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Topic
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In Feb. 2012 a fire inspection was done which resulted in the smoke alarm detector being replaced. The alarm was free standing and not to bore you with details the dispute should be between the Managing Agent and the lot owner and not between the lot owner and the dysfunctional executive committee.
The main point is this: The quarterly levy came out and it was paid as indicated. Now we have another payment due which arrived a couple of days ago.
However the accounts dept. of the managing agent applied part of our levy payment to the smoke alarm account and then charged interest on the debit which makes us unfinancial. I talked to some senior management of the managing agent and they said they advised the EC and it would be brought up at a recent meeting. According to the minutes it doesn’t appear to have been discussed.
An EGM may be coming up soon and we would be unfinancial and unable to vote.
Again this has been going on since Feb.
What advice would you give please
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No they can’t. Money owed (or in dispute as owing) in relation to specific items, e.g. repairs to common property for damage down by an owner, do not form part of the levies. So if an owner is invoiced for something like that, and they don’t pay it, the OC can seek to enforce it by normal channels but it doesn’t come under the category of levies. For example, if that amount went unpaid but the levies had been paid, then the owner would be financial.
You seem to be saying that you have disputed whether or not you are liable for this amount. In that case the managing agent did not have the right to apply your levy payment to that invoice. They don’t need to consult with the EC, they should just reverse it in their books, which is easily done.
Also any interest accrued in respect of the unpaid levies should be reversed.
@Felix said:
In Feb. 2012 a fire inspection was done which resulted in the smoke alarm detector being replaced. The alarm was free standing and not to bore you with details the dispute should be between the Managing Agent and the lot owner and not between the lot owner and the dysfunctional executive committee.The main point is this: The quarterly levy came out and it was paid as indicated. Now we have another payment due which arrived a couple of days ago.
However the accounts dept. of the managing agent applied part of our levy payment to the smoke alarm account and then charged interest on the debit which makes us unfinancial. I talked to some senior management of the managing agent and they said they advised the EC and it would be brought up at a recent meeting. According to the minutes it doesn’t appear to have been discussed.
An EGM may be coming up soon and we would be unfinancial and unable to vote.
Again this has been going on since Feb.
What advice would you give please
Felix, it seems you have a debt and interest is owing that needs to be paid. In other forums the discussion recognises that in the main, smoke alarms are the responsibility of the owner. Why not pay and save yourself more interest seeing as you will probably be told you have to pay?
The Executive Committee represents yourself and the other owners. If you are not happy with them they can be replaced if other owners agree with you.
I’m with our newly annointed StrataGuru ScotlandX on this. The Strata Manager can only charge interest on unpaid levies. However, they may be able to charge you separately for debt recovery.
Have a look at this discussion HERE where Whale lays out very concisely what can and can’t be charged by the strata manager
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