With overdue strata levies on the rise due to the COVID-19 situation many strata schemes will soon find out how many of their owners are struggling to meet their levy commitments.

Also, recent Government announcements to personal and corporate insolvency laws will have a dramatic impact on the way overdue strata levies are recovered.

In this paper we provide:

• A Snapshot of the Changes to Levy Recovery Practice
• An Overview of those Changes
• Details of the Ramifications of the Changes
• Information about Payment Plans for Overdue Levies
• Information about Template Payment Plan Documents

After reading this paper Levy Recovery Practice Changes Due to Coronavirus if you would like a copy of our ‘template payment plan documents’ and/or would like assistance with managing your levy recovery payment plans please email jsmmarketing@muellers.com.au

For NSW strata legal, building defect or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

On 22 March 2020, the Australian Government announced a further economic response to the Coronavirus that will effect levy recoveries.

That response includes changes to personal and corporate insolvency laws which will have a dramatic impact on the way overdue strata levies are recovered.

In this paper we provide we explain:

• A Snapshot of the Changes to Levy Recovery Practice
• An Overview of those Changes
• Details of the Ramifications of the Changes
• Information about Payment Plans
• Information about Template Payment Plan Documents

After reading this paper Levy Recovery Practice Changes Due to Coronavirus if you would like a copy of our ‘template payment plan documents’ and/or would like assistance with managing your levy recovery payment plans please email jsmmarketing@muellers.com.au

For NSW strata legal, building defect or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

In a recent NSW Supreme Court case the builder brought an application to the Court seeking an order that the owners corporation provide security for costs to protect the costs of the builder in the litigation in the event the builder was successful and unable to recover his costs from the owners corporation.

So, did the court grant with the builder’s application? Owners Corporation Litigation Security for Costs

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Thank you for your continued support. We’re looking for a new team member and reaching out to our strata community to help find one.

We’ve been servicing the strata industry for almost 40 years and as our business and the strata industry continue to grow, so does our team of strata experts.

We’re Hiring!

Do you know of a Strata Lawyer looking for a new opportunity who would love to:

• Work with an established and highly regarded law firm
• Learn from leading lawyers who are making new law
• Work across a wide variety of matters
• Progress their career
• Enjoy flexible working conditions
• Enjoy a great salary package

Confidential

If you know of a strata lawyer looking for a new opportunity please contact partner, Adrian Mueller, direct on adrianmueller@muellers.com.au

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Thanks Strata, as a wrap up here are some useful links from 2017…

• We shared our strata knowledge through our new resource library
• We listened to you and launched our new brand and website
• We developed strata by-law and meeting templates for the new strata laws
• We tweeted, 54 times sharing the latest in strata law
• We posted, 45 times on LinkedIn with the latest updates
• We collected for over 600 new levy debt recovery matters plus our regulars
• We expanded our team to better service the strata industry

We’re taking a break from 5.30pm 21 December 2017 and returning on 15 January 2018.

We wish you and your families a safe and happy ‘Festive Season’ and look forward to working with you in 2018.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Owners Corporations and strata managers in NSW sometimes wonder how they can recover outstanding strata levies from owners of strata units who have disappeared and are nowhere to be found. Well, do not be disillusioned.

Muellers has now given hope to owners corporations and strata managers and has proved the naysayers wrong acting in what has been widely reported as the first ever sale of a strata unit by the NSW Sheriff.

In the recent case of The Owners-Strata Plan No. 7396 -v- Siak Hong law (unreported), in which Muellers acted for the successful owners corporation, the Supreme Court of NSW ordered that documents be served on a unit owner who was unable to be found, via substituted service orders.

More importantly, the Supreme Court also ordered the NSW Sheriff to sell the owner’s unit by a certain date to ensure the sale of the unit and recovery of overdue levies was not delayed.

This case shows that overdue levies can be recovered from an errant unit owner and that it is possible to force the Sheriff to sell a strata unit to ensure that overdue levies are paid to an owners corporation.

The outcome we achieved in the case was the result of much hard work, sheer determination and a never say die attitude to demonstrate that even in the most difficult cases it is possible for overdue levies to be recovered.

Setting a precedent, the case was also picked up by mainstream media:

• Sale of apartment owned by monk who disappeared overseas sets legal precedent
• Merry chase for mystery Malaysian monk who renounced his ‘worldly possessions’

At Muellers that is the approach we take to all our levy collection matters and that is why we are widely regarded as the leader in strata levy collections.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Did you know that the Sheriff can play an important role in the recovery of overdue strata levies?

How, you ask?

1. The Sheriff can be a very important ally when an owner fails to pay their strata levies, ignores repeated requests for payment and all else fails. So let’s bring in the Sheriff! Here’s how:

A Sheriff may act on a writ that we have arranged for the court to issue. Firstly, the Sheriff will attempt contact with the debtor via phone or written correspondence. If there’s no response the Sheriff will attend the debtor’s property and seize assets to be sold at auction to cover the value of the levy collection debt.

Sheriffs have been known to seize cars, bikes and household goods etc. This is called a ‘Sheriffs sale’ – it’s important to note that sometimes these can take time.

On a positive note, often just the Sheriff turning up on the debtor’s doorstep will action them into paying their strata levies.

2. Also, upon obtaining a Supreme Court Order for possession of a property, the Sheriff can then take possession of the property so it can be sold to pay the strata levy debt.

3. Sheriffs can also assist when the debtor has ignored an examination order to attend the court to explain his or her financial circumstances, an arrest warrant can be issued and the Sheriff can then arrest the debtor and take them to the court to be examined.

