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Sectional title trustees and homeowners' association directors have welcomed a change in legislation that will make it easier for them to recover arrear levies from defaulting owners.

This change, made in terms of the Rules Board for Courts of Law Act of 1985, provides for a court to set a reserve price when a property is to be sold in execution of a debt judgment, says Andrew Schaefer, managing director Trafalgar property management company.

This will prevent banks from being able to unilaterally veto such sales and leave body corporates, homeowners' associations and local authorities with no way of giving effect to judgments they obtained for outstanding levies, rates and service charges, he says.

The possibility of banks doing this, Schaefer says, was illustrated in a case in the Gauteng High Court and the Supreme Court last year.

The body corporate of Empire Gardens, having tried other ways to recover unpaid levies from an owner in the scheme, eventually sought judgment for the debt, the attachment of the property and a sale in execution.

However, the sale was blocked by the bank holding the mortgage because the owner was not in arrears with bond repayments and the price offered for the property at the sheriff 's auction was much lower than the outstanding home loan balance.

Read more: Change in law eases arrears recovery