[Sammi]

Just wanted to provide you with an update on the NCAT hearing.

On 14 June 2019 the Tribunal made the following orders:

10.  The owners corporation must comply with the provisions of s. 182 of the Strata Schemes Management
Act 2015 at all times.

11.  Pursuant to s 87 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 the Tribunal finds that the proposed contributions determined pursuant to Motion 10 resolved at the 2018 Annual General Meeting of Strata
Plan No.XXXX are excessive, and the amount of $6,000.00 is substituted as the contribution to the Capital
Works Fund Budget for the year commencing 01 July 2018.

12.  In relation to the previous order, the owners corporation is to comply fully with s 79 of the Strata
Schemes Management Act 2015.

Whilst this was a successful outcome the Committee could a General Meeting on Wednesday, 29 January 2020 and against the Tribunal’s determination is now raising the money the $200,000.00 across 10 units as a special levy.

At the meeting 9 title owners were present and from my understanding 6/10 voted in favour of it…sorry was sitting at the front of the room directly in front of the Strata Manager so didn’t see all hands raised.

We have been given a hard deadline of 31 March to get the money to the Strata Manager.  Again there are no urgent/life threatening works required, plus all invoice provided for the suggested/proposed works were 6mths expired….myself and 3-4 other unit owners raised a lot of questions around this, in doing so found out that 5 out of 10 unit owners asked for a full refund of the ‘excessive levies’, there is no firm plan in place to commence the works and such such we have no guarantee what the money will be spent on.
I guess my questions to the forum are:

1. are they able to enforce the Special Levy when the $200K levy has already been determined excessive
2. can special levies be raised based on invalid invoices
3. should i take this matter back to NCAT and if under what circumstances?

[Sammi]

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. 

[Sammi]

Hi – just wanted to provide you with an update. 

Applications have been lodged with Dept of Fair Trading for mediation and NCAT, just waiting for the applications to be processed and for hearing dates.

NCAT require a copy of the Strata Roll with Strata Applications.  The strata manager would not give this to me without the Strata Committee’s approval.  Two people approved the strata manager providing the strata roll to me, plus being on the strata committee I also approved it, majority approval and after two weeks I still have not received the strata roll – I’ve given up asking for it.  One of the strata committee members did not approve it and as the email received from this member was unpleasant and hostile I submitted my application to NCAT without the strata roll and I’m wondering why this person was so against NCAT receiving the roll.

I’m still trying to find out what the levy increase is for, as the amounts don’t add up to what’s being raised.  Plus I’m also trying to find out how long it’s intended to be at this excessive rate for.  An email I received indicates there is no intention to reduce the levies and that they will rollover each year ahead of the AGM.  When I questioned this with the Strata Manager I was told a letter could go out each year to all owners delaying the levies until the AGM, which doesn’t sound right to me.  I spoke to Dept of Fair Trading about this, but they seemed to be just as confused as I was about the levy hike and said everyone would have to vote on it to delay levies ahead of AGMs, a letter wouldn’t do this. I asked the Strata Manager for a sample copy of the letter, my request was rather abruptly refused and I was told it would be drafted if and when it’s needed – I feel it’s needed now so that the owners corporation can have some guarantee the levy hike won’t continue into next year and beyond. 

All of this seems not to add up. I don’t feel the unit owners are aware the levies will remain at this excessive rate and rollover each year ahead of the AGM. I strongly feel the owners corporation have been mislead and misinformed at the AGM when the levies were determined. The levies are now due so the Strata Manager is collecting excessive amounts from all unit holders, yet still only vague works are being proposed.

Will keep you posted on how things go.

[Sammi]

Thank you so much for your advice – it has a terribly wrong / dodgy feel about it.  I will speak to another unit owner about your advice see which option they think we should take.

Thanks also for the links you’ve provided – I’ll look at those as well.

[Author]

Replies