by Mr Steinmuller.
The issues on appeal
[16]
The appeal turns upon a narrow compass. The
primary question concerns the status of the parties and, by
extension, whether the body
corporate’s reliance upon the
statutory embargo is open to challenge at the instance of Mr
Steinmuller. A secondary question
concerns the terms of the order of
the high court which, as we shall demonstrate, cannot stand
irrespective of the interpretation
given to the embargo provision.
[17]
The statutory embargo provided by s
15B(3)(
a
)(i)(
aa
)
of the Act is, in form, similar to that provided by s 118(2) of the
Municipal Systems Act. It serves broadly similar purposes.
Its
operation and effect, however, provides protection for a particular
class of property owners who hold units of property as
individual
owners within a sectional title scheme and as co-owners of common
property in such scheme. A body corporate, established
or deemed to
be established in terms of the Act, is not an owner of property. It
manages the common property on behalf of the common
owners.
[18]
The
purpose of the embargo provision is to assist bodies corporate in
recovering amounts owed by the owners of the units in the
scheme,
without the necessity of resorting to expensive and time-consuming
litigation. In
Willow
Waters Homeowners Association (Pty) Ltd v Koka NO and Others
(
Willow
Waters
),
[5]
this Court was concerned with an embargo provision similar to the one
in s 15B
(3)
(a)
(i)
(aa)
of the Act, which was incorporated in a title deed. It examined
similar embargo provisions in s 89(1) of the Insolvency Act
24
of 1926 (the Insolvency Act), and s 118 of the Local Government:
Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 (the MSA).
[6]
In terms of s 118 of the MSA, the registrar may only register the
transfer of an immovable property upon the production of a
certificate
issued by the municipality confirming that all moneys due
to the municipality have been paid. This Court held that:
‘
It
is accepted that these statutory embargoes serve a vital and
legitimate purpose as effective security for debt recovery in respect
of municipal service fees and contributions to bodies corporate for
water, electricity, rates, and taxes etc. Thus, they ensure
the
continued supply of such services and the economic viability and
sustainability of municipalities and bodies corporate in the
interest
of all the inhabitants in the country.’
[7]
[19]
Mr
Steinmuller purchased a unit in a sectional title scheme at a sale in
execution in 2018. The sale was authorised by a court order
obtained
at the instance of Standard Bank against the registered owner of the
unit. The sale was subject to published conditions
of sale
[8]
which provided that the purchaser was liable to pay the purchase
price, amounts due to the municipality, transfer costs and
commission,
and:
‘
4.4.2
All levies due to a Body Corporate in terms of the Sectional Titles
Act, 1986 (Act No. 95 of 1986) or amounts due to a Home
Owner’s
or other association which renders services to the property.’
[20]
When
property is sold in execution, a contract comes into existence
between the sheriff who gives effect to the court order and
the
purchaser whose bid is accepted. The execution creditor (in this case
Standard Bank) is not a party to the contract. The obligation
to pay
the purchase price and other stipulated monies and to comply with the
conditions of sale rests upon the purchaser.
[9]
This is a contractual obligation.
[21]
In
Mpakathi
v Kgotso Development CC and Others
[10]
,
this Court stated that:
‘
The
purpose of execution is the enforcement of the court’s
judgment; to which end the proceedings are driven throughout by
the
judgment creditor for its exclusive benefit (subject to the rights of
preferent creditors), through the Sheriff acting in his
or her
executive capacity.’
[22]
Rule
46 (13) provides that the sheriff shall give transfer of the property
against payment of the purchase price and upon performance
of the
conditions of sale. The sheriff is empowered to do everything
necessary to effect registration of transfer and anything
so done is
as effective as if the sheriff was the owner of the property. In
Ivoral
Properties (Pty) Ltd v Sheriff, Cape Town, and Others
,
[11]
it was held:
‘
A
Sheriff may not sell immovable property attached pursuant to duly
executed writ of execution otherwise than by way of a public
auction
and his authority is created and circumscribed by the provisions of
Uniform Rule 46 (see
Schoerie NO v
Syfrets Bank Ltd and Others
1997 (1) SA
764
(D) at 771G; 773J-774A). When a Sheriff disposes of property in
pursuance of a sale in execution he acts as an ‘executive
of
the law” and not as an agent of any person. When a Sheriff, as
part of the execution process, commits himself to the terms
of the
conditions of sale, he, by virtue of his statutory authority, does so
in his own name and may also enforce it on his own
(see
Sedibe
and Another v United Building Society and Another
1993 (3) SA 671
(T) at 676A-C). A sale in execution of immovable
property entails two distinct transactions namely, the sale itself
and the passing
of transfer pursuant thereto (see
Schoerie
NO v Syfrets Bank Ltd (supra)
at
778A-B). Although Uniform Rule 46 does not specifically empower a
Sheriff to institute proceedings in order to enforce the contract
embodied in the conditions of sale, such power is implicit in the
duty to see that transfer is passed and the provisions of Uniform
Rule 46(13) which impose an obligation upon him to do anything
necessary to effect registration of transfer. If that were not so
the
Sheriff’s only remedy, in the event of a purchaser failing to
carry out any of his or her obligations under the conditions
of sale,
would be to approach a Judge in Chambers for the cancellation thereof
in terms of Uniform Rule 46(11) and would allow
recalcitrant
purchasers at sales in execution to avoid their obligations almost
with impunity.’
