OK, your friend may benefit from the Fair Trading translated documents that you will find HERE (scroll down to the bottom) and HERE (although the only strata related document i can see is Strata Living in Chinese.
She really needs to cal 13 32 20 and ask about getting her levies sorted out – they should be able to provide an interpreter. If she wants to sort out the block properly, it would also help if she could find a strata manager who would be prepared to take her through the process of becoming a Statutory Manager appointed by the CTTT (although with a small block it’s sometimes hard to get one of the better SMs).
Meanwhile, if she has been overpaying for a while, she should be in credit rather than arrears. It may be worth working out what she should have paid compared to what she actually paid.
Then she could write a letter to the treasurer along the lines of:
Dear Treasurer
I note you have refused my valid payment of my levies and returned my cheque. I have to inform you that by asking for equal levies for all units, you are in breach of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 which clearly states that levies are to be calculated based on Unit Entitlements.
78 Manner of levying contributions
(1) An owners corporation levies a contribution required to be paid to the administrative fund or sinking fund by an owner of a lot by serving on the owner a written notice of the contribution payable.
(2) Contributions levied by an owners corporation must be levied in respect of each lot and are payable (subject to this section and section 77) by the owners in shares proportional to the unit entitlements of their respective lots.
Not withstanding the current quarter’s levies, I am currently $XXXX in credit due to your overcharging of levies for my unit.
Please amend your record accordingly and adjust my levies notice to the correct figure. If this is not done with immediate effect, I will have no choice but to take action at the CTTT to have a Strata Manager appointed to take over the running of this block under Section 162 of the SSMA.
Your friend then has to decide whether or not she just wants to sort out the levies – phone call to Fair Trading and possible mediation, cost about $78 unless she’s on a pension. Or go for the appointment of an SM which is an applications straight to the CTTT and there’s information about the process HERE.
Good luck
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.