The body corporate generally takes the responsibility for outside maintenance of all windows of an owners section, and 100% off the common property windows. When it comes to some older wooden window frames and doors, this may involve painting or varnishing and sometimes adding polyurethane sealant or replacing cracked window putty. The maintenance can end up becoming quite expensive over longer periods of time that replacing the windows with aluminium might cost.
When inspecting the property for purposes of preparing the 10-year MRR plan, it is important to establish how many windows are common property windows and how many belong to the unit owners in their sections that may still need to be replaced.
The little joke that Allan was attempting to make about the piece of paper is actually a reference to the ‘median line’, which is the common boundary line either between two sections, or between the section and the common property, which starts where the building ends. This ‘median line’ is an imaginary line that represents the ‘mid-point’ that is half-way between the inside and outside of a wall, window, floor, or soffit.
Section 5(5)(a) of the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986 defines the boundaries of a section in such a way that that the floor, wall and ceilings are always considered to be part of the section. In terms of section 3(1)(l) of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act (“the STSM Act”), the body corporate must maintain all the common property, which includes the exterior part of any wall, door or window that forms a boundary between a section and common property. In terms of section 13(1)(c) of the same STSM Act, the owner must repair and maintain the interior part of any wall, door or window that forms a boundary between a section and common property. Therefore, the expenses (which could include maintenance, repair and replacement costs) in regard to any window or door (including garage doors) in an exterior section wall should be split equally between the owner and body corporate.
There may be times when it is necessary for the Body Corporate to force the owners to replace their windows within a reasonable period of time, especially when the cost to maintain them is getting onerous, or the windows are beyond effective repair – such as the picture below, where even the duct tape being used to hold the window frames in place is beginning to fail.
Although there are various ways to handle the replacement of windows, generally the most advisable is to collect for these costs via the 10-year MRR plan as per Prescribed Management Rule 22 and to keep funds available in the Reserve Fund for this purpose.