Services
Management support for HOAs operating under their own constitutions and memoranda of incorporation.
A home owners association is not a body corporate. HOAs are typically non-profit companies or common law associations governed by a constitution or memorandum of incorporation, not by the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act. The management principles overlap, but the legal framework, enforcement powers and reporting obligations differ.
The most common mistake we see is an HOA being managed as though it were a body corporate. The STSMA does not apply. An HOA's powers come from its own founding documents, and those documents vary enormously from estate to estate.
That changes practical things: how levies are set and enforced, what a board may resolve without a members' vote, how architectural guidelines are applied, and what happens when a member refuses to comply.
The operational work is similar to body corporate management, adapted to the association's own rules.
For an HOA, the constitution or memorandum of incorporation is the source of all authority. It determines how levies are set, what the board may resolve without a members' vote, how architectural guidelines are enforced, and what remedies exist against a non-compliant member.
Boards frequently operate on established custom rather than on what their own documents actually permit. Custom does not survive a legal challenge. Any HOA reviewing its management should start by reading its founding documents against how the estate is genuinely being run.
A body corporate governs a sectional title scheme under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act. An HOA is usually a non-profit company or common law association governed by its own constitution or memorandum of incorporation. The STSMA does not apply to HOAs.
The remedies differ. A body corporate has statutory mechanisms, including the levy clearance certificate before transfer. An HOA's enforcement powers come from its constitution and any conditions registered against title, so what is enforceable varies from estate to estate.
It is not compulsory. Most HOAs of any size appoint one, because board members are volunteers carrying financial and compliance responsibility they are rarely resourced to discharge alone.