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  • #8968

    hi all,

    We have a few units in our strata plan that are foreign owned. one in Particular owes in excess of 15K in levies.

    If the owners was an Australian resident, you could engage the services of a solicitor & eventually (after serving notice) have a trustee appointed and recover the funds through the sale of the property.

    how do you serve notice on someone living in Shanghai??

    The managing agent is not getting involved, they are simply collecting the rent from the tenant and sending back to the owner in SHA!.

     

    any ideas??

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  • #19156
    Whale
    Flatchatter

      If you’re in NSW (?)…..then Cl.98-1(a) of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (1996) states that the Strata Roll must include “the Owner’s Name and an Australian address (my emphasis) for service of notices or the name of the Owner’s Agent appointed in accordance with Part 3 of Chapter 4 and the Agent’s Australian address for service of notices”.

      So as the Unit is under the management of a local Agent, your Owners Corporation (O/C) should write to its overseas Owner to request that, in accordance with the (State) Law, they nominate that person as their Agent for the service of notices.

      If that nomination is not made, then I think that your O/C could obtain a Court Order allowing it to substitute the Owner’s details with those of their Australian Agent, and then if payment is still not made your O/C should be able to take debt recovery proceedings against that Agent, or even garnishee the rent proceeds.

      I imagine that with the increasing numbers of overseas (investor) Owners of Strata properties, if there’s not an easier way to overcome the problems you raise, then there should be!

      #19157
      kiwipaul
      Flatchatter

        It doesn’t matter where the owner lives because the debit is not against the owner but against the lot. Also you should be charging interest against this debit of 10% per year to the lot owner.

        I feel you need to start proceeding against the lot owner in the courts (with a solicitor who specializes in debit recovery). All costs that the Solicitor incurs are claimable against the lot owner.

        If the lot owner ignores all attempts to communicate the courts will eventually decide to sell the property and deduct all charges and costs (including the Strata debit) from the proceeds of the sale before forwarding the balance to the lot owner.

        Even if the owners sells the property privately the strata debit remains with the new owner and the new owner will have to cover the 15K debit (plus costs).

        One of the jobs of a conveyancer is to make sure their are no debits on a property their client is buying and if their is withhold enough of the sale price to cover the debit.

        Shame you are not in QLD as here the interest rate is 30% which really makes their eyes water.

         

         

        #19167
        Whale
        Flatchatter

          I don’t think that the Owners Corporation of Josho’s Plan would want to initiate legal proceedings against a foreigner residing overseas, or that it would be comforted by the likelihood that a Judgement may be ignored or by the prospect of some future Owner being required to pay the debt at Settlement sometime in the never-never.

          The prospect of the foreigner’s local Property Manager being made responsible would I suspect be more attractive and timely, particularly as that Agent could make their Client’s Levy payments from the rent proceeds that they’d be holding, and again I suspect that Local Court action could be initiated to garnishee those funds.

          Do any of our undercover Strata Managers have any first-hand experience with Josho-type problems?

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