The Sectional Titles Amendment Act, No. 11 of 2010 was published on 7 December 2010 and within these amendments, Section 24 (6) (d) - which deals with the extension of sections in Sectional Title schemes - was addressed.
As before, under Section 24, any owner wishing to extend his or her section needs to apply to the body corporate for approval.
On receiving this approval, which must be in the form of a special resolution of the members, the owner must arrange a draft sectional plan of extension which is then submitted to the Surveyor General for approval. The amendments for Section 24 (6) (d) (i) now prescribe that a land surveyor or architect as opposed to a conveyancer, as was previously prescribed, must confirm that the proposed extension does not exceed the 10% extension threshold, currently in place. Should the extension exceed the 10% threshold then amended Section 24 (6) (d) (ii) prescribes that a conveyancer must provide a certificate confirming that all mortgagees have consented to the registration of the sectional plan of extension of that section.
Lastly an insertion had been made (Section 24 (6A)), which states that should the extension deviate by more than 10% then the applicant must inform, by registered post, all mortgagees and provide certain prescribed details to them. Should the applicant not receive an objection to the notice, within 30 days of the date of posting, it will be deemed that the mortgagee consents thereto.
*Martin Bester is the Managing Director of Intersect Sectional Title Services