For homeowners' associations

Homeowners' associations, run by their own rules

A homeowners' association (HOA) is not a body corporate. Its memorandum of incorporation or its constitution governs it, and its meetings follow them. Estate Manager sets an association up on its own terms: its own quorum rule, the notice the Companies Act sets, one vote per member instead of participation quotas, and rules kept under its own documents.

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CSOS Act s1 An HOA is a community schemeCSOS directive, definition 18 A company or a common-law associationCompanies Act s62(1)(a) 15 business days' noticeCompanies Act s64(1) A quorum of 25 per cent

The dashboard of a fictional homeowners' association in the light theme, with its meetings, open complaints, requests, quote requests and documents in figures, and attendance at its last AGM against the quorum. — An association's dashboard, with its own meetings, complaints and requests.

Body corporate or homeowners' association

Both are community schemes under the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) Act. What differs is where each comes from, and the law that runs its meetings.

Topic	Body corporate	Homeowners' association
What it is	Exists by law once anyone other than the developer owns a unit, and every owner is a member (section 2(1))	An association of the owners of separate properties, who must all belong to it (CSOS directive, definition 18)
Legal form	A body corporate under the Act. The Companies Act does not apply to it (section 2(6))	A non-profit company under the Companies Act, or a common-law association, for which there is no specific legislation (definition 18)
Governing documents	The Act, its regulations and the scheme's management and conduct rules (section 10)	Its memorandum of incorporation or its constitution, which its meetings must follow (directive 3.19 and 5.12)
Votes	In value by participation quota, and in number, one per member (section 6(6) and 6(7))	As its memorandum or constitution provides
Notice of a members' meeting	14 days, or 30 for a special or unanimous resolution (PMR 15(1), section 6(2))	For a non-profit company with voting members, 15 business days unless its memorandum sets another period (Companies Act s62). A common-law HOA follows its constitution
Quorum	A third of the votes in value, or two thirds in the smallest schemes, with two persons present (PMR 19(2))	For such a company, 25 per cent of the voting rights unless its memorandum sets another share, and three members present when it has more than two (s64)
Rule changes	Lodged with CSOS and in force from the Chief Ombud's certificate (section 10(5))	Submitting them to CSOS is voluntary, and not submitting them does not invalidate them (directive 7.2)
CSOS	Registers, pays the CSOS levy and files an annual return, and disputes may go to CSOS	The same (CSOS Act s1, s38 and s59, CSOS Regulations 18)

A summary for orientation. Sections are of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act, PMR are its prescribed management rules, and the directive is CSOS Consolidated Practice Directive 1 of 2025. General information, not legal advice.

What the law says

What CSOS and the Companies Act say about HOAs

No single Act governs every HOA. These are the provisions that reach one.

General information, not legal advice.

CSOS Act s1

A community scheme

The CSOS Act's community schemes include a home or property owners' association, however constituted, established to administer a property development.

CSOS directive, definition 18, 3.19

A company or a common-law association

An HOA may be a non-profit company, which the Companies Act regulates in part, or a common-law association, for which there is no specific legislation. A company HOA follows its memorandum of incorporation in calling meetings and voting, and a common-law HOA follows its constitution.

Companies Act s10(3), 62, 64, 65

The Companies Act's defaults

In a non-profit company with voting members, the Act's meeting sections apply to the members: 15 business days' notice, a quorum of 25 per cent of the voting rights, ordinary resolutions by more than half and special resolutions by at least 75 per cent of the votes exercised. The memorandum may vary these within the Act's limits.

CSOS Act s59, CSOS Regulations 18

Registration, levy and annual return

Every community scheme registers with CSOS and pays the CSOS levy every quarter, and it files an annual return, with its financial statements, within four months of its financial year end.

CSOS directive 7.2, Annexure C

Rules, lodged by choice

An HOA may submit its rules to CSOS for quality assurance. That is voluntary, and not doing so does not invalidate them. CSOS lists rules it regards as undesirable in an HOA, such as one that takes disputes outside its process or forces an owner to evict a tenant.

CSOS Act s38, 39(3)

Disputes and unreasonable rules

Anyone who is a party to, or materially affected by, a dispute about the scheme's administration may apply to CSOS. An application may ask for an order declaring a rule invalid or unreasonable, and requiring the association to remove or replace it.

How it is set up

An association on its own terms

Each estate is set up as a sectional title scheme or a homeowners' association. An association's register lists its erven and members without participation quotas, so its votes and its quorum are counted by member, one vote each unless its memorandum gives one for each erf or sets each erf's votes, never in value.

Its members' meetings take the notice the Companies Act sets for a non-profit company with voting members: 15 business days, counted without weekends and public holidays. Its quorum rule starts from the Act's preset, and where the memorandum or constitution sets its own quorum, the managers enter it as a custom rule.

The preset: 25 per cent of the members and three present, an hour's wait, then a week's adjournment
A custom rule: a share in number, the persons present, the wait and the adjournment, from your own documents
Each meeting keeps the rule in force when its notice was issued
Notice packs in neutral wording, with a plain proxy form instead of the sectional title Form C

Companies Act s62(1)(a) 15 business daysCompanies Act s5(3) How business days countCompanies Act s64 The quorum preset

The quorum rule dialog of an estate, with the sectional title preset chosen and the rule it applies set out point by point. — The quorum rule: a preset, or the estate's own.

