Sectional title ownership of property is a form of ownership created by statute (The Sectional Titles Act No.95/1986 ) to cater for the ownership of apartments or offices in multi storeyed buildings, but it is not restricted to such schemes and can also apply to townhouse or other complexes.

When land with a building/s is sectionalised by the registration of a sectional title plan (prepared by a land surveyor and approved by the Surveyor- General and registered by a conveyancer), it is effectively divided into sections and common property, some of which common property may be subject to rights of exclusive use for the owners of various sections. The sections are the apartments/ offices or industrial units, and the common property is the rest of the land, the outside of the building/s and the roof etc. The common property is owned in undivided shares by the owners of all the sections and their share of such common property and liability for expenses generally relates to the size of their sections. The extent (size) of a section relative to the total extent of all the sections is known as the participation quota of that section.

Sectional title ownership involves "communal living" as the common property is shared by all owners and is managed maintained and controlled for the benefit of all owners. When an owner sectionalises his property he is known as the developer and as soon as the developer transfers a section to another party then the Body Corporate of the sectional title scheme comes into existence. It is the Body Corporate which manages and controls the scheme and it does so by carrying out its statutory duties and by the enforcement of the Management and Conduct Rules applicable to the scheme.

Aside from rates and taxes payable to the municipality, every owner is liable to pay a monthly levy to the Body Corporate to cover the insurance maintenance and administration of the scheme. Herold Gie can assist any potential purchaser of land for development of a scheme in all aspects of the sectionalisation process and the subsequent transfer of units to purchasers. Herold Gie recommends that a purchaser of a section in a scheme be aware of the financial state of the Body Corporate and whether any future extensions to the scheme are planned.

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