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Hi all,
I have a significant amount of strata levy debt, which has accrued interest over time. Despite making monthly payments to catch up with it, it feels like most of it goes towards late fees. High mortgage interest rates and no salary increase have made it difficult to keep up with bills.
Recently, we switched strata managers (all books and records were handed to the new strata company last Friday), however I didn’t know this and I made some Levy payment to my usual BPAY strata account yesterday! I’m worried that the payment has gone somewhere lost now? Also, how do I notify the new strata management company about my outstanding levy debt? I am too scared to be reprimanded.
Managing bills is hard as 40% of my salary goes to my mortgage. As a single parent with one dependent and sharing a mortgage with my female sibling, we both face similar financial challenges (we both have similar roles and earn similar income). We live in a modest 40-year-old unit that we bought 11 yeas ago.
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I think the best thing for you to do is to take this as an opportunity to start afresh, especially since new laws are coming in that will require owners corporations and strata managers to offer some sort of payment plan to people who are behind in their levy debt.
In your shoes I would be asking the Owners Corp to stop adding penalty rates and for the strata manager to facilitate a reasonable plan to pay off the debt.
Have a look at this governement web page which is at least a starting point. This is a free financial and legal advice service – it is not a lender offering to consolidate your debts, as many services masquerading as financial assistance are.
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.
If the old and new strata managers worked together correctly, then your levy history would have been transferred to the new strata manager.
Your levy history is kept of a levy ledger. You can ask to see it at any time. Id ask to see it to make sure that all payments you have made are credited to your sccount.
Its an unfortunate situation that you are in. As JT suggested you can ask to be put on a payment plan. But a payment plan is not a way to defer your levy payments. At some time you will need to show that you can catch up and manage your levy payments as they become due.
Perhaps a financial counselling service offered by some charitable organisations would be of use to you to plan a way ahead.
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