@MATHO said:
…Have they a right to force this upon him and has my son any options / recourse at all?Thanks for any advice / help.
Well, 4/6 is not 75%. There is one other owner who would have to be on-side for the work to go ahead. I would be speaking with that other owner. Perhaps the works would increase the value of your son’s investment and be of benefit to him but it is not reasonable or affordable to do the works all in one big hit in one year even though that is what the 4/6 owner would like to do. Since the works might be desirable but not essential it would seem reasonable to save up for them.
Do the NSW strata laws have a ‘special purpose fund’ as an option along side the admin and sinking funds? I am a treasurer in ACT. We recently established a special purpose fund, distinct from our sinking fund, into which we will contribute for the next several years a smaller amount until we have enough for some worthwhile but non-urgent improvements. That way the levies do not increase too drastically for anyone but the money is quarantined away for this purpose.
Finally, there are legal concepts of ‘oppressing’ or ‘defrauding the minority’. It might comply with the statute for the owners of the other 5 units to vote to have a very large levy increase in one year but it would be unfair to impose this on the minority owner and such decisions can be overturned on those grounds.