Sectional title complexes can save water, as well as avoid cost disputes

THE WATER crisis and impending Day Zero has Cape Town managing agents evaluating their action plans and taking extra steps to ensure their sectional title residents are adequately equipped.

“These are obviously unprecedented circumstances requiring unprecedented responses and actions on the part of sectional title bodies corporate, landlords, tenants and managing agents,” says Andrew Schaefer, managing director of Trafalgar property management.

The role of managing agents is to research solutions, provide accurate information about every possible water-saving measure in the buildings and properties they manage, and advise their clients how to implement these as fast and cost-efficiently as possible, he says.

“In an apartment building, for example, all residents, whether owners or tenants, must be reminded of their responsibilities and informed about water-saving measures and devices they can use, such as low-flow taps and shower-heads.

“As managing agents, we are making water use readings available to every owner on their monthly levy statements to help them monitor their own consumption and adjust it to comply with the increasingly tight restrictions so they don’t incur additional costs and penalties.”

At the communal level, it is a body corporate decision to install tanks, boreholes, greywater recycling systems or other water- saving equipment, and some complexes don’t have the reserves to do this.

“There are, however, measures they can all take. The first is to ensure the correct number of units in the complex is registered with the City of Cape Town. When this is not the case it creates a problem with correctly calculating water use and can lead costly penalties for over-use.

“We’ve found several instances of a sectional title complex registered as a single unit, for example, and consequently being penalised for vast over-usage, as if it was one household.”

The second measure, Schaefer says, is to install separate water meters for the common property and each unit to avoid disputes about water use per unit and fair division of charges, and disputes about water use on the common property.

PICTURE: PIXABY Many homeowners find it difficult to cope financially and are unable to spend on non-essential and essential maintenance and repairs.

PICTURE: PIXABAY Body corporates with the finances to install additional water tanks, boreholes, grey-water recycling systems or other watersaving equipment are encouraged to do so.