Empowering the property community through the open sharing of knowledge
South Africa is home to approximately 800 000 sectional title units. This property title's increasing popularity is proven by some industry statistics indicating that over 60% of new property developments are sectional title. This booming industry is becoming more and more attractive to property investors, home owners, tenants and developers across the country.
As with any other industry that experiences unprecedented growth, the sectional title industry is experiencing its fair share of growing pains. One of the main areas receiving negative attention is the management of sectional title schemes. Owners battle with understanding what they are buying and how to live harmoniously with their neighbours, while trustees struggle with understanding their roles and responsibilities. Many Managing Agents, who are appointed by the trustees to manage sectional title buildings, have no formal education in the financial, physical or administrative management of these buildings. This lack of professionalism often leads to mismanagement and corruption.
Sectional Titles Online (STO) is a web site initiative that aims to help all role-players in sectional titles better understand this property title for the benefit of their communities. The web site was developed by Paddocks, a specialist sectional title business based in Cape Town, and up until now has been in beta release so that the firm could improve the web site before launching it publicly.
STO aims to empower the sectional title community through the open sharing of knowledge resources, and there is no doubt that it will do just that. This web site is accessible to anyone who is interested in the sectional titles industry and is completely free of any charge.
So what exactly is Sectional Titles Online?
Sectional Titles Online is a web site dedicated to providing everyone involved in sectional titles with free access to information. The web site is divided into several sections:
1. The Library boasts a wide range of information resources including full-text legislation and commentaries. This interactive library includes cross-referencing and linking between the various texts and commentaries and allows you to search for a particular word or phrase.
Why is this useful?
Let's say you are looking for information on enclosing a balcony. You simply enter the word "balcony" into the library and the web site will tell you:
* what the Sectional Titles Act says about enclosing balconies
* what the various handbooks say about the problems with this process
* what several news articles have reported on this topic in the past
2. The Forum allows you to read and post articles, general queries, comments and answers. This section already includes over 3000 postings covering a wide range of sectional title related topics.
Why is this useful?
If you have a burning question that you need an answer to without paying legal fees, post it on the forum. You may find the answer to your question in the 3000+ articles already listed, and if you don't it is likely that your question will be answered in a day or two by one of the web site's active users.
3. The Compliments and Complaints section empowers the community to champion great service and speak up against bad service. Be warned, should you complain about or compliment your managing agent - an e-mail will be sent directly to them to give them the opportunity to respond!
4. The Classroom provides free education resources presented in a structured and interactive way. All education resources have been designed by Graham Paddock.
Why is this useful?
Do you think you need a crash course in sectional titles? Empower yourself by going to the classroom and take an up-to-date introductory course in sectional titles. The courses are self paced and completed in your own time. You can even test your knowledge by taking the online quizzes to see how much you have learnt.
Up until now Sectional Plans were only available from the Surveyor-Generals Office and the Deeds Registry. Professional Sectional Title Consultants believe this component alone is a wonderful service provided to the public. Those residing in the Cape Town area already have access to their sectional plans on the website and the STO team is planning to include the plans from the remaining regions in the country during the first quarter of 2007. The sectional plans are up to date and include all schemes registered up to and including 2006.
Why is this useful?
Do you need to double check your participation quota or have a look at exactly which areas of the scheme form part of your unit? Type in your scheme name to view your sectional plan and keep a copy for yourself for future reference. All of this is FREE!
5. The Yellow Pages is a comprehensive directory of all sectional title related organisations including schemes, trustees, managing agencies, estate agents, levy financiers and many other individuals and organisations in the industry.
Why is this useful?
If you are looking for information on a specific scheme or player in the sectional titles industry, type their name into the yellow pages and find out more about them with the click of a button.
The team behind Sectional Title Online believes in the principal of sharing. To visit the site and to become a member go to http://www.sto.co.za.
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