Your PQ (participation quota) represents the percentage of the complex that you own and your undivided share in the common property. It is usually represented by a decimal number to 4 places eg .1124. The total of all the sections in the complex will add up to 1 or 100.
Your PQ is worked out by dividing the total square metres in the complex into the square metres of your unit. For example: complex total = 2,000 square metres and your unit is 97 square metres. Your PQ therefore is 97/2000 = .0485.
This PQ figure, multiplied by the monthly budgeted costs will represent the amount of levy you pay every month.
Example: Monthly budget figure R5,478 x your PQ .0431 = R236.10 pm.
Check this as there can be errors and you could be paying the incorrect levy.
Each owner will pay their PQ share of the monthly budget figure. So a 1 bedroom flat will have a lower PQ than a two bedroom flat because of the additional square metres in their unit and therefore they will pay a higher levy contribution than the one bedroom unit.
The PQ figures are determined by the Surveyor when they do the Sectional Title Plans. All the PQs (and the square metres of each section) are on the last page of the complex’s Sectional Title Plans. Your managing agent will have a copy.
Your PQ is also used to determine what your unit’s allocations of the complex’s insurance is. The sum insured is multiplied by your PQ for your allocation. Example: Sum insured R8 million x PQ .0431 = R344,800. (this amount also includes your “share” of the common property)
Your unit is therefore insured for R344,800. Should you feel this is not adequate you have the right to increase the amount and pay in the additional premium.
I pay the highest levy in the complex (I have the largest unit) – am I entitled to more of the free NMMM black refuse bags?
I live on the ground floor can I deduct the lift expenses from my levy as I do not use the lift?
I have decided to cut my own grass (or I have paved my garden) can I now deduct the grass cutting expense from my levy?
I live on the 4th floor, only the owners on the ground floor have any benefit from the gardens, can I deduct this expense from my monthly levy?
NO, NO, NO and NO! Each owner is responsible for the debts of the Body Corporate in accordance with their PQ. This includes the cost of the grass cutting service and the lift maintenance contract. (you may go up and down to get your money’s worth!)
Having a larger unit is what you decided to purchase, it does not entitle you to more free black bags than the owners of the smaller units.
This depends on the Conduct Rules adopted by your Body Corporate, some Body Corporates have amended their Rules to ban animals. These amended Conduct Rules (passed by a special resolution) are then filed with the Deeds Office in Cape Town to make them legal.
The standard Conduct Rules in the Sectional Titles Act of 1986 states you require written permission from the Trustees to keep any “animal, reptile or bird”. You therefore have to apply in writing to the Trustees and request them to give you written permission. (Approval may not be unreasonable withheld)
Trustees when granting permission the trustees impose any reasonable conditions such as: Dropping to be picked up timously, when on the common property must be on a leash with someone, etc.
Should the animal become a nuisance on the complex and the conditions are breached the Trustees can withdraw their consent.
Yes. The raising of Special Levies is a mechanism which ensures that the Body Corporate is always able to pay its debts, even if unforeseen and not budgeted for. It is the norm to impose a special levy to pay for high cost maintenance like the painting of the complex. Most complexes will impose a special levy every 3 to 4 years.
The Common Property is defined as everything on the outside of your unit
Eg. the roof, the outside of the walls, the passages, the driveways, the lift, the pool, the boundary walls, the gardens, the driveway gates, the underground and pipes on the walls, etc
It is the Trustees duty to maintain the common property.
For every AGM you will be sent a proxy and nomination forms –
Should you wish to become a Trustee you need to get another owner to sign your nomination form, you then sign it to accept the nomination. Should you wish to nominate someone else as a Trustee you must put their name on the form, sign it and give it to the person you are nominating for them to sign in acceptance of the nomination.
The person nominated to be a Trustee is not required to be an owner but the majority of Trustees must be owners or spouses of owners.
Nomination Form must be with the Managing Agent 48 hours prior to the meeting.
PROXY FORMS – should you be unable to attend the AGM or any General Meeting you can appoint someone to represent you and vote for you at the meeting. You can make it clear on the proxy form how your proxy must vote for you or you can leave it blank so they may vote as they wish to vote.
Your proxy does not have to be an owner.
Proxies must be handed in before the meeting starts.
The very least you can do if you are unable to attend your AGM is to sign a proxy – this helps for quorum purposes and enables the AGM to be held whereas if there are insufficient owners present or represented at the meeting the meeting has to reconvened, which is an additional cost for the body corporate.
You own from the MIDDLE of your unit’s outside walls inwards, from the MIDDLE of the floor boards upwards and from the MIDDLE of the ceiling boards downwards.
The median line runs through the middle of your front and back doors and through the glass in the windows – this makes the outside of your front and back doors common property.
This (and burglar bars) are permitted in the Rule 4 of the Conduct Rules. However, the Trustees need to approve in writing the design and how it is going to be installed. They may wish all owners to have the same design to keep the harmonious appearance of the complex.
You require the written consent of the Trustees before you do anything on the Common Property. When you or your tenant leave the complex and take the dish with you, the owner will be required to make good any damages to the wall. Trustees may request a deposit be paid to ensure the common property is repaired before you or your tenant leave.
Trustees when granting permission for the installation should make it conditional that the applicant agrees to:
As often as they wish. Any Trustee may call a meeting by giving 7 days notice to the other Trustees. This notice must state what the meeting is being called to discuss.
Non Trustees are allowed to attend all Trustees’ meetings and talk but they may not vote.
Trustees are elected at every Annual General Meeting. They remain a Trustee until the next AGM where they can be elected again. You will receive a nomination form with the notice of the AGM, ask another owner to nominate you.
All complaints have to be in writing to the Trustees! A complaint is not a complaint unless it is in writing, if it is not in writing it is just a moan and Trustees do not have the time (or the inclination) to stand at their front doors every evening listening to moans.
Email your Sectional Title queries or if would like an electronic copy of : 10 Commandments of Sectional Title Living.
Reynard Agencies started as Managing Agents in 1984 when the founder, Les Reynard, took over the management of the complex he was living in- we are still managing this complex today.
This year, the company, with 15 employees, are managing 80+ Bodies Corporate.