“With the troubles of load shedding exacerbating the difficulty for many to work from home, many sectional owners are considering the option of a generator to keep things going through load shedding. But can you just install a generator in your unit, or do you need permission to do so?
To manage a sectional title scheme the community must have rules in place to govern the action of owners, tenants and visitors in the scheme, and it is the body corporate’s duty to ensure compliance with any law relating to the common property and to enforce the management and conduct rules of the scheme.
The conduct rules of a scheme may state that (subject to exceptions) the person(s) who occupies a unit, must not store any flammable material in a section or on the common property or do any other dangerous act in their unit or on the common property which can have a negative effect on the insurance of the scheme. The Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act also states that an owner may not cause a nuisance to any other resident in the scheme.
So, considering the noise that a generator can create, as well as the fact that they use petrol/diesel and generate noxious fumes, the use of a generator would need to be carefully considered. Depending on the layout of a scheme, the trustees will have to carefully consider whether they will allow individual owners to install their own generator or rather install one or more larger generators for the entire scheme.
Should the trustees decide to allow each individual to install their own generator, clear rules must be adopted by the scheme that state, among other things:
• The type of generator that will be allowed
• The location of the generator
• Who will be responsible for the maintenance of the generator as well as the storage of fuel of the generator
• Whether the cost for purchase and installation will be for the individual owner’s account
Where a central generator is considered, the cost of installing the generator will be for the body corporate’s account. The trustees will also have to consider the cost involved in the installation, maintenance of the generator, purchase of the fuel and the noise it creates, before considering the vote of the body corporate.
What the above should make clear though, is that installing a generator, whether as individual or for the complex, is not just a ‘go-ahead-and-do-it’ decision and the necessary permissions and decisions should be obtained before proceeding. Nothing should also stop a scheme to consider more renewable alternatives such as solar panels.
