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Who maintains what in sectional title property?
Owning property in sectional title property can be confusing and there are often misunderstandings concerning responsibilities. The property can be divided into two categories when you buy a unit in a sectional title property in South Africa:
1. Individually owned units:
This is the section that you purchase. The owner is generally responsible for maintaining the specific unit or section.
2. Common property:
The body corporate is responsible for looking after and maintaining the common property.
Responsibilities of a unit owner
- Owners of units or sections must comply with the corporate body rules
- Making sure that guests also comply with the corporate body rules
- Taking care of your unit so that common property and other units aren’t damaged
- Making body corporate levies and other payments on time
Where is the boundary between your unit and common property?
The walls between properties are seen as the median line and the boundary of the unit. Maintaining the walls from the inside of the unit is the responsibility of the owner and the outside of the wall will usually be the responsibility of the body corporate. The same rule is applied to floors and ceilings.
The outside of the building (outside of window frames, gutters, painting and varnishing) is generally the responsibility of the body corporate. The inside frame of a window and window handles is thus the responsibility of the unit owner.
Broken windows are usually a difficult matter. The body corporate can’t replace windows every time a window is broken, but if it is due to rot or other factors (such as weather conditions) and it is damaged from the outside of the building then a complaint should be lodged and the body corporate should fix the window. | 
