Living in a sectional title during COVID-19

The deadly and highly contagious Coronavirus (COVID-19) has placed residential sectional title schemes across the world in a peculiar position as they scramble to find ways to manage the outbreak. In these schemes, residents live in close proximity to one another and they share common property. And although this is great for creating a close-knit community feel, it is also a perfect breeding ground for the virus which easily spreads from person to person through bodily fluids when coughing or sneezing. 

In order to contain the virus, countries around the world including South Africa, declared national lockdowns where citizens (who are non-essential workers) are ordered to stay at home and only leave their homes for essential purposes such as buying groceries, collecting social grants or seeking medical attention. The general consensus among medical experts is that by cutting down the movement of people through confinement, the highly contagious virus can be contained to avoid rapid spread. Good hygiene habits and sanitising your hands and surfaces also curbs the spread. 

Even though the country has been praised for its speedy implementation of lockdown measures, there is still a lot of uncertainty especially when dealing with sectional title schemes. 

The big debate around the common property

The common property, which includes parts of the building such as driveways, lifts, clubhouses and gardens, has been the centre of controversy since the lockdown started. This is partly because of the nature of the common property - it can be used for entertaining, exercising or even meetings. But, it can also be used to gain access to individual units or parking areas through lifts and walkways etc. 

The message from the government, although not very clear, prevents residents from jogging, walking, walking their pets, and playing sports on the common property. Many schemes interpret that under lockdown, residents must be confined to their individual units and only use the common areas for essential purposes such as walking to your car when you need to buy groceries etc. And yet others are finding loopholes in the directive and are going as far as encouraging residents to ignore it. 

But, one aspect that is clear from the government is that people must help prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19. In a sectional title, this means that residents must be confined to their individual units at all times and only use the common property for essential purposes. 

How general upkeep needs to be managed

Under the lockdown, only essential services are allowed to open for daily business such as health-care providers and grocery stores. This means that workers who are classified as "non-essential" must stay at home, including the cleaning and maintenance staff in a sectional title. During this time, the onus falls on all the residents to keep common and exclusive-use areas neat and sanitised every day. When it comes to refuse removal, the municipality will still dispose of this once a week. But, to prevent residents from walking to the bin area everyday to dispose of their dirt, many trustees are requesting residents to do this only once or twice a week before the municipality is scheduled to arrive.

No visitors allowed

Living in lockdown can be lonely, frustrating, and even scary at times - this is especially true for residents who live in units that are small and without private garden space. It can be easy to break the rules by visiting your neighbours or asking family members who live close by to see you. But, remember, breaking the rules in ways that seem harmless can cause major repercussions, especially when dealing with a highly contagious virus. The worst case scenario is pretty terrifying - if the residents in sectional titles don't follow the rules, this can create a perfect breeding ground for the virus to spread and affect most if not all residents.  

Just how serious is the situation? Well, the SAPS has urged private security guards to provide information when residents ignore strict lockdown measures and this could possibly lead to arrests. The takeaway is to avoid as much contact as possible with the outside world and practise immaculate hygiene habits. By doing so, we can overcome this pandemic sooner rather than later, and save countless lives in the process. 

Please visit the South African resource portal at https://sacoronavirus.co.za/

Interpreting the rules of schemes can be very confusing and time consuming. Give De Lucia Group a call for clarity. Michael De Lucia 082 493 1089