Page 59 - Q&A 2019/2020

When must my Home Owners’ Association
protect my property?

Cleopatra Mukhari
March 2019

“I live in an estate. While on holiday my house was broken into. I feel that lax
security could have been the reason for the break-in. However, when I raised
this with the Home Owners’ Association they were dismissive and said they
had no responsibility for the break in. Is this true?”

A Home Owners’ Association (HOA) is a body comprising of the home owners
of a specific estate entrusted by the home owners with the running of the estate
and communal affairs of those home owners.

In the recent case of Van der Bijl and Another v Featherbrooke Estate Home
Owners’ Association, it was held that a HOA is merely a vehicle by which the
home owners of the estate elect to achieve common goals. Accordingly, in the
Property absence of a specific agreement between the Association and its members as
to the liability of the Association to protect those residing on the Estate, the Court
found no basis for holding that the Association had a duty to protect the home
owners or that the law required that the Association should have such a duty.

Therefore, a HOA can only be held liable for the safety and security of its
homeowners where it is specifically obligated to do so in its memorandum of
incorporation or it has been contractually agreed to by the HOA with a home
owner.

53