#52713
Austman
Flatchatter

    I don’t believe that I should have to take it up with these owners and that this should be dealt with by the strata mgrs, to refund me, then deal with the owners themselves.

    I think you are being a bit harsh on the SM, who has stated that you will be refunded.

    When you paid the levy in July,  the BPAY Biller Code and Reference Number equated to the other lot’s account.  So it’s the other lot owner who benefited.  But they probably would not have been aware.

    Had your error been picked up sooner, you probably would have had a refund without too much of an issue.  But it took around 3 months before it was discovered.  That’s a very big factor.  All the banks and the financial regulators state that these type of errors do need to be reported promptly.

    When you paid the levy in July, the other lot’s account would have gone into credit for that amount.  When it came time to issue a levy notice to the other lot, if the amount in their account met or exceeded that levy, no levy notice would have been issued.  So the other lot owner didn’t pay anything because one one asked them to.   And the levy amount would have been transferred from the other lot’s account to the OC’s account.   And possibly then spent by the OC on its regular expenses.

    So the SM now has to manually issue the levy notice to the other lot.  And give them the legally required 28 days to pay.  Once the other lot pays that levy, their account will have enough funds to enable the SM to refund you.

    It’s quite a bit of work for the SM to do.  It might not be fast enough for you. It does seem to be their preferred method.   And you should get your refund…  eventually.