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Topic
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1) The AGM for the 2019 year has not been held and the strata manager and strata committee refuse to answer owners’ queries regarding the date it will be held. 18 months have passed since the 2018 AGM. Can 1/4 of owners lobby the manager and committee to hold an AGM in the same way as for EGMs?
2a) The annual strata levy is usually decided at the AGM, isn’t it – S. 79? As the 2019 AGM has not been held, this has not been done and neither an annual levy notice nor periodic levy notices have been issued by the manager or committee for 2019.
2b) In these circumstances are owners liable to pay quarterly levies in the same amount as 2018 levies or can they wait until a levy notice is sent by the manager for the 2019 year?
2b) Some owners say they don’t want to pay 2019 levies until they receive a levy notice issued by the manager. S.83(4) says levies are payable even if a notice hasn’t been sent. Does S.83(4) apply even though an annual levy has not been set for 2019? In these circumstances does interest on late payment run?
3) We couldn’t find the answers to the above matters in either the Act or Regulations so could you please quote the Sections or case law that apply as you often do in answering other people’s queries.
Thank you.
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Regarding the AGM, the circumstances under which you might call a general meeting (Section 19 of the Act) specifically exclude AGMs so you will have no joy there.
Regarding question 2, Section 85 (4) of the Act says this:
(4) Regular periodic contributions to the administrative fund and capital works fund of an owners corporation are taken to have been duly levied on an owner of a lot even though notice levying the contributions was not given to the owner.
I know that doesn’t cover the specific circumstances you describe but, to me (a non-lawyer), that would indicate that owners should keep paying their levies as they have in the past until a new budget is set.
Frankly, I would be taking steps – along with other owners – to seek orders at NCAT to compel the strata manager and strata committee to hold an AGM, at which I would make sure I had enough votes to sack the strata manager and the committee.
Or you could seek orders under Section 238, to sack the committee, then start procedings to sack the strata manager for a breach of Section 57 (1) by committing an offence under the terms of the Act.
Or, you could seek the compulsory appointment of the strata manager which, as we have often said here, is one of those “be carful what you wish for” moves.
My preference would be to scare the ditherers among you neighbours with the spectre of a compulsory appointment to get them to back you in moving against the committee and strata manager.
First things first, hold your own meeting, make your plans and get your numbers, then move decisively.
And then seek proper legal advice from an experienced strata lawyer.
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.
I don’t have the NSW legislation in front of me but on the question of continuing with the same levies, whether they can just keep running on at the same level might depend on the wording of the AGM resolution. At my particular OC, we usually have a resolution worded such that it authorises levies of particular amounts due by particular dates. I can’t see how a resolution worded that way could be used to levy again in the next financial year.
So, in addition to following JT’s advice, I would not be paying any levies beyond those that were authorised for last year. If the OC has no money to pay the managing agent, that might focus their attention on advising the committee about the statutory obligation of an OC to hold an AGM each year at which a budget is set, levies agreed etc. If there is also no money to pay the property insurance, then you really have a crisis to take to the Tribunal. I would be demanding to be shown evidence that the property insurance has taken priority over paying the manager. Go into the manager’s office and demand to see the OC records, as is your right as an owner. Take a few friends, perhaps those who might form the nucleus of a new committee once you have an AGM.
Has there been any indication of why the manager and/or committee are not inclined to call the meeting they are obliged to call?
A few points to consider.
– The AGM can be held anytime in the 12 months after the Financial year for the Plan ends. Say the accounts end 31/5/19 they can hold the meeting 20/10/19 as long as a current set of accounts are supplied for the meeting. So you get 2 accounts ones ending 31/5/19 and a 2nd set ending at the date the Agenda was sent say 15/9/19. Its legal but not desirable. The delays are usually because there is major works to consider and the owners want tenders to be available at the meeting.
– If your 2018 AGM notes the levies set are due in 4 installments, say 1/6/18, 1/9/18, 1/12/18, 1/3/19 then they can’t issue levies for 1/6/19 because the owners corporation did not set the levies for that period. BUT I would make sure I paid levies as if they had been set to make sure that there was no comeback that I was not financial.
“The AGM can be held anytime in the 12 months after the Financial year for the Plan ends.”
Is that right in NSW? That surprises me if correct. Where I am, which is not NSW, the AGM can’t be more than 15 months after then last one and not more than 3 months after the start of a new financial year. We are not allowed to wait till the 364th day of a year before setting the budget and levies for that year, all the while spending without authority!
Hi All,
This happened to me 3 years ago where they skipped the AGM entirely for the 2016 year , when I queried it I was met with ” oh the levies didn’t change so we didn’t hold one ” Currently it is 15 months since the last AGM. My problem is another member of the OC , is also the principal of the strata management company that manages our Strata Plan, they asked our strata manager ,who they employ, to hold an AGM, it is 4 weeks since this request. The principal of the strata company was on the OC when they skipped the 2016 AGM, surely they would of being aware that this contravenes the SSMA 2015. Does it state somewhere in the act that if a strata manager leads the OC to commit an offence under the SSMA that only the Strata Manager is to be held liable and not the committee members?
An addition to my last post. We kept paying the levies set in 2015 for levies in 2016.
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