Reply To: $2m special levy between 24 units

It is hard to imagine that the Committee would have put forward a motion for a Special Levy costing each unit owner approx $80,000 and expected owners to pay up within a couple of months….Any owners corporation trying to raise that sort of money would have to seriously consider taking out a loan for at least part of it  – repayable, as Jimmy notes above, over the next 10 years by today’s owners who will get the benefit of the new balconies.

Secondly when $’s have to be raised on this scale the owners are usually given at least 6 months notice and then maybe a couple of instalments to pay it in. Of course some owners may still just not have the capacity to pay unless they can draw down on their mortgages etc. and the OC could well expect some owners to default under such an ill considered plan, meaning more argument and more legal costs and the money not being there when needed.

So the first thing to do is to check the facts…

What does the AGM Motion actually say in the Minutes of Meeting?

Were owners sent copies of the Engineer’s report / scope / recommendations with the Notice of Meeting ?

If not, you need to ask  the strata manager for a copy and if they won’t give it to you, arrange to go round to their office and find it.

I hope this helps

John Hutchinson