Sectional title improvements require trustees' permission

"Our rental agents find that quite often a new owner will buy with the clear intention of changing and upgrading his unit, possibly before he even moves in," says Nancy Todd, the Rawson Property Group's Western Cape regional sales manager. "However, the rules in almost all schemes make it clear that he cannot do so without the trustees' consent and they may well have to get the approval of other members whose units are sited nearby."

It has also to be remembered that building work can be disruptive to those living in close proximity. On a free standing property this is usually only a minor problem, but on a multi-unit development where the neighbours may be sharing common walls, any building activity is likely to be a nuisance, especially if it goes on after hours.

Security risk

Many sectional title residents see an incursion into a security estate or into a security building by a construction team as a very definite risk and it has to be confessed that a small minority of building teams do have a bad reputation for theft. For this reason, most sectional title schemes will insist on all the builders' workforce being registered and made to carry an identity badge. They will also ask for a substantial deposit to cover any damages or overlong delays and will demand that the builder takes out insurance on their specific project if he does not already have an all sites insurance policy.

"Rawson's rental teams have had cases where the work undertaken was very definitely beneficial to all concerned, but nevertheless work had to be stopped because they had not sought permission to go ahead. Sectional titles must stick to the rules, which almost invariably make trustees' approval mandatory before building work is undertaken," Todd says.