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  • #77391
    Mailbox
    Flatchatter

      We paid a substantial amount of money – thousands of dollars – in a special levy for work to repair common property.  However, at a general meeting it was agreed not to proceed with the work.  As the project has been abandoned, we have asked for our money back but the strata manager has said it can’t be done.  What is the law on this?

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    • #77395
      Jimmy-T
      Keymaster

        The bad news is that, according to Section 77 of the Strata Schemes Management Act, “Distribution of surplus money in administrative fund or capital works fund,” your owners corp can only repay surplus funds if there is a unanimous  resolution to do so.

        The good (but not great) news is that under NSW strata law, a unanimous resolution is one that is passed with no votes against.  In other words, you just need everyone at a general meeting to agree or abstain.  You don’t need every owner in the block or at the meeting to agree. On the other hand, one vote against at the meeting would kybosh the refund.

        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.
        #77397
        chesswood
        Flatchatter

          If the special levy was expressly for that project, that money can only be used for that purpose. I don’t understand how the levy can be struck and collected and then a GM calls the project off.

          #77414
          UberOwner
          Flatchatter

            If you find you can’t vote for a refund, can you instead vote for a substantial (temporary) reduction in levies to offset the amount paid? Effectively you’d be treating the special levy as an advance payment against quarterly levies. I have no idea if this is allowed – just searching for ideas.

            #77418
            Jimmy-T
            Keymaster

              If you find you can’t vote for a refund, can you instead vote for a substantial (temporary) reduction in levies to offset the amount paid?

              That would be one solution, and it would get around the potential one-owner veto.  I suspect however that in this case the owner is not actively engaged in the running of the scheme and may not have the political heft to organise support for a levies reduction. This is the downside of not getting involved and letting your committee get on with it – others make decisions and you don’t know how to change them.

              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.
              #77445
              Quirky
              Flatchatter

                It’s strange that you “paid a substantial amount of money – thousands of dollars – in a special levy for work to repair common property”, but the work was abandoned? The owners corporation has a strict duty under section 106 to repair common property, which cannot be overruled by any owners corporation meeting decision. If that common property needs repair, then it must be repaired.
                However, under section 106(3) the owners corporation can determine, by passing a special resolution, that it is “inappropriate” to maintain some item of common property, so long as that determination does not affect the safety of anything, or does not detract from the appearance of anything (part (3)(c)).
                The owners corporation cannot decide not to repair common property without such a determination. So if you have common property in need of repair, then you need to spend that special levy money to do so, and the cost or timing of the repairs is no excuse to avoid carrying out that duty.

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