› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Levies and Unit Entitlements › Restricting the time owners can serve on the EC › Current Page
Re the method of “payment” of this honorarium by forgiving a quarter of levies, I don’t think you can do that anyway.
The strata levies are a debt owed by each owner, and must be paid on a quarterly basis. If a levy is overdue, then 10% interest applies. The owners can resolve at a general meeting that a contribution is to bear no interest. The owners can also resolve at a general meeting to enter into a payment plan either generally or in respect of a specific lot, in respect of overdue contributions, and that plan can only go for 12 months.
As far as I can see from the Act there is no power of the owners to allow someone to not pay their levies or part of their levies, or as it has been termed, grant a “levy holiday”. The levies must be paid each quarter. The only way you could “pay” this person is by actually paying them, provided the requirements for making that payment were met, i.e. by a resolution for a period that has gone. The person still has to pay their levies, payment of a fee or honorarium is a separate matter, and an auditor would be likely to raise that. If you have a budget and you are meant to be receiving a certain amount of money from the owners each year, that is what should be showing in the accounts.
There are instances where an order can be given that an owner doesn’t have to pay a special levy, but that is in very particular circumstances, and the owners don’t decide that, the tribunal does.
More generally this arrangement seems highly irregular, and you shouldn’t be paying her anything. I suggest you get an auditor in to look at the accounts and if you can’t get this lady off the Committee at least try and get her out as an office bearer, which can be easier.