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Long story short, our current manager who has done a super job in alienating himself from the OC by getting on a power trip has just issued the fifth quarterly levy notice for the budget that was passed at last AGM nearly 14 months ago. Obviously he is exercising the right to not have to call an AGM until as late as possible to the 15 month mark. The issue is we have defect problems and at last AGM it was decided to double the levy amounts to generate extra income to tackle the issue (pay lawyers). Many owners have struggled to pay the bill and I know for a fact ‘deals’ have been done with some owners and the manager. Everywhere I look seems to indicate that the budget is for the upcoming year and having paid 4 qtrs I don’t know why I should have to pay a fifth because the manager refuses to call an AGM. FWIW, he knows a similar budget will not get passed. Am I obligiated to pay or am I within my rights to refuse? He also went to the length of posting the notices in the mail rather than email which has been the regular method used, which i am also skeptical of.
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Our AGM always has a budget motion which sets the budget for the year and also states what the levy will be and when it will be due to be paid. I assume that something as basic as this is the same in every state or territory. In our case we have two half-levies due on specified dates usually 6 months apart.
If your last AGM resolved to have a quarter of the agreed levy due on each of four particular dates then that should be all the OC can levy on owners until it has had its 2015 AGM and resolved to levy some new amount (or the same amount) and specified the dates when specified portions of the 2015/16 levy would fall due.
This year our OC’s AGM was a bit later than usual for various reasons so the due date proposed by our EC for first levy payment was a bit later than usual also so that it would fall after the meeting. It would not have been possible to have that levy due before the 2015 AGM had given authority for that levy.
Where is your executive committee is all this? Having a strata manager is all very well and generally useful but the buck stops with the EC. If they are too timid they need to be told that they instruct the manager, not the other way around.
If you’re in NSW, the Strata Schemes Management Act (SSMA) prescribes that Annual General Meetings (AGM) must be held each year (obviously) on a date that’s no more than one (1) month either side of the Scheme’s original / first such meeting; so there’s no “15 month mark” – it must be between 11 and 13 months relative to the original such Meeting.
The amount of Owners’ contributions (levies) must be set in accordance with the terms of a compulsory Motion placed on the AGM Agenda, and under the SSMA be invoiced as “regular periodic installments” in accordance with those Owners’ vote on the Motion; so whilst it’s possible for Owners to vote for five (5) periodic installments per year (i.e. one regularly each 73 days) that’s atypical, but in any case the invoice should state the period for which the payment applies.
Although the terms of the Strata Management Agency Agreement that your Owners Corporation is required to have with its Strata Manager may well, such as for reasons of convenience, delegate the functions of Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer to that individual, the SCMA prescribes that the O/C at all times remains the “principal manager”, and that the elected office holders (above) may at any time rescind their delegations, even for a short time or for a particular purpose.
Your situation sounds to me like one of those where an Owners Corporation (i.e. all Owners) has allowed its Strata Manager to effectively take-over, and in my opinion it’s time for your elected Executive Committee Secretary to exercise their authority by either instructing the Strata Manager to immediately convene an AGM or to themselves do that without delay, and for you and like-minded Owners to concurrently prepare and submit to the Secretary (cc Strata Manager) whatever Motions you require to be voted upon (i.e. in addition to those that are compulsory).
Such a Motion could include one for the Strata Manager to, in addition to their compulsory provision of information on your O/C’s finances (e.g. income and expenditure), provide information on each Owner’s payments relative to their required contributions.
I’d suggest that you make the contributions payment no later than 30 days from its due date and in any event before the AGM because if you’re deemed un-financial then you cannot vote, and in the interim have a read through THIS publication issued by the NSW Department of Fair Trading, and Schedule 2 of the SSMA, and then get moving!
By all means post again if there’s anything I’ve missed or if other related issues arise.
@Whale said:
If you’re in NSW, the Strata Schemes Management Act (SSMA) prescribes that Annual General Meetings (AGM) must be held each year (obviously) on a date that’s no more than one (1) month either side of the Scheme’s original / first such meeting; so there’s no “15 month mark” – it must be between 11 and 13 months relative to the original such Meeting.The amount of Owners’ contributions (levies) must be set in accordance with the terms of a compulsory Motion placed on the AGM Agenda, and under the SSMA be invoiced as “regular periodic installments” in accordance with those Owners’ vote on the Motion; so whilst it’s possible for Owners to vote for five (5) periodic installments per year (i.e. one regularly each 73 days) that’s atypical, but in any case the invoice should state the period for which the payment applies…
Similar but not quite the same for the ACT: In the ACT there must be an AGM for each financial year and the AGM must be held within 15 months of the previous AGM.
….. in an ideal world the “rules” applicable to Strata living would be consistent across the Nation, but regrettably parochialism reigns, and whilst I can’t speak for PeterC, it would have spared me a whole lot of time/effort if, at the time of registration, you had completed the field that provided us with details of your home State/Territory!!
Perhaps post again to the Victorian forum, and please avoid again “quoting” the entirety of responders’ posts (that I’ve deleted from your last).
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