[23]
If
a purchaser does not fulfil a condition of sale, the sheriff may
either seek cancellation of the sale in terms of rule 46 (11)
or
enforce the terms of the sale agreement. Rule 46(14) regulates the
process of distribution of the proceeds of the sale which
are
collected by the sheriff. It requires payment of the proceeds into an
account administered by the sheriff and the production
of a plan of
distribution in accordance with the scheme of preference applicable
to writs of attachment filed with the sheriff.
Unlike the embargo
provision created by s 118 of the Municipal Systems Act, the embargo
in this case does not establish a preferent
claim except in relation
to its effect in insolvency.
[12]
This does not detract from the vital purpose served by the embargo
provision.
[13]
[24]
In this case the conditions of sale
provided for recovery, by the sheriff, of levies payable to the body
corporate as a component
of the consideration payable by the
purchaser. It is against this backdrop that the issues raised in the
appeal must be decided.
Following the sale in execution, the body
corporate provided an account of the monies payable to it. Mr
Steinmuller, however, raised
queries about the amount due and after
further details were furnished regarding the calculation of the
amount, he objected to payment
of that which the body corporate said
was payable. He sought information, including resolutions adopted by
the body corporate to
raise interest upon outstanding levies and
similar records. When the body corporate refused to provide this
information, he launched
the application before the high court.
[25]
Mr Steinmuller’s right to take
transfer of the property arises from contract. He only acquires an
enforceable right upon fulfilment
of the conditions of sale. His
right operates against the sheriff and not the body corporate. It is
the sheriff who must determine
whether Mr Steinmuller has fulfilled
his obligations. And if he has not fulfilled his obligations, then it
is for the sheriff to
enforce the contractual obligations or cancel
the sale.
[26]
The body corporate is not a party to the
agreement of sale. The fact that clause 4.4.2 of the conditions of
sale refers to ‘levies’
and not, as in the language of s
15B(3)(
a
)(i)(
aa
),
to ‘all monies’ due to the body corporate, can have no
legal bearing upon the rights of the body corporate.
The
embargo confers upon the body corporate a statutory right to resist
transfer of a unit in the scheme until all monies due to
it have been
paid or it is satisfied that arrangements for their payment have been
made.
[27]
In
Barnard
NO v Regspersoon van Aminie en ‘n ander,
[14]
the question arose whether the embargo covered not only arrear levies
and interest, but legal costs incurred by a body corporate
in seeking
to recover amounts due to it by the owner of a unit. This Court held
that the legislature intended to give to a body
corporate effective
protection. It reasoned that a body corporate was merely a collective
of owners of units who shared expenses.
If one owner fails to meet
their obligations, the burden fell on others, hence the need for an
effective remedy. This Court concluded
that legal costs incurred in
recovery of amounts due to the body corporate fell within the ambit
of the protection afforded by
s 15B(3)(
a
)
of the Act.
[15]
[28]
Assuming, therefore, that the conditions of
sale limit what Mr Steinmuller is contractually bound to pay (as was
contended by him
in disputing the account of the body corporate), his
payment of that limited amount might entitle him to demand that the
sheriff
give transfer. He cannot, however, demand that the
body
corporate
should accept his limited
payment and therefore provide a clearance certificate upon which
transfer could occur. That is so, for
the simple reason that unless
the contract of sale binds the body corporate, its statutory right
remains unaltered. Mr Steinmuller’s
contractual right to
transfer cannot limit the body corporate’s statutory right to
refuse to issue a clearance certificate
until all monies due to it
are paid.