This can assist you in ascertaining the debtor’s financial circumstances and obtaining employment information so you can take further action and garnishee wages for payment of the outstanding strata levies.

So, how can you help?

Phone Numbers

Did you know that all Sheriff matters initially now go to the COU? From here, the Sheriff will attempt to make contact with the debtor via written correspondence and phone calls.

So, if you’re able to provide the debtor’s phone numbers at this point the Sheriff will more than often get a much better result.

Licence Plate Numbers

If the Sheriff has had no luck when phoning the person they will visit their premises during business hours and if the person isn’t available (as most people aren’t during these hours) they will leave a business card requesting them to call the Sheriff’s office.  Clearly, this is often ignored by the owner who is choosing not to pay their outstanding strata levies.

Again, if you can provide us with the licence plate number of the car the owner drives there is a strong chance that this will help us (and the Sheriff) locate the debtor quicker and recover the outstanding strata levies.

So, the Sheriff can be very effective in being that extra length of the stick to ‘poke the bear’ – and yes, some strata levy debtors will respond to the Sheriff even though they’ve already ignored repeated requests for payment of overdue levies.

Oh, and did you know…

Some interesting historical information on what was once part of a Sheriff’s role in NSW. They were once responsible for:

• Carrying out death sentences in criminal cases
• Discharging the duties of the Coroner
• Running the gaols
• Executing all the judgments, decrees and orders of the Supreme Court

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Did you know that the information an owners corporation has about their owners can actually make it much simpler for us to act more effectively in recovering strata levies?

To assist you with the details that can help us, the team at JS Mueller & Co has developed a handy list of items for consideration when briefing your next strata levy debt recovery instruction:

1. If you know that the unit is tenanted but the address for service of notices is at the unit, let us know, particularly if you’re aware of whom the real estate agent is.
2. When advising your levy recovery person to enter Judgment and take the next step, the following information can greatly assist:

•  Details of where the lot owner works so JS Mueller & Co can organise to garnishee their wages – much cheaper and more effective than a Sheriff.
• Details of their motor vehicle type and registration number and a time they’re normally home – this will make it easier for the Sheriff to seize goods.

Historically when matters have been difficult to serve, the information an owners corporation has access to, can assist us greatly in a successful and quicker levy debt recovery.

Here are some examples of how information has assisted JS Mueller & Co in faster recovery of strata levies… who would have thought!

 Hockey Training

We’ve successfully served a guy with a Statement of Claim (SOC) at hockey training.  All because the owners corporation advised us that he rode his bike once a week to hockey training.

Pony Club

JS Mueller & Co was able to serve another woman at Pony Club when we were advised by an owner/occupier that she stored her Pony Club stuff in the garage.

So, you can see little pieces of information an owners corporation knows about a lot owner can provide us the little piece of magic we need to get a successful result.

Keep the list above in a handy place for when you next provide a levy debt recovery instruction.

Our levy collection service is available across regional and metropolitan NSW so let us know if you need any assistance with levy recoveries, we’d be happy to assist.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Current Position

Under the current law there are no legal rights for lot owners to request an instalment payment plan from an owners corporation should they fall behind in their levy payments – although an instalment plan is sometimes agreed to by an owners corporation in an appropriate case.

New Position

As of 1 December 2016 the new laws will give a lot owner the right to request an owners corporation to agree to a payment plan for any levies in arrears. Before the owners corporation can accept a payment plan they will need to have such a request properly approved at a general meeting.

The lot owner will have to do the following:

1. Make a request to the owners corporation to hold an EGM at which the owners corporation will consider the request of the lot owner to enter into a payment plan.
2. The lot owner may be required to pay the costs of holding the EGM at which the owner wants the payment plan to be approved.
3. The owners corporation will then consider the payment plan at the EGM.
4. Alternatively, an owners corporation can approve a plan at an AGM.

Important

It’s important to note that by holding an EGM it is not guaranteed that the request for the payment plan will be approved as the entry into a payment plan is a discretionary matter for the owners corporation and it is not a mandatory requirement that such a plan will have to be accepted.

Conversely, an owners corporation in a deserving and genuine case may decide to accept a request for a payment plan provided the owners corporation is of the view that the plan is more likely to be adhered to.

An owners corporation will have to be aware that if a request for a payment plan is unreasonably refused the lot owner may decide to take legal action against a refusal and seek orders from a Court of Law or Tribunal forcing the owners corporation to enter into a payment plan.

Click here for the full details of the new Levy Collection laws – Levy Collection New Laws

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Trial Our FREE Time Saving LevyCollect App…

Our levy collection service is second to none with our integrated  ‘LevyCollect’ app. Simple, free and easy to use – accessible through your device, on the go. Benefits include:

• Reduces your workload – gives you time back
• 24/7/365 access from your desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet – anytime, anywhere
• Gives you greater access to your Levy Collection matters
• You choose when to access your matters
• All of your matter communication conveniently located in one place
• Regular reporting – you choose when and how often you receive reports
• Simple, easy to use app for your phone or tablet and portal login for your desk/laptop

To trial our FREE LevyCollect online portal and app service contact jsmmarketing@muellers.com.au

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

The new strata laws will commence on 30 November 2016. Will you be ready?

To help you get ready, the team at Muellers will be running training seminars across Sydney in September and November 2016.

We will explain the most important aspects of the new strata laws and tell you what you need to know to be ready come 30 November.

We will review the new laws concerning strata managers, by-laws, renovations, NCAT, building bonds, collective sales and more.

Look out for the invitations to our training seminars as places are limited and will book out quickly.

For NSW strata legal or levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.