?A low levy is not always a good thing,? says Lanice Steward, MD of Cape Town agency Knight Frank Anne Porter.
?Prospective buyers looking at luxury apartments are often horrified at the levies being charged but they need to sit down and work out what it costs to live in a luxury freehold house with all the extras such as garden maintenance, swimming pool care, electric fencing and security.
?The benefit of the sectional title property is that one has all of these extras and only pays a portion of the cost of providing them every month.? In addition, she says, the levy includes all the external maintenance of the building/s, the upkeep of the lifts, and insurance.
?On the other hand, a sectional title scheme might have low levies because the body corporate or trustees have not done the necessary financial planning for the year ahead, and this can lead to maintenance being neglected or special levies having to be raised in order to fund repairs and / or any bigger projects.
?This is a particularly important consideration when one is looking to buy into an older block of flats, where more maintenance might be necessary and where replacement of certain large budget items (such as a lift) might be needed down the line.?