Estate Manager
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Product overviewAGMs and general meetingsVoting and resolutionsProxies and Form CRulesComplaints and disputesBudgets and the ten-year planFor managing agentsFor trusteesPricingFree templates and tools
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For managing agents and portfolio managers

Every AGM in your portfolio, run by the book

Estate Manager is software for managing agents who run sectional title schemes and homeowners' associations. It runs each body corporate's general meetings the way the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act prescribes, keeps the record of every step as it happens, and puts every scheme you manage behind one sign-in, with each scheme's records kept apart.

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PMR 15(1) 14 days' noticeSection 6(5) Two members per proxyPMR 20(6) Never the agent as proxyPMR 9(e) Minutes out within 7 days
The meetings list of a fictional scheme in the dark theme, with each meeting's date, type and status, the date its notice was issued and its number of resolutions.
Every meeting of a scheme, with the date its notice was issued.

Your portfolio

One sign-in for every scheme you run

Switch between schemes from the header without signing in again. Every page reloads for the scheme you choose, and each scheme's records are kept apart by row-level security in the database as well as by the application.

Sectional title schemes and homeowners' associations sit side by side, each with its own quorum rule and notice periods. A scheme's register comes in from a spreadsheet, with a preview of every change before anything is saved.

How an association is set up
The estate switcher open in the header, listing the fictional schemes a managing agent runs.
Moving between schemes without signing in again.

AGM season

Each scheme's AGM, on its own clock

Estate Manager runs each scheme's year from October to September, the financial year that rule 21(1) sets unless the members resolve otherwise, and the managers can set another. It shows when each scheme's annual general meeting (AGM) after the current year is due, warns of an AGM set after that day, and counts the notice each meeting needs. Rule numbers are of the prescribed management rules (PMR).

  1. Year end

    Four months to the AGM

    The AGM is held within four months of the financial year end. Each scheme's budgets page shows the date by which the AGM after its current financial year is due.

    PMR 17(1)
  2. 30 days before

    Special and unanimous resolutions

    At least 30 days' written notice of a meeting that will take a special or unanimous resolution, unless the rules provide for shorter notice.

    Section 6(2)
  3. 14 days before

    Notice of the meeting

    At least 14 days' written notice to the members, registered bondholders, holders of future development rights and the managing agent, with the agenda, the papers and a proxy form.

    PMR 15(1), 15(3)
  4. 48 hours before

    Proxies close

    Proxies reach the body corporate 48 hours before the meeting, or are handed to the chair before or at its start.

    PMR 20(5)
  5. On the night

    Quorum, votes and results

    A third of the votes in value, or two thirds in the smallest schemes, with two persons present. The chair announces each result, with the votes for and against.

    PMR 19(2), 20(8)
  6. Within 7 days

    Minutes out

    The minutes reach everyone entitled to notice as soon as reasonably possible, and within 7 days. Estate Manager drafts them when the meeting ends.

    PMR 9(e)
  7. Within 4 months of year end

    The CSOS annual return

    Filed with the Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS), with the signed financial statements, the draft AGM minutes and the approved levy schedule.

    CSOS directive 14.2, 14.3

Notices and proxies

Notices checked, proxies within the limits

Estate Manager counts the period each meeting needs, marks a meeting called at shorter notice and keeps the reason for going ahead. Issuing the notice emails the pack, with the agenda and a prefilled proxy form, to every owner and the managing agent, and the delivery report shows each recipient, the address used and when it went, with a resend for failures.

Owners appoint a proxy online or on the prescribed Form C, and anyone who already holds proxies for two members is marked. You are never offered as one: the regulations bar the managing agent and its employees, and Estate Manager leaves out anyone who signs in as the agent or whom the managers record as its staff.

  • A missed notice does not invalidate a vote where a reasonable attempt was made, and the report is the record of it
PMR 15(8) A reasonable attemptSection 6(5) Two members per proxyPMR 20(6) Not the agent or its staff
Proxies and Form C
The notice delivery report of a meeting, listing each owner with the address used, the status of the email, the time it was sent and its delivery on paper, under a note that 9 of 26 owners' notice on paper counts in time.
Proof of notice, recipient by recipient, with a resend for failures.

