FROM THE PRESIDENT
We are happy that you have received a copy of this , our 2021 Journal for the Residential Community Industry , and trust you will find the content highly informative and interesting , and will be able to use some of the information in your residential estate .
From the
PRESIDENT OF ARC
Let us first remind ourselves that 2020 , and certainly the start of 2021 , can only be described as challenging , where the need for compliance right across the world came to the fore , and was no different in the residential community industry in South Africa . We were faced with many challenges because of the pandemic , and the various lockdowns we experienced in our country , and our residential estate leadership had to step up and ensure that we , too , practised compliance with the many new protocols implemented due to COVID-19 .
The Community Scheme Ombud Service ( CSOS ) experienced difficulties in relation to the abuse of funds , and the industry has been assured that these problems have now been sorted out and CSOS can now continue with business as usual in their primary efforts to deal with disputes that cannot or have not been dealt with effectively inside our communities using internal dispute resolution mechanisms . ARC and the RCC hold quarterly meetings with the leaders of CSOS to ensure that we are updated on all decisions and new regulations that will impact on the residential community at large .
To this end , the Association of Residential Communities ( ARC ) and the Residential Communities Council ( RCC ) scheduled weekly meetings for all members of ARC and the RCC to discuss new regulations that contained new protocols as we entered the different phases of the lockdown . Estate managers , directors and trustees must be congratulated , firstly , for participating in all these meetings and , secondly , for their efforts to maintain communications with their community members to ensure compliance , while still maintaining as high a level of lifestyle for our members as we could .
Residential community leaders and management have also been hard at work in preparing themselves for the implementation of the Protection of Personal Information Act ( POPIA ) which comes into effect on 1 July 2021 . Compliance with this Act is , in many ways , quite onerous . So , to this end , ARC and the RCC have introduced an industry-specific toolkit that was developed by IACT-Africa , and that is available to members as an extremely useful mechanism to ensure POPI compliance .
The ARC Annual Conference is taking place from 14 to 16 September 2021 at Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate in Gauteng and , although we may be restricted in terms of the number of delegates allowed , this is sure to be as successful as all previous conferences .
A final point from me is an extremely exciting one . We are proud to launch the Director and Trustee Induction Programme into an online format on which directors , trustees , estate managers and managing agents can , in their own time and at their own pace , work through the various roles and responsibilities required of them – including their fiduciary duties , governance , and other factors that are important for effective leadership of our communities .
ARC would like to thank Estate Living as well as all contributors to this journal , and trust that you will find it a useful resource and a wonderful coffee-table addition to all your reception areas .
Jeff Gilmour
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