Common legal terms used in collection reports

A community scheme will usually instruct a firm of attorneys or a collection agent to handle its arrear levy collection matters. It is important that Managing Agents and Trustees understand the process involved so that they can make decisions and give further instructions as the matters proceed (as well as be able to answer questions at the next AGM).

A clear and understandable collection report is a useful tool which provides an overview of the arrear levy collection matters. The format of a collection report and the information it contains can vary quite a bit. We have observed from the queries we receive that, the legal terms used in reports are often unfamiliar to Managing Agents and Trustees.

We have put together a report template which can be downloaded by clicking on this link. Below, is a summary of the most common queries we have received.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] For a further discussion on whether compliance with Management Rule 25(2) is a pre-requisite for levy debt enforcement see the article by M Ghannam “The tail cannot wag the dog” which can be found here:  https://www.stsolutions.co.za/the-tail-cannot-wag-the-dog/ last accessed 4 April 2024.