Requiring an association to take out or increase the amount of its insurance cover

In terms of section 39 (1) (a) of the CSOS Act, an application may be for:

“an order requiring the association to take out insurance or to increase the amount of insurance”

  • A sectional title body corporate must insure all the buildings shown on the registered sectional plans against fire damage to their full replacement value, and it must usually also get insurance cover against various other types of risk, depending on what the owners have decided.
  • The governance documents of home owners associations, share block schemes and other types of community scheme will usually provide that the scheme must take out building cover and other forms of insurance.

When a scheme fails to take out or maintain adequate insurance cover, the first step is to obtain evidence of this fact, so it can be shown that the scheme executives are not acting in accordance with their legal obligations and that the stakeholders in the scheme are exposed to an unnecessary risk.

An example of the type of order the CSOS could give is:

1. That the [here describe the association, e.g. the Body Corporate of the Mtwetwini Game Reserve,] must, within a period of [here insert period] from the date of this order, do all things necessary to arrange insurance cover for [here describe the buildings, property or interest to be insured, e.g. the houses and other buildings and improvements in the scheme] for [here insert the extent of the insurance either in money terms or in general terms, e.g.? go away and I are in the follow their full replacement value] against the risk of [here insert a description of the risk, e.g. damage by fire and the other risks prescribed under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act of 2011].

2. The [here describe the scheme executives, e.g. the trustees] must within a further [here insert a reasonable period, e.g. 7 days] give [here describe the members, e.g. all owners] written notification confirming [here describe what the members need to know, e.g. the replacement values for which their houses are insured] under the insurance policy.

3. This order takes effect immediately.

If you would like to see the whole of the Community Schemes Ombud Service Act, 9 of 2011, including the full text of chapter 3 that covers applications, you can access this from Paddocks’ resource library.

Do you have concerns about your matter, need assistance completing your application, or want a sectional title Consultant to review your application before submission? Have a look at the Paddocks’ Consulting page.

For general help on the CSOS, including the special meanings of the words and phrases “association”, “common area”,  “dispute”, “executive committee”, “owner”,  and “scheme governance documentation” see the CSOS Information page.

Needing other assistance? Have a look at our Paddocks assistance page, which includes the helpful application guide explanation, for more information.

Would you like to make an application for this type of order?

If this is the correct order for your issue, the next step would be to make an application.

You can capture your application information online here, or download the form to complete offline later.

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