By Ané de Klerk
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s recent announcement during the budget speech that the Post Office is getting another R2.4 billion bailout while in the process of shutting down many of its branches and retrenching some 6000 employees has again put the struggling entity in the spotlight. The funds have allegedly been earmarked for great things: modernising the organisation to such an extent that it can compete with private courier companies by focusing on digital communication service offerings, but given its proven track record one can hardly be judged for taking this information with a grain of salt. In the meantime, managing agents and trustees remain frustrated by the fact that they are being forced by law to make use of a system that is expensive, time consuming and unreliable.
When faced with this grim fact, rightfully disgruntled sectional title scheme trustees and managing agents should try to use this service as little as possible – here’s how:
1. Designate an email address for the body corporate
The Prescribed Management Rules allow the trustees to designate an email address as the body corporate’s service address. Once the majority of trustees have passed a resolution setting a particular email address as an accepted alternative to the physical address earmarked for receiving notices and other correspondence, said notices and correspondence can be emailed to the body corporate instead.
2. Get members to amend their service addresses
The Prescribed Management Rules also provide for members to amend their service addresses from a postal address to an email address. Once you have completed step 1 above, ask all members of your body corporate to send a written notice to the body corporate’s designated email address, notifying the body corporate that they wish to change their own service address to a particular email address. The best way to do this is to prepare a draft notice for the members that they can use to fill in their particulars and return to the body corporate via email – quick and simple.
3. Know when you are obliged to use the Post Office and when you can avoid doing so
Once steps 1 and 2 are completed, all meeting notices and correspondence can be emailed to and by members of the body corporate except those notices that call meetings at which a special and/or unanimous resolution is to be considered by the members. In those instances, the notice can still be emailed to the members, but it must also be sent to them by prepaid registered post. The only way around this obligation is to deliver these notices to members by hand – a time consuming and impractical option if the scheme is anything but small. Remember that a standard annual general meeting without any special business added to the agenda only requires ordinary resolutions to be passed. Therefore, once step 2 above has been completed, these notices can simply be emailed to members.
If you are unsure whether you are obliged to send a particular notice via the Post Office or whether you are legally allowed to avoid doing so, you are welcome to email info@theadvisory.co.za to obtain a quotation for a quick consultation with myself or one of our other attorneys to discuss this. It is important that the procedural requirements for calling meetings be met, but also that one’s time and money be used efficiently – so let’s do both.
Specialist Community Scheme Attorney (BA, LLB), Ané de Klerk, is a Director of The Advisory, a boutique consultancy specialising exclusively in community schemes law. Her current focus is legal education, which includes presenting seminars and running online and in-person training programs and courses.