Meetings and votes

General meetings, counted for an association

General meetings run as they do for a body corporate: the notice pack and its delivery report, proxies online, check-in in person, online or by proxy, a live quorum against the association's rule, and voting from a phone, one poll at a time from the chair's console.

Ordinary resolutions pass with more than half of the votes exercised, and special resolutions with at least 75 per cent, as the Companies Act sets them, one vote per member. Each result gets a results certificate, and the minutes are drafted in Word from the record.

Companies Act s65(7) Ordinary, more than halfCompanies Act s65(9) Special, 75 per cent

AGMs and general meetings

The attendance register in the dark theme, with the quorum present in value and in number above the owners and their check-in buttons, beside a member's ballot on a phone. — The register on the night, and a member voting from a phone.

The same, on a phone. — The register on the night, and a member voting from a phone.

Rules

Association rules, under your own documents

The rules builder keeps an association's rules as their own kind of set, under its constitution or memorandum. Draft them from the rules in force or from nothing, record the resolution that adopted them, and record a lodgement with CSOS if you choose to make one.

An association's rules come into force without a Chief Ombud's certificate, which only a sectional title scheme needs. Members search the rules in force on a phone and never see a draft.

CSOS directive 7.2 Lodging is voluntarySection 10(5) The certificate, for sectional title

Rules: prescribed, drafted, adopted

The dialog that starts a rule set, with conduct rules chosen, the special resolution they need, a choice to start from the prescribed rules, the rules in force or no clauses, and a note for the trustees. — Starting a set of rules, here the conduct rules, from the prescribed rules.

The rest of the estate

Requests, complaints, decisions and budgets

The rest works for an association as it does for a body corporate, with these differences.

Maintenance and access requests

A gate that will not close, a pothole, a new remote: residents report it and follow it to done. Access requests carry what the agent types on the installer's portal.

Complaints

Filed against the estate's own conduct rules, handled on the record, with 30 days for the reporter to dispute the outcome.

Quotes and board decisions

The board decides by a majority of the votes cast at its meeting, or by the written consent of a majority of the directors, and a chair who did not vote may break a tie. The appointment letter follows.

Companies Act s73(5), 74(1)Read more

Budgets

Built or uploaded, approved under your own constitution with a note of how, shared with the members and exported to Excel.

Votes are counted one per member, one per erf or as your memorandum sets them for each erf. Votes weighed by value are not modelled.
Resolutions are decided by the Companies Act's percentages, or the ones that your memorandum or constitution sets, which the managers record. One percentage applies to every special resolution.
Members' meetings take the Companies Act's 15 business days' notice, or the period that your memorandum or constitution sets, which the managers record with its clause.
Proxies follow the Companies Act: a member may appoint any individual, with or without a sign-in for the estate, the managing agent included, a proxy may act for any number of members, and appointments stay open until the meeting opens. A cut-off or a most members for one proxy that your own documents set is a setting.
No levy billing or collection, and no gate or intercom integration.

Questions

Questions about homeowners' associations

Anything else: ask us when you book a demo, or write to info@nanotech-computers.com.

What is the difference between a body corporate and an HOA?

A body corporate exists by law in a sectional title scheme, with every owner a member and votes weighed by participation quota. An HOA is an association of the owners of separate properties, set up as a non-profit company or a common-law association and governed by its memorandum or constitution. Both are community schemes under the CSOS Act. General information, not legal advice.

Does CSOS cover homeowners' associations?

Yes. The CSOS Act's community schemes include a home or property owners' association, however constituted. An HOA registers with CSOS, pays the CSOS levy and files an annual return, and anyone in a dispute about its administration may apply to CSOS. General information, not legal advice.

When must an HOA hold its AGM?

When its memorandum of incorporation or constitution says. CSOS defines an AGM as a meeting held each year at the end of the financial year, within the period the scheme's own documents set. The annual return, due within four months of the year end, includes the draft AGM minutes (CSOS directive 14.2 and 14.3). General information, not legal advice.

How are an HOA's levies handled?

Estate Manager does no levy billing or collection. An association's budget is built or uploaded, approved under its own constitution with a note of how, shared with the members and exported to Excel, while billing stays in the accounting system. The CSOS levy is separate: every community scheme pays it to CSOS (CSOS Act, section 59).

Can tenants vote at an HOA meeting?

Votes belong to the members, who are the owners. In Estate Manager a tenant votes only as a member's proxy. In a non-profit company with voting members, the Companies Act lets a member appoint any individual as proxy, member or not (sections 10(3) and 58(1)), but read your memorandum or constitution too. General information, not legal advice.

Can one agent run the HOA and the schemes inside it?

Yes. The HOA and each body corporate inside its estate are separate estates in Estate Manager, each with its own rules and records, and the agent switches between them with one sign-in. An owner who belongs to both sees each in its own place.

Do we need a managing agent?

No. An association's board can run Estate Manager itself, or work with its managing agent on the same record. Each person sees what their role allows, and everyone who manages the estate signs in with an authenticator app.

See an association's meeting run

A demo walks through a general meeting on a fictional estate: the notice, the proxies, check-in, the quorum, the vote and the paperwork that follows. Bring your questions about your own association.