Strata Levies in arrears, only just found out!!

Hi all,

Hoping for some guidance here. I'm in Sydney and the IP is an apartment in the inner west.

I'm a fairly hands off IP owner and bought my first unit in December 2012. Today I received a letter from my strata company saying I owe $5000 in levies + debt costs. What upset me was the fact that there were two arrears notice charges of $33, Debt Collection - Letter of Demand of $77, Statement of Claim $440 and Statement of Claim lodgement fee of $218.

Now this is the first time I've actually received a letter from my Strata Company. I called them up just before and they said they have been sending it to the tenanted property since January 2013. Apparently someone changed it in May 2014 to my correct home address. I suspect it was either the property agent or the new tenant that came in April that corrected it.

My property agent is the same company that I used to purchase of IP (because they offered a letting fee discount). I checked my Management Agreement and it states in there that I "authorise" and "direct" the property manager to pay the strata fees on my behalf.

Question is, do I have any recourse to recoup the arrears and debt notice costs totaling $801 from my property manager?

Or does anyone know of any means I can apply for those costs to be waived? I spoke to the Strata Company and they were certain they would not do anything to make it easier.

I understand I must pay the standard levy amounts, but the arrears and debt charges are ridiculous considering I never got them in the first place.

I know it's mainly my own fault for being complacent and thinking the agent was taking care of it all, but hey, there's a lesson here I guess.

Any thoughts or advice much appreciated. Thank you guys :)
 
what did your property manager say? Id say if they dont dispute your authorisation for them to pay the strat fees, then they would make good the late fees etc.
 
I know it's mainly my own fault for being complacent and thinking the agent was taking care of it all, but hey, there's a lesson here I guess.

Of that total charge only $66 is actually charged by the strata company the rest are external service charges and the Strata company/ BC will be liable for them even if you didn't pay. As such they are non negotiable.

It's a simple matter to check these things. Even if your PM was managing the strata fees there would be expenses related to this in your statement.

Cheers
 
Did it ever look strange to you that you've never paid strata fees for 18 months? If the agent paid it, you would have seen the items on your rental statements.

Who did you think was paying it?
 
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when you purchased the property your solicitor or conveyancer would have notified the body corporate of your details.

Contact them and find out the mailing address that was given on this notification.

SOP
 
They have been appointed to be your agent, not to have an independent thought. if you haven't advised the strata management of your address or of the appointment of a property manager, whose fault is that? How is the strata manager to know where to send your accounts other than to the premises once the vendor has ceased to be responsible for the unit?

Do you believe that the tenant should have forwarded your mail? (not in the lease agreement).
 
LOL...I wish I didn't have to pay strata. It's sumfing that keeps cropping up every three months. You can't just ignore it unfortunately.
 
Property manager...

Does the Property Manager have a payment diary? Ask to see the entry, if they do not not, ask THEM to sort it out and pay it.
Have a discussion with the Licensee in charge, one of the questions you should be asking is:
1. What exactly am I paying you for?

It should be Them running around, and sorting this mess that they have left unattended, and then apologising to you, for not doing what they have a contract to do.

In future, you must have an idea of when it is due, and keep a wall planner(ok I don t do spreadsheets) so you can tick off that it has been done, and if it hasn't you can contact them to find out why! Property management isn't passive in my world,


I hope this helps,
 
1. What exactly am I paying you for?

Landlords pay agents to pay the bills they receive. In this case, the agent didn't receive them, and the agent would have no authority to change the address. Nor should it be their responsibility to check.

Also not the tenant's responsibility to forward mail unless previously agreed.

OP, did it ever occur to you that your rent looked high? When you did you tax returns?
 
In NSW at settlement there is a s118 notice done which notifies the strata management of the change in ownership and the address of service of notices. This will be your official address for notices. Request a copy of this notice from your conveyancer and/or the strata manager. Both sides are suposed to sign it - sellers and buyers or their lawyers/reps.

If a statement of claim has been made and a lodgement fee indicates it was lodged, then that means a court case is afoot or is over.You may have a judgment against your name so do a quick credit check. If you have a judgment then it will affect you for the next 5 years. It will be difficult to remove, but could possibly be done.

These costs listed have been incurred and the statra company probably doesn't have the power to reduce them. If you don't pay then all owners will pay for this out of the strata levies.

You could have a go at asking the agent to reimburse you, but if they didn't get an invoice then this may not work.
 
It is possible that your agent notified them when you authorised them to make the payments but some Strata companies won't acknowledge the agent's contact and require something in writing from the actual property owner.

