Don't waste your time

I don't know why this organization exists. Those of us in a community scheme have to pay them and we get nothing out of it. They say that they provide affordable, reliable justice but they don't.

Don't expect the process to be efficient. From dispute to final order took eight months for me. I seem to be lucky. I have seen multiple reviews stating years.

Communication is poor. You only hear from them when you have to pay your R50 and R100 and when it is your last chance to submit evidence. Other than that you have no idea what is going on.

When asked to make sure all evidence is submitted, you are told that you can only file evidence relating to what you mentioned on the dispute form. Any new evidence that came up in the seven months it took for them to contact you cannot be used. Then when they conclude on the adjudication they clearly don't look at that evidence and just the little paragraph you filled out on the dispute form to make a decision.

My dispute was against another owner. When I was told that my dispute was moving to adjudication and to pay R100, CSOS themselves asked if they could add the body corporate to the dispute because as far as they could tell, the body corporate had let me down. This actually gave me hope. In the final adjudication there is no mention of the body corporate. No new evidence was submitted by either party between this and the final adjudication, yet my dispute was dismissed as frivolous.

Their COVID protocol means that the adjudicator doesn't contact you at all. They make the final decision based purely on what they assume the scenario to be and they state that they will not explain any decision. The fact that your only avenue to appeal is through the high court just allows them to wash their hands of any responsibility because most people won't bother with the cost.

If you have the means rather appoint a community scheme specialist as a private arbitrator. It will be more reliable and efficient.