REIJ Volume 7

< 1 min readAGMs loom large over every homeowner association’s calendar. Thanks to their innate capacity to connect home owners with their associations, the AGM is an essential vehicle for home owners to scrutinise the decision-making of boards and ensure good governance, and for boards to communicate a cohesive vision for the future.

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On the cards 2021/2022

< 1 min readARC has grown exponentially since being formed on 1 April 2008, and has continued to enhance its offering to all members of the residential community industry.

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The Residential Communities Council (RCC) Update

< 1 min readFollowing discussions at ARC Chapter meetings, and at recent ARC Annual Conferences, a majority of ARC members expressed the need for an industry representative body, an NPC that will be governed by industry members, and managed operationally by the Association of Residential Communities (ARC).

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Strategic planning for HOAs

< 1 min readStrategic planning is about projecting where your association expects to be in five, 10 or 15 years – and how your association will get there. It also ensures that your association will remain financially sustainable, and be able to maintain its reserves

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Mind your communication and own your data

< 1 min readWho says what, to whom and where? Communication has never been more far-reaching, available and sometimes untameable. Here below we discuss how quickly things are changing in the way we communicate, valuable aspects to consider moving forward, and a few tips on how to vet new platforms in order to keep a handle on online dialogue.

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Servest Landscaping Value Proposition

< 1 min readSince our inception in South Africa in 1997, we have grown from a provider of specialist soft services into a leading integrated facilities management company. In 2015, the landmark black empowerment transaction, which involved Kagiso Holdings acquiring 51% of Servest, also positioned us as one of the largest majority black-owned integrated facilities management companies in Africa.

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Urban Tinkering

< 1 min readWe are in the midst of a rapid rise in urbanism. Since 1900, the global urban population has increased from 200 million to 3.9 billion in 2014. In 2050, this figure is expected to reach 6.4 billion. Cities are experiencing the impacts of climate change more frequently and more intensely. Conventional urban infrastructure and landscape design emphasised single-use structures and facilities.

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Executive summary of Public Policies

< 1 min readARC has developed a range of policies that all community associations are encouraged to use as a basis for implementing policies within their communities. A summary of these follows. For a full description, please contact jeff@hoasupport.co.za.

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Live in nature at The Rest Nature Estate

< 1 min readSituated on 320 tranquil hectares of subtropical bushveld vegetation, yet only a short drive from the city centre, The Rest Nature Estate has quickly become Nelspruit’s (now Mbombela) most sought-after residential address.

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Building up beautiful Bankenveld

< 1 min readSituated on the northwest bank of the Witbank Dam is the charming Bankenveld. The dam is one of the largest municipal dams in the southern hemisphere, as well as one of the cleanest, and forms an integral part of this unique, yet thoroughly relaxing estate. The estate was first conceptualised in 1998, and the first home built in 2001. There is an exciting range of properties, including waterfront homes, freestanding homes further inland, and fashionable townhouses.

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Silver Lakes Golf and Wildlife Estate

< 1 min readAs the first estate of its kind in Pretoria, Silver Lakes has stood the test of time for more than a quarter of a century, in recent years thanks mainly to CEO Henk Booysen’s inspired and consistent leadership.

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Levies decided by majority vote in a Communal Scheme

< 1 min readIs it constitutional for CSOS to determine that the agreed levies are unreasonable after the fact? We recently had cause to deal with an adjudication before the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) in Johannesburg, in which our client was the homeowners association of a residential development (the estate), which comprises 328 residential units, including various types of property.

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Facing the future – Building resilience in your Estate

< 1 min read2020/2021 has seen an acceleration in the rate of change in our lives. These changes have been felt across all sectors of society, and in many aspects of community living. As we settle in to the ‘new normal’ this article explores a few current issues, and offers some practical guidance to assist your estate to equip itself to meet future challenges.

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Normalisation of deviance

< 1 min readNobody is perfect, and no system is perfect, so we just have to do the best we can, and hope that it is good enough. But how good is ‘good enough’? Or how bad do things have to be before they are not ‘good enough’? And is this culture of ‘good enough’ wise? It’s certainly expedient but, if we trawl through the news headlines, we can find many instances of when ‘good enough’ was not good enough.

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Trustee and director induction programme

< 1 min readServing as a director of a homeowners association, or a trustee in a sectional title scheme, has never been for the faint-hearted. Members living in a community scheme volunteer to serve their communities as a member of the board and are immediately thrust into an environment in which they are expected to meet high levels of governance and good practice, including sometimes onerous criteria as it relates to their fiduciary responsibilities. Being completely responsible and accountable to the members of a homeowners association or body corporate is so much more than simply complying with the relevant legislation that governs these community schemes.

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Privatisation of service provision

< 1 min readRecent events indicate the emergence of an alternative model for the management of services like water and waste. Several separate initiatives are under way, currently unconnected, but all moving in a similar direction. In areas where municipalities have failed, courts have ruled in favour of residents’ associations, giving them the right to manage water and waste. It is evident that, with increased support from National Treasury and the Presidency, a new model is emerging that will enable private capital to be raised for clearly defined public services provision.

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The Swiss cheese model of risk management

< 1 min readWhatever your field, whether you are project managing a multibillion-rand development, overseeing the security on a small estate, getting the kids to school on time, or running a large hospital, you need to manage risk, minimise accidents, and ensure the smooth flow of a number of related tasks. We all have different ways of ensuring that this happens, but one brilliant model is as simple as a slice of cheese – or, more accurately, a lot of slices of cheese.

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Proposed collaboration framework for the provision of fibre predeployment in all new builds

< 1 min readWorking in collaboration, the Property and Building sector, Local Government, Telecommunication Operators, Estate Living and the Digital Council Africa have discussed the collective agreement between industry leaders that identifies the need for a decisive approach to the provision of fibre infrastructure in all new builds.

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Tragedy of the commons

< 1 min readThe tragedy of the commons is an economic principle first described by Oxford University political economist William Forster Lloyd in 1832. Lloyd based his study on the use of common grazing land, but the principle holds for the exploitation (and overexploitation) of many different resources, and the tragedy is still compounding itself today.

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