When having an agent pay things from the rent for you it is best that you, the owner of the property, notify these places (body corp, water, insurance, rates etc.) as the agent doesn't have the authorisation to notify them of the change. It would be like asking your PM to call up about your electricity bill - they wouldn't be allowed to act unless named on the account :).

Some places just like to make things harder than is really needed!
 
Unless you can prove that you either formally advised the strata manager or your PM of where the bills where to be issued, then it is your responsibility.

Lesson learnt for the next one.
 
Landlords pay agents to pay the bills they receive. In this case, the agent didn't receive them, and the agent would have no authority to change the address. Nor should it be their responsibility to check.

Also not the tenant's responsibility to forward mail unless previously agreed.

OP, did it ever occur to you that your rent looked high? When you did you tax returns?

This is the difference between a good PM and a bad PM.

My PM has his own check list. Any time he takes on a new client. After confirming with the owner that they want him to pay the bills on their behalf, he contacts Council, Water, strata and has all the invoices directed to his business.
 
My PM has his own check list. Any time he takes on a new client. After confirming with the owner that they want him to pay the bills on their behalf, he contacts Council, Water, strata and has all the invoices directed to his business.


Surely the owner would have to fill in paperwork to enable a third party (PM) to divert a bill.

I have great trouble getting a utility company to even SPEAK to me if the account is in my husband's name.
Marg
 
Surely the owner would have to fill in paperwork to enable a third party (PM) to divert a bill.

I have great trouble getting a utility company to even SPEAK to me if the account is in my husband's name.
Marg

My PM sent me all the authority forms to sign to make this happen. He then took care of the rest. This was all part of the initial sign up.
 
what did your property manager say? Id say if they dont dispute your authorisation for them to pay the strat fees, then they would make good the late fees etc.

I've yet to speak to the PM but I'm expecting that they won't be willing to cough up for the fees... here hoping otherwise though. Seems other have put some really good and rational points forward on this thread.
 
They have been appointed to be your agent, not to have an independent thought. if you haven't advised the strata management of your address or of the appointment of a property manager, whose fault is that? How is the strata manager to know where to send your accounts other than to the premises once the vendor has ceased to be responsible for the unit?

Do you believe that the tenant should have forwarded your mail? (not in the lease agreement).

Yes, the Strata Company had the argument that if weren't advised of my address of where to send the strata accounts to - how could they know otherwise.

SOP and Terry_W made some good points and I'll be checking with my solicitor who lodged the paperwork on settlement to see what the s118 notice had as my address.

Also sadly no, I am of the belief that my tenants decided to do me no favours regarding the mail. :(
 
In NSW at settlement there is a s118 notice done which notifies the strata management of the change in ownership and the address of service of notices. This will be your official address for notices. Request a copy of this notice from your conveyancer and/or the strata manager. Both sides are suposed to sign it - sellers and buyers or their lawyers/reps.

If a statement of claim has been made and a lodgement fee indicates it was lodged, then that means a court case is afoot or is over.You may have a judgment against your name so do a quick credit check. If you have a judgment then it will affect you for the next 5 years. It will be difficult to remove, but could possibly be done.

These costs listed have been incurred and the statra company probably doesn't have the power to reduce them. If you don't pay then all owners will pay for this out of the strata levies.

You could have a go at asking the agent to reimburse you, but if they didn't get an invoice then this may not work.

Terry_W, thanks for some really good insights here. I have a bit more to go on from what you've said. What you've said about the statement of claim has been concerned (rightfully!!) and have sent off for a credit check. That's the last thing I'll need out of this.

I'll try going to the agent to reimburse me, but I don't think they ever got an invoice which is where they will push back.

Yes. This will be a very expensive lesson indeed.
 
This is the difference between a good PM and a bad PM.

My PM has his own check list. Any time he takes on a new client. After confirming with the owner that they want him to pay the bills on their behalf, he contacts Council, Water, strata and has all the invoices directed to his business.

I am 100% certain that my PM is a terrible one. My instincts from day one were that I should have switched to another one sooner.
 
Landlords pay agents to pay the bills they receive. In this case, the agent didn't receive them, and the agent would have no authority to change the address. Nor should it be their responsibility to check.

Also not the tenant's responsibility to forward mail unless previously agreed.

OP, did it ever occur to you that your rent looked high? When you did you tax returns?

It's one of those face palm moments that you wish you hadn't ignored that niggling feeling that something wasn't right.
 
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