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In this guide
By Onah Attorneys Inc • Updated July 2026 • Legal information, not a substitute for advice on your specific matter.
The buying decision beneath every property hunt: your own erf and everything on it, or a section in a scheme with shared walls and shared money. Neither is ‘better’ — they distribute costs, control and risk differently, and buyers who don’t read the scheme’s paperwork buy other people’s problems. Here is the honest comparison and the due-diligence list.
What you actually own
Freehold: the land and structures, yours entirely — you insure, maintain, secure it all. Sectional title: your SECTION (the inside envelope of the unit) plus an undivided share of COMMON PROPERTY (land, roofs, exteriors, pools) by participation quota, plus perhaps exclusive-use areas (garden, parking). The building’s skin is communal — which is precisely why the scheme’s finances become your finances.
Money: levies vs everything-yourself
Sectional: monthly levies fund insurance, exterior maintenance, security, admin AND the reserve fund (10-year maintenance plans are now compulsory) — predictable, until a SPECIAL LEVY lands for the neglected roof. Freehold: no levy, but every gutter, wall and geyser is a direct personal expense — cheaper for the handy and disciplined, ruinous for deferred maintenance. HOA estates blur the line: freehold title with levy-funded common infrastructure and design rules.
Control and rules
Freehold: municipal by-laws and title conditions aside, your call — the colour, the pets, the cottage. Sectional: conduct and management rules bind (pets by consent, alteration approvals, short-let restrictions increasingly common); trustees and the body corporate decide communal matters by vote weighted to quota. Buyers with dogs, home industries or Airbnb plans: read the RULES before the offer — they’re binding, and changing them needs special resolutions.
The due-diligence that separates buys from mistakes
Sectional title: last two AGMs’ minutes (the fights live there), audited financials (arrears book, reserve fund health), the 10-year maintenance plan, current and looming special levies, insurance schedule, the rules. A scheme with 30% levy arrears and an empty reserve is a special levy with your name on it. Freehold: approved building plans, title conditions, zoning, and the physical bones. Both: the conveyancer checks title; YOU check the living reality.
Resale and financing dynamics
Banks finance both; schemes with weak financials or majority-rented profiles can face stricter lending. Sectional units trade on levies-vs-amenities value; freehold trades on land and improvements. Exit thinking at entry: the unit in the badly-run scheme discounts twice — once in lifestyle, once at resale. The best sectional buy is a boring, solvent scheme; the best freehold buy is a compliant, documented house.
Frequently asked questions
Can the body corporate really tell me what to do inside my unit?
Inside your section, mostly no — but alterations touching structure/common property, nuisance, and rule-regulated conduct (pets, letting) absolutely yes. The rules you never read are a contract you signed.
Who pays when the roof leaks into my top-floor unit?
The roof is common property: the body corporate repairs it and is liable for resultant damage where it failed to maintain — with insurance interplay. Paper your demands; CSOS backs owners against shrugging trustees.
Are special levies avoidable?
Symptomatically no, structurally yes: schemes with funded reserves and real maintenance plans rarely need them. That’s why the financials ARE the inspection.
Is an HOA estate freehold or sectional?
Usually freehold title within a compulsory-membership HOA — levies and rules by contract/constitution rather than the Sectional Titles Act. Different statute, similar living reality: read the HOA docs the same way.
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