Hon Chairperson and hon members, the main aim of the first Bill before us today is to give effect to a Cabinet decision to bring all housing-related legislation currently administered by other departments under the administration of the Department of Human Settlements.
Until such time as this Bill becomes law, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is responsible for the administration of the Sectional Titles Act of 1986. This Act, which has recently been amended, deals with the survey, the registration, and the management and administration of sectional title schemes. However, its mandate does not extend to dealing with complaints from the public or with problems arising from scheme governance.
The purpose therefore of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Bill is to remove the scheme governance provisions currently contained in the Sectional Titles Act and to incorporate these provisions into the proposed new Bill, as well as to set the platform for dealing with complaints from owners of sectional title schemes, amongst others.
The Sectional Titles Schemes Management Bill will also provide for the establishment of body corporates to manage and regulate sections and common property in sectional title schemes and, for that purpose, regulate rules applicable to such schemes; establish a Sectional Titles Schemes Management Advisory Council, as the Minister pointed out - whether he is going to take their advice or not is a matter about which we will have to wait and see and provide for matters connected therewith.
To my knowledge, the amendments to remove the sections dealing with scheme governance provisions now contained in this Bill have been removed from the Sectional Titles Act by amendments to that Act by the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform.
The Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements has been deliberating extensively on this Bill since early October 2010. We asked for copies of all submissions made to the department prior to its tabling the Bill in Parliament, and held public hearings. Unfortunately, the public hearings were not well attended and no submissions of any major significance were made.
Many amendments and additions were made by the committee, however, which I believe improve the draft Bill tabled by the department. These are particularly as regards the relationship between the body corporate and individual owners, and the provision of protection to individual owners against the actions of body corporates, which often act without obtaining the written consent of owners or unanimous resolution. This is now defined in the new Bill. The Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements at all times obtained consensus on additions and/or amendments - although at one stage there was a threat that the committee wanted me to recuse myself, because I happen to be the owner of a sectional title. [Laughter.]
Three important additions that we made are the following: Firstly, as I said, the Bill makes provision for an advisory council to be established to review the regulations to be prescribed under this Act and the implementation thereof, and to make recommendations to the Minister with regard to these. Needless to say, the committee has put into the Bill that those regulations should come before the committee before they are approved.
Secondly, there is the provision for body corporates - this is an important one - to make provision for a maintenance budget in addition to their operating budgets. A common complaint was that no provision is made for long-term maintenance, which necessitates raising special levies for expensive remedial matters that arise, which often places an unfair financial burden on homeowners in the complex concerned.
Thirdly, there is the establishment and provision of a dispute resolution mechanism. However, this is contained in a separate Bill entitled the Community Schemes Ombud Service Bill. The portfolio committee did entertain the idea of merging the two Bills into one, because the Community Schemes Ombud Service Bill is really an extension of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Bill. However, whilst the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Bill deals only with sectional title schemes, it is envisaged that the Community Schemes Ombud Service Bill will deal with any scheme or arrangement in terms of which there is shared use of and responsibility for parts of buildings.
Hon Chairperson, because of the overlap between the two Bills and the impact of the one upon the other, both Bills had to be considered in parallel by the committee and hence, I presume, the fact that we are debating the Bills together today.
Agb Huisvoorsitter, weens die feit dat ons gemeenskappe oor die algemeen nie veilig voel in ons woonbuurte nie en omdat konvensionele vrystaande huise nie net skaars is nie, maar ook geneig is om duurder te wees, is daar al hoe meer huiseienaars wat na deeltitel kyk as dit by behuising kom. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Hon House Chairperson, because of the fact that, in general, our communities do not feel safe in our residential areas and, because conventional free-standing houses are not just scarce but also tend to be more expensive, more and more homeowners are considering sectional title when it comes to housing.]
It is therefore important that a fair regulatory system is in place and, more importantly, that a dispute mechanism exists. These two Bills address both these issues. The DA supports the Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]