That’s an extraordinary story. I’m curious about a couple of things, if your friend knew in April and offered to pay in instalments over 3 months, and it is now September, has she paid anything and if not, why not? She could have paid money off over time, there is nothing stopping her from doing that, it just means that the balance is owing.
If there is now a garnishee order there would have been a number of steps in the process including:
1. letter of demand
2. statement of claim – at this point the debtor has the opportunity to apply to the court to pay by instalments or file a defence
3. judgment debt
Did your friend respond to the letter of demand or apply to the court to pay by instalments or file a defence? In the circumstances she probably would have been successful, it was only $5000.
I don’t know how you could get a garnishee order covering the next strata levies, that’s beyond me.
As far as garnishee orders go, it is illegal for employers to penalise or victimise an employee because of them, but of course that is not how the real world works.
One more thing – why was there a meeting in April and then one in May? Were they both general meetings? Was the May meeting properly convened?