Buy a freehold house and ownership is simple: the erf, and everything built on it, is yours. Buy into a sectional title scheme and you buy three different things at once, each recorded differently, and the differences surface at exactly the moments money is involved: buying, selling, renovating, and paying the levy.
The section
Your section is the unit itself, defined not by a fence but by the sectional plan: the space enclosed by the median line of its walls, floors and ceilings. Inside that boundary the section is yours to own and, subject to the scheme’s rules, to alter. The section is what your title deed describes, with a deed number prefixed ST rather than T, and it is registered at the Deeds Office like any other property.
The undivided share in the common property
Everything in the scheme that is not somebody’s section is common property: the land itself, the roof, the lifts, the driveway, the garden, the pool. Every owner holds an undivided share of it, in proportion to their participation quota, which is based on the floor area of their section relative to the scheme. The quota is not trivia. It determines your share of the levies and, for most decisions, the weight of your vote in the body corporate. Two units in the same scheme with different quotas are carrying visibly different shares of every special levy the scheme ever raises.
Exclusive use areas
Between the section and the common property sits the category that causes the most disputes: exclusive use areas. The parking bay, the garden patch, the storeroom. These remain common property, but a specific owner holds the exclusive right to use them, and that right exists in one of two legal forms: registered against the title in the Deeds Office, or allocated through the scheme’s rules. The difference matters when you sell, because a registered exclusive use right must be dealt with in the transfer, while a rules-based allocation lives and dies with the scheme’s rule set. "Comes with a parking bay" is a claim with two possible legal meanings, and the listing will not tell you which one you are getting.
Checking a unit and a scheme before you buy
The registered position of a specific unit comes from an Instant Property Search (R230.00): the registered owner, the section’s details, the purchase history, and bonds against the unit. For the scheme-level view, a Sectional Title Unit List (R295.00 per scheme) returns every unit in the scheme with its current owner, purchase date and purchase price, drawn from the Deeds Office record.
The unit list is the underrated document in a sectional title purchase. It shows what comparable units in the same scheme actually sold for and when, which is a sharper price benchmark than suburb-wide comparables. It shows the ownership pattern: a scheme dominated by one investor-owner, or with heavy recent turnover, behaves differently from one of long-term resident owners, in levies, in rule enforcement, and in how the body corporate votes. Managing agents and trustees order the same list to reconcile their records against the registry.
What the Deeds Office does not hold is the scheme’s financial health. Levy arrears, the reserve fund, pending special levies and the body corporate’s insurance live in the scheme’s own records, and the standard request for those documents belongs in every sectional title offer. The registry tells you what you are buying; the body corporate’s books tell you what it will cost to own.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an ST deed and an ordinary title deed?
An ST deed describes a section in a sectional title scheme by reference to the sectional plan, together with the undivided share in common property. An ordinary deed of transfer (T) describes land, an erf or farm. Both are registered at the Deeds Office and both can be searched and copied.
How do I check who owns the other units in my complex?
A Sectional Title Unit List returns every unit in the scheme with the current owner, purchase date and purchase price, in one report for R295.00.
Is my parking bay part of my unit?
Usually not. Parking bays are typically exclusive use areas: common property you alone may use, held either as a registered right or under the scheme’s rules. Which form applies affects how it transfers when you sell, so confirm it before buying or selling.