Re: 700% increase in Quarterly Levies – is this possible

Hi Sir Humphrey

Yes, I’m on the Strata Committee.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the AGM due to family court appearances, daughter’s operation and family illness (life is never dull…and then there’s next level strata), although not at the AGM I was re-elected and I would say that is because I have the trust of the unit owners.  I always attend meetings and on more than one occasion I’ve brought my children with me. I don’t just read the agenda/minutes I study them so I’m fully across what’s being proposed and raise questions to ensure there are safeguards in place for the owners – it is a shame I was not at this meeting.

I have raised a number of issues regarding the governance and due diligence in relation to this levy hike with the Treasurer, Strata Manager and SC as a whole.  The Treasurer informed me the owners were persuaded into the excessive levy hike ‘as the impost on owners is not as great as the amount they were asked to raise last time’.  At face value this might be the case but as the $700K is on hold until the balcony works are reassessed (for the umpteenth time) there is the very real chance that money raising exercise will be revisited and therefore the levy hike will be much more than the owners initially thought.    

The Treasurer is also not willing to meet ahead of the AGM to redetermine the levies and from discussions I’ve had with Dept of Fair Trading and the Strata Manager this would mean the levies would continue at this rate and there is no guarantee they will be reduced and returned to be in accordance with the market value of the units. The impact of this is our units are un-marketable, any sale would be at well below market value and from inquiries I’ve made refinancing of loans and taking out additional loans is not an option due to the excessive levies. 

I sincerely hope mediation with Dept Fair Trading can resolve this, if not I do hope NCAT can help us determine a common sense approach to the levies of our unit block.