Nuisance Regulations in the Context of Sectional Titles

So, you live in a sectional title.

So far things have been fine and dandy. Friendly neighbours, great communal areas, reasonable levies, and safety in numbers. It’s been a rather good setup.

Well, except for your one neighbour who really has made a nuisance of himself – parties every weekend, loud music late into the evening almost every evening, his bad-tempered Chihuahua named Chico who barks his high-pitched bark all hours of the day. His visitors park in your parking space all the time, leaving you to park in the visitors parking. And to top it all off, he also has raucous fights with his partner making for an uncomfortable face-to-face interaction. Why oh why do walls in sectional titles have to be so thin?!

You have repeated to yourself time and time again that being a good neighbour often requires a little bit of compromise and often a large dose of asking yourself “what is reasonable?” and then turning a blind eye and pretending it never happened in the first place.

But his behaviour is getting to you, and you need a little guidance on what steps you can take to make your living situation a little more comfortable.

Rights of recourse

It’s a commonly accepted view – especially in sectional titles – that pets, parking, and parties (the “3 p’s”) are often the most contentious of issues. The Sectional Titles Amendment Act 13 of 2022 which amended the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986 (“the STA”) came into law on 22 December 2022. This Act - amongst other things - provides for the division of buildings into sections and common property and for the acquisition of separate ownership in sections coupled with joint ownership in common property. But to deal with nuisance issues sectional title owners have access to the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 (STSMA) which has prescribed rules know as conduct rules (at Annexure 2) which sectional titles can apply to curb various nuisances as they arise.

The STSMA also allows for sectional titles to add or amend these rules – changes are proposed to the members at a special general meeting. For the meeting to commence a quorum of 33,33% of the registered members must be present in person or by proxy. Proposed changes are approved when 75% of the votes are in favour of the proposal. This 75% is calculated as a percentage of the quorum.

This is especially helpful considering sectional titles aren’t alike and certain rules may not be relevant to that specific sectional title in their prescribed state.

Dealing with the 3 P’s

1. Pets like Chico the Chihuahua - while not all sectional titles are happy to have pets in the sectional title, Rule 1(1) allows occupants to keep pets as long as they have written approval from the trustees, which must not be unreasonably withheld. In considering these applications, the trustees must be reasonable and consider aspects such as the conditions in which the pet will be housed and whether there are other pets in the complex. The trustees can retract permission previously granted if the circumstances and conditions in which the pet is housed is found to be unacceptable. Residents who have disabilities and rely on dogs for assistance don’t have to obtain explicit approval from the trustees to house the animal as Rule 1(2) sets out “An owner or occupier suffering from a disability and who reasonably requires a guide, hearing or assistance dog must be considered to have the trustees’ consent to keep that animal in a section and to accompany it on the common property”.
2. People and parties - Rule 7 deals with the behaviour of occupiers and visitors in the complex. This rule requires residents to keep noise levels to a minimum and to take responsibility for their visitors. It further stipulates that the use of common property may not be to the detriment of any other residents. Rule 7 sets out as follows – “7. (1) The owner or occupier of a section must not create noise likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of another section or another person’s peaceful enjoyment of the common property. (2) The owner or occupier of a section must not obstruct the lawful use of the common property by any other person. (3) The owner or occupier of a section must take reasonable steps to ensure that the owner or occupier’s visitors do not behave in a way likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of another section or another person’s peaceful enjoyment of the common property. (4) The owner or occupier of a section is obliged to comply with these conduct rules, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in any lease or any other grant of rights of occupancy.”
3. Parking problems - parking on sectional title grounds is often contentious. Rule 3 states that vehicles must be parked in designated parking bays and may not be parked on common property. Visitors must also park in designated visitor bays and not on common property, or in bays belonging to other residents. Rule 3(1) sets out as follows – “(1) The owner or occupier of a section must not, except in a case of emergency, without the written consent of the trustees, park a vehicle, allow a vehicle to stand or permit a visitor to park or stand a vehicle on any part of the common property other than a parking bay allocated to that section or a parking bay allocated for visitors’ parking.”

What about issues like domestic disturbances?

Noise resulting from domestic disputes can be difficult to control or stop, especially if it becomes violent. Unless the dispute has resulted in damage to common property, defacing of the common property or the use of common property in a way that unreasonably interferes with other persons lawfully on the premises, like other occupiers and/or owners, there are no conduct rules that specifically provide guidance on domestic disturbances themselves.