[29]
To give transfer, the sheriff must obtain a
conveyancer’s certificate that all monies due to the body
corporate have been
paid. The body corporate would, as a matter of
law, remain entitled to refuse to provide the certificate until the
conditions of
the embargo are met. There could be no suggestion that
it was acting unreasonably or unlawfully. The only question that
could then
arise, is whether the conditions of sale stipulated by
Standard Bank and published prior to the sale in execution binds the
body
corporate. That was not, however, what this case was about. The
effect is that whatever dispute there may notionally be regarding
what is due to the body corporate, it is not a dispute to which Mr
Steinmuller is a party. He has no legal interest in that dispute.
[30]
His right to compel transfer of the
property lay against the sheriff. To obtain it he was required to
establish that he had met
the conditions stipulated by the
contracting party. Mr Steinmuller, however, sought no relief against
the sheriff. This brings
us to the orders which were granted by the
high court.
[31]
Paragraph 1 of the high court order
provides that:
‘
The
[the body corporate] is to sign any and all papers and take any steps
necessary, for the transfer of the property known as Section
24 of
the Sectional Scheme Marsh Rose, SS269/2012, Country View Extension 1
Township (‘the property’), to [Mr Steinmuller],
subject
to paragraph 2 hereof.’
[32]
One is immediately struck by the fact that
the order requires the body corporate to give transfer of the
property. Yet, the body
corporate is not the registered owner of the
property and cannot give transfer as ordered. Furthermore, the
property is the subject
of attachment at the instance of Standard
Bank and has been sold at a sale in execution. The provisions of rule
46, discussed above,
plainly confer upon the sheriff the functions of
an executive of the law who is authorised, for the purposes of
transfer, to act
as if the sheriff is the registered owner of the
property.
[33]
Paragraph 1 of the order is, in this
context, not a competent order and cannot stand. Notionally, what the
order seeks to achieve
is that the body corporate must consent to a
conveyancer’s certificate being issued in terms of the embargo
provision. For
the reasons already explained, that relief is not
available to Mr Steinmuller.
[34]
Paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 deal with the
provision of security for the payment of a claim which the body
corporate is required
to institute against Mr Steinmuller ‘and
any other party’. This aspect of the case elicited considerable
debate about
the meaning of that phrase which contemplates provision
being made to the satisfaction of a body corporate, for the payment
of
the amount due to it. The debate concerned whether it encompassed
the provision of security, as may be regulated by a court, for
payment of a disputed amount claimed by a body corporate.
[35]
In our view we do not reach that question
because, as we have found, Mr Steinmuller has no legal interest in
the determination of
the amount claimed by the body corporate, nor
whether it was due and payable. There are, in any event, inherent
difficulties with
the orders granted by the high court which are
dispositive.
[36]
The
order stipulates an amount to be provided for security against a
claim to be instituted by the body corporate. The body corporate,
however, has no claim against Mr Steinmuller, nor any person other
than the registered owner of the unit. Its claim relates to
charges
and levies against the property which were raised in terms of the
Act. Such claim cannot lie against Mr Steinmuller, nor
against
Standard Bank or the sheriff. Section 15B does not create a statutory
claim against a purchaser to whom transfer must be
given. It is an
embargo provision which provides security for the payment of amounts
due by the owner of the unit. It serves to
compel payment of those
amounts by preventing the owner from giving transfer to a purchaser
until the debt to the body corporate
has been paid. The operation of
the embargo is not altered because the sale occurs by way of
execution or as part of the liquidation
of an insolvent estate. As
was observed by this Court in
Geovy
Villa
[16]
,
in the context of insolvency:
‘
The
practical effect of the statute is that, assuming the availability of
funds, a body corporate will be paid before transfer of
immovable
property is effected. A reasonable mortgagee and body corporate might
arrive at an accommodation where there are insufficient
funds
available to cover the total of the debts owing to both parties –
but neither is obliged in law to do so.’
[37]
The order requiring institution of action
by the body corporate against Mr Steinmuller cannot, as a matter of
law, be carried into
effect. It follows that the appeal must succeed.
Insofar as costs are concerned those should follow the result and
include the
costs of two counsel where employed.
[38]
We make the following order:
1 The National
Association of Managing Agents NPC is granted leave to intervene in
the appeal as co-appellant.
2 The costs occasioned by
the opposition to the application to intervene are to be paid by the
first respondent.
3 The appeal is upheld
with costs, including the costs of two counsel where so employed.
4 The order of the full
court is set aside and replaced with the following order:
‘
1.
The appeal is upheld with costs, including the costs of two counsel
where so employed.
2. The order of the high
court is set aside and replaced with an order dismissing the
application with costs, including the costs
of two counsel where so
employed.’
