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I live in WA with 8 townhouses.
We had a special levy raised for some repairs of $700.00 per unit for all eight units. This was issued in March 2014. Two of the units took there sweet time to pay, however all units have paid. Fast forward 5 months the repairs are still yet to be taken out. After numerous emails/calls/letters we have now received further correspondence that the repairs will cost more than intended, however the levy raised would still be enough to cover the total cost with some pick up front the general account. Original repairs $5,200 new repairs $5,600. However the manager has advised there is only $4,800 sitting in the accounts (combined admin levy and regular account). Therefore if all units have paid this special levy (as advised by Strata Management) the it has been used to either pay off other accounts or supplement the accounts for units not paying the regular levies on time and in full.
Is this allowable to use a Special Levy not for its intended purpose?
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It should be possible to find out whether the shortfall is due to any unit owner not paying their ordinary levies. If the manager will not explain to your executive committee why the accounts are as they are, then you have a serious problem. If the treasurer can’t give an account of it, then he/she should be demanding it of the manager. If everyone has paid the special levy but some have not paid the ordinary levies this might be a simple explanation, but why would the manager not just say that?
Hi PeterC
I am on the EC and I have asked these questions of the Strata Manager. It is just a single person who does all the work, including treasury work. I am absolutely sure the reason for the difference is the lack of payment of accounts from other owners. The budget done at the last AGM showed sufficient funds to cover all costs and extra for R&M, but no explanation for shortfall.
SM takes forever to answer emails and calls. SM has yet to answer me and no calls have been returned. I have sent an email every two weeks and called once a month (not wanting to bombard the SM) Communication is not SM biggest strength. I feel like as a Strata we are paying $1,500 per year for SM to issue invoices and pay bills. (sorry rant over)
I can not find anything in the By-Laws that says anything about the use of Special Levies.
The levy was paid to specifically fixed this repair and it has not been done and now more delays. With Council Rates due within 2 weeks, I do not have spare cash to help prop up the accounts for the lazy sods who do not pay…
The SM doesn’t make these decisions the EC or OC do, so get the Sec to TELL the SM to approve the quote and start the repairs and to explain to all owners why their is not enough funds available if that is the case. If the cost has gone up you might require another vote to approve the new quote and I’m not sure if postal voting is allowed in WA (to speed up the process rather than have an EGM).
Remember the SM works for the owners and is their to do the bidding of the owners.
With only 8 owners, can you and another EC member simply walk around to each owner and explain the difficulty of getting a response from the managing agent and directly ask if they have paid their levies.
I am treasurer of an OC with 105 townhouses. I can log onto the managing agent’s system at any time (with a password) and see all account payments and the state of levy payments, where the budget is at and our overall account balances. We are paying a bit more than you per month for the strata manager but we are 105, not 8.
I think you should be jumping up and down rather more to know who is in arrears or where the money went if no-one is in arrears. If unit owners in arrears are preventing maintenance work from proceeding you need to get heavy with them. Start out nice at first but don’t dally too long at that stage.
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