Ek werk hard vandag. [I am working hard today.]
Members will recall that the Sectional Titles Act, Act 95 of 1986, is a piece of legislation governing apartments, flats, townhouses, office blocks, shopping centres and other developments where multiple owners hold property ownership known as a sectional title on common property.
A sectional title is made up of individual ownership of a defined section, such as an apartment or a flat held under a sectional mortgage bond, exclusive use areas, and shared ownership with other owners of areas such as parking and recreational areas, lobbies, etc.
Currently the definition of a sectional mortgage bond does not provide for the registration of a sectional mortgage bond over exclusive use areas, which are part of the common property and for the exclusive use of the owners of the relevant section of the scheme.
The proposed amendments provide for amending the definition of a sectional mortgage bond and for mortgage bonds to be also allowed to be registered over exclusive-use areas, and to eliminate the perception of a short-term lease for those areas, as under the current definition; secondly, to empower the body corporate to extend the common property of the body corporate, other than only through the purchase of land, but also through any other manner, for example by donations.
The Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs agreed to the proposed amendments and, therefore, requests this House to support the amendments as proposed in the Sectional Titles Amendment Bill.
Debate concluded.