There’s an issue gathering a head of steam in strata right now and it’s related to the rising cost of living, and owners facing mortgage stress.
It seems that in too many schemes the numbers of owners who just stop paying their levies is increasing and it’s certainly down the list of financial priorities for a lot of people – well below, food, energy and mortgages themselves.
But strata schemes have to pay their bills too, so what do you do? Owners corporations were never meant to be bankers for their owners but as Julie McLean says in her article, it may come to that.
Schemes may have to take loans to cover their running costs until such times as they can recoup the money from the levies debtors.
Meanwhile they can claim 10 per cent penalty interest on levy debts and even employ debt recovery companies (including some strata law firms) who will take the steps to recover the money at no cost to the strata scheme.
It’s hard but there comes a point when the majority of people who pay their levies are entitled to expect not to have to carry the load for others who choose not to do it.
You can read about that HERE.
Elsewhere in the Forum
- Committee won’t repair common property wall. That’s HERE.
- How long do we have to wait for the results of a vote at an EGM? That’s HERE.
- Who checks what is and isn’t common property – lot owner or strata committee? That’s HERE.
- Is it right that an owner can go door to door collecting signatures with a view to forcing a re-vote on an issue they lost? That’s HERE.
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