SA Affordable Housing March / April 2018 // Issue: 69 | Page 6

NEWS
Deadline looms for housing
schemes to register
Community housing schemes like townhouse complexes,
retirement villages and residential estates must soon register
and pay levies to benefit from a new dispute resolution body.
The deadline for registration and to have payments up to date is 31 March 2018.
T
he Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) is the
property sector’s newest dispute resolution body,
advises specialist sectional title attorney Marina
Constas, a director of BBM Attorneys and a CSOS board
member. She notes that so far 32 000 community schemes
have registered.
With 818 dispute resolution applications received in the
last quarter of 2017, Constas believes that the organisation
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MARCH - APRIL 2018
AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING
is making its mark and encourages community schemes not
yet on board to register now.
Community schemes are all required to register with
CSOS and pay a quarterly levy. “The deadline for
registration and to have payments up to date is 31 March
2018,” Constas explains.
Elaborating on the dispute resolution process offered,
and the costs, she says that owners, tenants, bodies