If residents or trustees are unable to diffuse a domestic dispute, the best solution is to call the local police, or the security company employed by the complex to diffuse the situation.

Practically, and following the event, the trustees should invite the parties involved in the dispute to a trustee meeting to discuss the domestic dispute. The aim of this meeting should be to inform the involved parties - in a neutral and calm manner - that their actions were unacceptable and that it won’t be tolerated going forward.

Unless the specific sectional title you reside in has rules that allow for fines or penalties to be imposed on owners or occupiers for disrupting the peace, there is little that can be done to stop this kind of noise disturbance other than approaching the parties directly.

Putting the rules into action

Ok, now that we have covered some of the rules and regulations, it’s time to understand how to practically go about diffusing disturbances and nuisances.

You could try the informal, practical way –

1. Stay calm - first things first. Don’t approach your neighbour when you’re still seething from having no sleep (because of his loud partying) the night before. The last thing you need is to come across angry, aggressive, or disgruntled. Instead, have a cup of tea, take some deep breaths, and wait until you have calmed down. Many people respond to aggression with some level of pettiness, and your neighbour may continue to have regular parties just to irk you!
2. Keep things face-to-face – it’s so much easier to send an email or WhatsApp or drop a note in a mailbox, but doing so will only serve to make you look passive-aggressive. So, to make sure there is no misunderstanding about your demeanour, try to have a one-on-one interaction. Invite your neighbour over for a cup of coffee, keep it casual. If your neighbour – smelling the rat – refuses the opportunity to talk things over, then reverting to written correspondence may be the only option and it goes a far way to prove that you tried to resolve the matter. Amicably.
3. Get the body corporate involved –just as we set out above with the domestic dispute, write a formal complaint to the body corporate setting out all the offences committed by your irky neighbour as well as your attempts to resolve the issues. Suggest that a formal meeting be held with the trustees to address the nuisances and see how a solution can be drawn up. After all, these nuisances are preventing the full use and enjoyment of your property and may even be infringing on the use and enjoyment of the common property.

You could try the legal way -

Should all your efforts be for nought, you still have access to legal remedies –

1. Appoint a mediator - appointing a mediator to facilitate a session to resolve the dispute, is one way to resolve the issue in an amicable way. It’s formal but not as formal as court. Involving the trustees is also advisable.
2. Approach the authorities - lay a complaint with the authorities via a written statement, like an affidavit. After assessing the information, a law enforcement official will investigate the issue further to see to what extent the noise/nuisance is disruptive and possibly illegal. If so, they will inform your neighbour to reduce the noise, and if the issue persists, the official can issue a fine or- in very extreme instances- confiscate the equipment responsible for the noise.
3. Appoint an attorney – should mediation and police involvement fail, you can appoint an attorney who can write to the neighbour and ask them to desist. Should that not work, the attorney can apply for an interdict to stop the nuisances. The court will take the following into account: the type of noise, how often it occurs, where it comes from and what’s been done to try and resolve it. You will need to inform the court how the noise has negatively impacted your life, health, comfort, and general well-being. Should the court grant the interdict and the neighbour fail to desist in his disruptive behaviour, he will be guilty of contempt of court and could be charged a fine (of up to R20 000) or serve jail time (up to 2 years).

There’s no denying that residing within a sectional title scheme has many advantages, which is why they remain so popular. But their popularity does come with some pretty big problems – like dealing with noise issues and disruptive neighbours, biting your tongue, and knowing how and when to pick your battles. It’s a fine line – protecting your own rights while exercising a fair amount of reasonableness. But it can be done and when it is – sectional title bliss awaits.

Although we have taken the utmost care to ensure that this information is correct – having taken information directly from the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 , we urge you to consult with a suitably qualified legal practitioner who will be able to answer any questions you may have on nuisance regulation in the context of sectional titles.

In this regard, we would be more than happy to assist you. Please feel free to contact us to see how we can best assist.

We are a law firm that considers honesty to be core to our business. We are a law firm that will provide you with clear advice and smart strategies - always keeping your best interests at heart!

(Sources used and to whom we give thanks – Stonewood Property Management here, here and here; Solver; Sectional Title Solutions; Law For All and Community Schemes Ombud Service).