__________________
D S MOLEFE
JUDGE OF APPEAL
__________________
G GOOSEN
JUDGE OF APPEAL
Appearances
For the
appellant: K
Lavine and A Naidoo
Instructed
by Alan
Levy Attorneys Inc, Johannesburg
Matsepes
Attorneys, Bloemfontein
For the first
respondent: C van der Merwe
Instructed
by: Vermaak
Marshall WellBeloved Inc, Johannesburg
Phatshoane
Henney Attorneys, Bloemfontein
For the intervening
party: J P Daniels SC and A Kohler
Instructed
by: Schuler
Heerschop Pienaar Attorneys, Johannesburg
Lovius
Block Inc, Bloemfontein
[1]
Section 15B(3)
(a)
(i)
(aa)
of the
Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986
provides that:
‘
(3)
The registrar [of deeds] shall not register a transfer of a unit or
of an undivided share therein, unless there is produced
to him –
(a)
a conveyancer’s certificate confirming that as at date of
registration –
(i)
(aa)
if a body corporate is deemed to be established in terms of
section
2(1)
of the
Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act, that
body
corporate has certified that all moneys due to the body corporate by
the transferor in respect of the said unit have been
paid, or that
provision has been made to the satisfaction of the body corporate
for the payment thereof.’
[2]
South
African Riding for the Disabled Association v Regional Land Claims
Commissioner and Others
[2017] ZACC 4
;
2017 (5) SA 1
(CC);
2017 (8) BCLR 1053
(CC) paras
9-10.
[3]
Johannesburg
Society of Advocates and Another v Nthai and Others
[2020] ZASCA 171
;
2021 (2) SA 343
(SCA);
[2021] 2 All SA 37
(SCA)
para 33.
[4]
Nash
and Others v Cadac Pension Fund
(In
Curatorship) and Others
[2021]
ZASCA 144
(SCA) para 18.
[5]
Willow
Waters Homeowners Association (Pty) Ltd v Koka NO and Others
[2014] ZASCA 220; 2015 (5) SA 304 (SCA); [2015] 1 All SA 562 (SCA).
[6]
Ibid para 24.
[7]
Ibid para 25.
[8]
Published in terms of
Rule 46(8).
[9]
Cf
Rule 46(11)
which provides for summary cancellation of the sale
by a judge upon a report of the sheriff, should the purchaser not
comply
with their obligations.
[10]
Mpakathi
v Kgotso Development CC and
Others
[2006] 3 All SA 518
(SCA);
2005 (3) SA 343
(SCA) para13.
[11]
Ivoral
Properties (Pty) Ltd v Sheriff, Cape Town, and Others
2005 (6) SA 96
(C) para 66. Cf
Menqa
v Markom
[2008] 2 All SA 235
(SCA) para 27 fn 17.
[12]
Nel NO
v Body Corporate of the Seaways Building and another (Nel
)
[1995] ZASCA 83
;
1996 (1) SA 131
(A);
First
Rand Bank Limited v Body Corporate: Geovy Villa (Geovy Villa)
[2004] 1 All SA 259
(SCA) para 22, 27.
[13]
Cf.
Nel
and
Geovy
Villa
fn
12 above. See also
Willow
Waters
fn
5 above.
[14]
Barnard
NO v Regspersoon van Aminie en ‘n ander
[2001]
3 All SA 433 (A).
[15]
Ibid
para 15 – 18.
[16]
Geovy
Villa
fn 12 above para 26.
sino noindex
make_database footer start
Similar Cases
68 Wolmarans Street Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd and Others v Tufh Limited (1263/2022) [2024] ZASCA 48 (15 April 2024)
[2024] ZASCA 48Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa97% similar
Johannes Wessel Greeff v Body Corporate of Merriman Court and Others (502/2024) [2025] ZASCA 176 (28 November 2025)
[2025] ZASCA 176Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa97% similar
Body Corporate of San Sydney v Shivani Singh and Others (779/2023) [2024] ZASCA 169 (9 December 2024)
[2024] ZASCA 169Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa97% similar
Coral Lagoon Investments 194 (Pty) Ltd and Another v Capitec Bank Holdings Limited (887/2021) [2022] ZASCA 144; [2023] 1 All SA 1 (SCA) (24 October 2022)
[2022] ZASCA 144Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa97% similar
Firm-O-Seal CC v Prinsloo & Van Eeden Inc and Another (483/22) [2023] ZASCA 107; 2024 (6) SA 52 (SCA) (27 June 2023)
[2023] ZASCA 107Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa97% similar