On the night, and after

The chair's console, and minutes from the record

The quorum meter moves with every check-in, in person, online or by proxy, and voting opens only while the meeting is quorate. The chair opens one poll at a time and sees how many have voted, never how anyone voted. Closing it records the result in value and in number, with the rule that decided it.

When the meeting ends, the minutes are drafted in Word from the record: the notice, the attendance with how each proxy was lodged, the quorum and every result. You edit a draft instead of writing up notes, ready to go out within the 7 days the rules allow.

As the agent you may attend and speak, but may not propose a motion or vote, and the chair of the trustees presides unless the members decide otherwise. You can keep the register and run the console for the chair.

PMR 19(1) No business without a quorumPMR 27(2)(a) What minutes recordPMR 15(5) The agent speaks, but does not votePMR 18(1) The trustees' chair presides
How a meeting runs
The chair's console in the dark theme with a poll open, showing votes cast so far in value and in number, beside an owner's ballot on a phone.
The same, on a phone.
A poll in progress, and an owner voting from a phone.

Between meetings

Packs, requests, quotes and budgets, scheme by scheme

The work between AGMs sits in the same place, so the trustees see it and the owners see what is meant for them.

Packs and documents

Your monthly packs are kept for the trustees, never the owners. Certificates, minutes drafts, proxy forms and letters are produced as Word or PDF, and the library keeps every version you file.

Read more

Complaints residents can follow

Filed against a rule and answered on the record. The dated timeline shows the attempt to resolve a dispute within the scheme that CSOS asks for.

CSOS directive 15.34Read more

Requests with a status

A passage light, a leaking pipe, a new remote: reported once and followed to done. Access requests carry what you type on the installer's portal.

Read more

Quotes within your written limit

Within the trustees' written delegation, you approve a quote and they are told. Above it, the trustees declare their interests and decide, and the appointment letter follows.

PMR 21(3)(g)Read more

Budgets and the ten-year plan

Budgets and the ten-year plan, built from templates or uploaded from your system, tabled with the resolution that approves them and shared with owners once approved.

PMR 17(6)(j)Read more

An audit trail for the trustees

Every change, and each read of the register, the members, the complaints and the requests, among other records that hold people's details, in a trail nobody can edit, so the trustees see what was done without asking.

Read more

Your accounting stays where it is

  • No scheme accounting. Levies, statements, arrears and collections stay in your accounting system, and Estate Manager holds the governance around them.
  • No gate or intercom integration. Access requests carry what you type on the installer's portal.
  • No legal advice. Estate Manager is built around the Act and the regulations, and decisions remain the body corporate's.

What the law says

What a managing agent does, under the rules

The prescribed management rules say how a body corporate appoints a managing agent, what the agent may do and where the role stops.

General information, not legal advice.

PMR 28(5)

Services under the trustees' supervision

If the trustees so resolve, the body corporate may appoint a managing agent for specified financial, secretarial, administrative or other management services, under the trustees' supervision. It must appoint one if a resolution of the members, or a registered bondholder of 25 per cent in number of the primary sections, requires it.

PMR 28(7), 28(8)

Three years at most

A management agreement runs for three years at most. The body corporate may cancel it on two months' notice once a special resolution approves the cancellation, or end it on its own terms, or not renew it, by ordinary resolution.

PMR 27(7)

Records back within 10 days

When the body corporate ends the contract, the agent delivers the scheme's records that it holds within 10 days. The rule binds an employee whose contract the body corporate ends in the same way.

PMR 15(1), 15(5), 20(6)

At the meeting, not in the vote

The agent receives notice of every general meeting and may attend and speak, but not propose a motion or vote as the agent. Neither the agent nor its employees may act as a proxy.

PMR 6(2)

A trustee only as an owner

A managing agent, or an employee of the agent or of the body corporate, may be a trustee only if that person is a member of the body corporate.

PMR 21(3)(g), 10(1)(b)

Spending within a written delegation

The trustees may delegate powers in writing, naming the power, the maximum amount and any conditions. Documents bind the body corporate when two trustees, or a trustee and the managing agent, sign them on a trustee resolution.

