Residential Estate Industry Journal REIJ 7 ARC Journal 2021 REIJ Vol 7 | Page 70

NEWS

On the cards

2021 / 2022

ARC has grown exponentially since being formed on 1 April 2008 , and has continued to enhance its offering to all members of the residential community industry .
Residential estates have recognised that , while being – so to speak – forced to run their AGMs on virtual platforms , these have , in fact , proven to be a great alternative way of engaging with members . Of course , your MOI or constitution , and the Companies Act , will always dictate the conditions that need to be met when running virtual meetings .
Staying with technology , ARC recognised that the current programmes that we facilitate , specifically the Director and Trustee Induction Programme , could very easily be translated into an online version . The industry has already been exposed to the first of our online induction programmes , and we envision that , by late 2021 , the second of these programmes – the Estate Management Induction Programme – will be online . A programme aimed at residents , in which they will be encouraged to go online to learn about how to successfully live within an environment that is governed by a homeowners association or a body corporate , is also in the pipeline .
Going forward into 2022 , the industry , while recognising the need to change and improve the ways we do things , has embraced the use of technology , with many industry chapter meetings being held virtually using Zoom and other platforms .
these . The industry is engaging , and will continue to engage , with ARC business partners and other service providers to develop solutions to ensure sustainability in this regard .
With new legislation and regulations continually being passed that will impact on the residential community industry , we will continue , through the Residential Communities Council ( RCC ), to stay abreast of new legislation as it emerges , and will continue to provide information and suggested solutions to ARC member estates around the country .
Through the committee that has been established to engage and collaborate with CSOS , we will continue to drive the importance of CSOS , thereby avoiding any mismanagement of levies collected by homeowners associations and bodies corporate . This committee has already made great strides in ‘ educating ’ CSOS on the roles that a homeowners association plays – these are vastly different from the intricacies involved in a sectional title scheme . We will continue to stress that , when CSOS makes decisions based on a particular matter in a sectional title scheme , these decisions may not be applicable to a freehold title scheme , and this fact needs to be clearly defined when issuing practice notes and adjudication decisions .
As an industry , going forward , we need to ensure that we continuously innovate and stay abreast of new initiatives available to the industry . As part of our efforts to ensure sustainability as it applies to proper succession planning at all levels of estate management , we will continue to engage with all stakeholders including government and sector education and training authorities to capitalise on any grants available to us to implement learnership and internship programmes .
We will continue to impress upon all member communities the importance of remaining fully engaged in industry-wide matters , and of using all the communication channels at their disposal to provide input on matters that impact the residential community at large . As an industry , all role players need to use our collective powers to ensure that we protect our rights as homeowners associations or bodies corporate , as well as the rights of all residents and other internal stakeholders of all residential communities .
Peggy Gilmour
Sustainability , water and energy management will continue to be top of mind in terms of seeking innovative solutions to manage
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