Most exclusive use areas (EUA's) in sectional schemes fall into one of three types:

•         Created under the rules of schemes registered under the 1971 Act.

•         Registered in terms of section 27 of the current Act.

•         Created under rules in terms of section 27A of the current Act.

 

2             EXCLUSIVE USE AREAS CREATED UNDER RULES OF 1971 ACT

In sectional schemes registered between 1973 and 1988 EUA's were usually granted and controlled by registered Schedule I rules of the scheme. As such, they were not considered to be real rights but as an agreement binding on all owners to allow certain owners to use and enjoy the benefits of part of the common property to the exclusion of every other owner. Once granted, an owner could not be deprived of the EUA without his or her consent. The current Act contains a provision that EUA's granted in terms of the earlier Act are recognised under the current Act. A further provision grants an owner who has the benefit of an EUA granted under the earlier rules the right to register it at his or her expense under section 27 of the current Act.

Section 37(1 )(b) of the Act requires owners who have the benefit of an EUA granted under the Schedule I rules to make an extra contribution to the levy fund to defray the costs of rates, taxes, insurance and maintenance for the area concerned.

 

3             EXCLUSIVE USE AREAS REGISTERED UNDER CURRENT ACT

In June 1988, the current Act introduced the concept of EUA's as registerable real rights, ceded to individual owners and held by them by a certificate of real right. EUA's of this type may be bought, sold or exchanged among and between members of the body corporate. Holders of these rights must make an extra contribution to the levy fund as described in section 37(1 )(b) of the Act.

In introducing registered exclusive use areas, the Act took away developers' and bodies' corporate rights to create EUA's by means of the rules of the scheme. Registered EUA's are expensive and time-consuming to create, involving the use of a land surveyor and conveyancer and involving individual owners in additional costs. As a result of representations by many property practitioners, the Sectional Titles Act was amended in October 1997 and reintroduced the creation of EUA's by means of rules while retaining the means of creating registered rights.