PMR 28(1) to 28(3)

The executive managing agent

By special resolution a body corporate may appoint an executive managing agent to do the trustees' work, and members holding a quarter of the quotas may ask CSOS to appoint one. That agent carries a trustee's duties, arranges for the common property to be inspected at least every six months and reports to every member at least every four months.

Pricing

One rate for the portfolio, on one invoice

One plan with every feature, priced per unit per month by the size of the scheme: R12.50 per unit per month for the first six months and R15.00 after that for a scheme of up to 100 units, with lower rates for larger schemes.

Your whole portfolio is counted together for the rate, on one invoice itemised per scheme, so each scheme can be recharged its own line. No VAT is charged, residents are never charged, and every scheme can try it free for 10 days.

See the rates by band

One plan, every feature

R12.50

per unit a month

For a scheme of up to 100 units, for the first six months. Then R15.00. Nothing is added for VAT.

UnitsFirst six monthsAfter that
1 to 100R12.50R15.00
101 to 300R10.50R12.50
301 to 1,000R8.50R10.00
More than 1,000R8.50R8.50

Pilot

Pilot schemes wanted

Before launch, we are inviting a few schemes with a general meeting coming up to run it on Estate Manager, with us alongside: importing the register, drafting the agenda and the notice, and setting up proxies. We agree each pilot's terms on a call, and a pilot scheme pays the published rates, like every other scheme.

Ask for the pilot details
The attendance register of a meeting in progress in the dark theme, with the quorum present and owners checked in.
The register and the quorum on the night, with us alongside.

Questions

Questions managing agents ask

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

What is a managing agent, and how does it differ from the body corporate?
The CSOS Act defines a managing agent as any person who provides management services to a community scheme for reward (CSOS Act, section 1). The body corporate is the owners together, and its trustees exercise its powers (sections 2(1) and 7(1)). The agent provides the financial, secretarial, administrative or other services the body corporate appoints it for, under the trustees' supervision (PMR 28(5)). General information, not legal advice.
What does a managing agent do at an AGM?
The rules give the managing agent notice of every general meeting and the right to attend and speak, but not to vote or propose a motion as the agent, or to hold a proxy (PMR 15(5) and 20(6)). The chair of the trustees presides unless the members decide otherwise (PMR 18(1)). In Estate Manager you can issue the notice, keep the register and run the console for the chair. General information, not legal advice.
Can a managing agent be a trustee?
Only as an owner. A managing agent, or an employee of the agent or of the body corporate, may not be a trustee unless that person is a member of the body corporate (PMR 6(2)). Nor may the agent or its employees hold a proxy at a general meeting (PMR 20(6)). General information, not legal advice.
Does it replace our accounting package?
No. Estate Manager does no levy billing, statements, arrears or collections. Upload the budgets and monthly packs your system produces, and the trustees read them in one place, beside the meetings, decisions and documents.
Can the trustees change the managing agent?
The body corporate or the trustees may, by ordinary resolution, end the agreement on its own terms or decline to renew it when it expires. Cancelling it on two months' notice, without penalty, needs a special resolution of the members first. An agreement runs for three years at most (PMR 28(7) and 28(8)). When the body corporate terminates the contract, the agent delivers the records it holds within 10 days (PMR 27(7)). General information, not legal advice.
What happens in Estate Manager when a scheme changes agent?
The subscription belongs to the scheme, so its register, rules, meetings and records stay with it, and the new agent is given access to the estate. From the next invoice, the scheme is counted with the new agent's portfolio, or billed on its own.
Who deals with a complaint about a managing agent?
A dispute about management services can go to CSOS. An application may ask for an order that a managing agent comply with its contract of appointment and any applicable code of conduct, or an order on whether the scheme may end the appointment (CSOS Act, section 39(5)). General information, not legal advice.

Related

Read next

AGMs and general meetings

The meeting cycle step by step, from the notice to the minutes.

Read more

Quotes and trustee approvals

Three quotes, declared interests, the written delegation and the appointment letter.

Read more

For trustees

What the trustees you answer to must do, and what they see in Estate Manager.

Read more

See your next AGM run on Estate Manager

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

Book a demo