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There is an issue whereby invoices and charges deemed by the committee to be my responsibility are added to my strata account. If my account is in credit the amounts are automatially deducted. If not my account goes into debit and I’m not allowed to vote.
These are not levies but just double invoicing or absurd costs such as having my carspace cleaned, the building cleaner sweeping up leaves from my courtyard (there’s a side gate for access), or extra copies of agendas and minutes being sent. To be clear I never asked for any of this.
Paying them has been easier than going to NCAT to challenge them each time. I’m also worried NCAT may see my claim as vexatious as the amounts are minimal being between 16cents and $12.99 each month. Even if succesful I would then have to apply to have all my votes from past meetings included which would also likely result in some resolutions being reversed. This is the real reason for the charges and how the committee controls the building.
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I’m interested in this also. I asked Strata to obtain a report for water ingress to my apartment. If no water ingress found, I agreed to pay. If water ingress found, it would be covered by Owners Corporation. There was an external area noted which the Owners Corporation repaired after the report was received but the whole invoice was charged to my Levies & accrued interest until I paid the full amount. I also could not vote at the AGM last year. What is my legal redress for this (if any) or I just suck it up. Cost approx $1800. Thank you
If the area repaired was common property, you should never have been charged anything, let alone interest. If you are sure this was a common property repair, write to the strata manager and strata committee asking for full restitution of the money, plus an apology in the next strata committee minutes. Failure to do so will result in legal action for which all the owners (but not you) will have to bear the cost.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
A couple of things here.
As I understand, you cant be charged for things you did not know about. My experience with a few strata managers , both as owner as committee member, is that if a payment is undetermined initially who is to pay, the strata manager say to the lot owner, the OC will engage the contractor and pay for the work. If it is deemed to be owner responsibility the OC will bill you.
Did you ask for your car park space to be swept? if the OC instructed the cleaner to sweep your car space, then its an OC expenses
Same for your court yard
I think it follows a legal construct where you cant be charged for something you were not aware of or agreed to.
Secondly, any such charges cannot be added to your levy register. Its called a levy register for a reason.
The OC cannot charge you interest if you do not pay the the bill (whether it is legitimate or not).
The OC cannot pay off this debt before paying your levies. The only recourse for the OC to recover such a debt is to take it to a small claims court.
The OC cannot make you unfinancial for the purposes of voting at meetings if you do not pay this debt. Schedule 1 part 4 division 1 23(8) speaks only of contributions, which is the act means levies
Take the stance that I have outlined above. Do not pay the amounts to the OC and then let them take it to NCAT (rather than you paying the filing fee). Its up to the OC to prove that the charges are justified.
You need to agree in advance to these and any other bills if they were not included in the annual budget, so says the Act (somewhere). I’ve seen it and explored this when the committee just thought they’d get some exclusive use cleaning done to balconies. If there’ is no prior agreement it just doesn’t fly nor are you compelled to pay for it. Imagine if you could have done it yourself, or it gets priced at a totally stupid price, or just wasn’t necessary? – so, they’d just expect you to pay it? No way. Your annual levies are different, and you knew and agreed to these at the AGM each year. Not paying the others is a different issue. Tell them, they’re dreaming. Find the case history from a number of adjudicator decisions to prove your point.
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