Question: Can a strata manager raise a special levy without approval at a general meeting?
Our strata manager has been issuing special levies to individual owners without seeking approval at a general meeting. Does the strata manager have the authority to do this?
Answer: A special levy cannot be issued without a resolution being passed at a meeting of the owners corporation.
No, a special levy cannot be issued without a resolution being passed at a meeting of the owners corporation just like levies for the administrative and capital works funds. A motion to raise a special levy must be approved by a simple majority of owners present and voting at a general meeting of the owners corporation. See Section 83 – Levying of contribution of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 No 50 (SSMA).
The only circumstance in which a strata manager can raise a special levy without holding a general meeting is if the strata managing agent has been delegated all the powers of the owners corporation. For example, under a compulsory appointment by the Tribunal or through a properly authorised delegation of all powers. In such cases, meetings of the owners corporation are not necessary. Instead of lot owners voting to decide matters, the strata manager exercises the delegated authority power and can raise levies and pass resolutions on behalf of the owners corporation. See Section 237 – Orders for appointment of strata managing agent of the SSMA.
This post appears in the October 2025 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Jana Antelmann
Strata Life
E: jana@thestratalife.com.au
P: 02 9456 9917
The answer to the $1m dollar special levy is not technically correct. The Notice of Meeting does not rescind the original resolution. Accordingly, any Owner who has not paid the Special Levy byt the due date/s specified in the original resolution will be unfinancial (subject to any allowance for to pay after the due date – legislative or otherwise). The rest of the answer is correct. Notice of meeting has no bearing on the issue – it is the decision of Owners at the meeting – they may choose to simply change the levy amount or levy an additional amount to the original special levy.
Hi,
I am the owner of a big block which needs to do water leaking maintenance and need raise 1 million special levy. However after review all the documents sent by strata and engineer company, the quotation has big issue. We request the EGM to repeal the special levy, however the invoice is due on 1st May, will all owners lose the voting power if not pay special levy? And this is because always took 1-2 weeks for strata to send the info.
Thank you
.
Hi and thanks for this very informative site.
We have a Strata Manager that issues Special Levies without OC consent.
As an example one owner had a new By Law approved at GM and then received two Special Levies for the cost of drafting and consolidating the By Laws without any prior warning. No cost agreement was provided or agreed to and the By Law was drafted by the owner at their expense, there was no drafting by the OC..
My understanding is that the Strata Manager has no authority to impose Special Levies without OC approval ?
Any feed back would be appreciated.
Hi Sue
This Q&A should assist: Question: Can Strata Managers charge for producing a by-law breach letter? If so, what constitutes a reasonable charge?
Quite simply they cannot without a Special resolution on the matter. As to various charges levied for By-law drafting and registration this would need to be in your Strata management Agreement. This commony is in additional charges, as ther activity is not a regular outgoing, as distinct from paying accounts.
6 Lots in a strata scheme. We had an EGM to raise a Special Levy to put a new roof on as it was 30 years old and 2 lots needed repairs. Only 3 owners turned up but all votes to replace the roof., 4 of the 6 are happy to pay other 2 say they will not pay.
Can we take their share out of our Capital Works Fund, if yes then do we have to pay it back within the 3 months to the Capital Works fund or can we wait until those owner’s pay their levies.
Hi Elizabeth
We refer you to this Q&A in the article above:
One non-resident owner will not contribute to special levies. Without this payment, the other three owners bear the financial burden.
Hi
we are two lot lot 1 and lot 2
other owner he is not paying his levy which is overdue and also when something of my property damage he is not agree to be fixed
what should I do ? I don`t want to deal with another owner
why he is not paying his levy?
and why not agree on my quote ?
what should I do please ?
Hi Sami
This recent Q&A should assist:
Question: A new owner purchased the other lot in our strata duplex. They refuse to contribute to maintenance or attend meetings. What can we do?
All the best
We are looking into buying into a strata scheme compromised of 309 lots. This is a relatively new building where the first AGM was held Jan this year (‘23).
We have recently received the strata report which shows that the body corp has agree to undertake a loan to purchase a unit within the complex w/ approximate cost of $1,260,000 to be initially utilised as a onsite managers office and could be repurposed for commercial usage.
Due to this purchase the capital works fund is 1.2m in deficit. How will this loan affect my quarterly levies and how does the body corp plan to pay any potential major works with no funds ?
The following response has been provided by Michael Ferrier, EYEON Property Inspections.
Hi Denniel,
Thanks for your question. It’s difficult to provide a specific response without more information, but I would make the following comments.
While the capital works fund might currently show a deficit of $1.2m, I assume this is because of the loan liability of a similar amount. If this is the case, the current levies should still be available for any capital works expenditure in the short term. Strata accounts usually don’t show the value of property assets on their balance sheet, so it’s likely the value of the unit purchased isn’t recorded on the balance sheet, while the loan used for its purchase is shown. I would add that this is a relatively unusual situation, so it’s hard to know how it has been treated in the owners corporation accounts.
The terms for strata loans are usually relatively short term (3-7 years) and the conditions of these loans would normally require the owners corporation to have a mechanism in place for repayment of the loan principal and interest. This is often done by raising special levies over a period of time. These levies are in addition to the normal quarterly levies you currently pay. In this case, however, the loan might be serviced/repaid through the sale of the lot as a commercial property, or via rental of the lot to commercial tenants.
In the event that the owners corporation does need to raise special levies in coming years to repay the loan, your share of these levies would be equal to your unit entitlement in the strata plan. You have indicated there are 309 lots. If your lot is an average size your unit entitlement might be around 0.33%. So, for example, if special levies of $1.2 million are raised in the future, your obligation would be to pay 0.33% of that amount, or $3,960. If your actual unit entitlement is smaller or larger than that percentage, your obligation would rise or fall accordingly.
I hope that helps. If you would like to discuss this issue further, please call me on 1300 798 274 and I’ll be happy to assist further if you can provide more information. There would be no charge for our assistance over the phone.
Question: If strata levies have been raised for a project such as painting, must the funds be used for that expense?
Our strata raised a special levy last year for $9,000 for painting. We all paid the special levy but it was used for other expenses. We have received another notice for us to pay a special levy for painting, this time for $15,000.
I contacted our strata manager and raised my concerns requesting that this special levy be used for painting. They’ve responded that they can not guarantee that no as other expenses may arise. Is this legal?
Answer: There is nothing in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 that regulates a special levy can only be used for particular works.
Alternative answer.
The Act states at s73, and i will paraphrase, you expend money on something for which there was an estimate. Put another way, you can’t expend money on things for which there is no estimate. (Estimate seems to mean budget item here)
So as much as the answer given is half right it is also half wrong.
If the alternative expenditure is not something for which an estimate has been made then, no, the OC can’t spend the special levy money on it.
Thanks a million for your reply to my query concerning our recalcitrant member.
I do have additional questions on this subject:
1) Is it sufficient to send “letters of Demand” by email; or must they be sent as postal mail, or even served like a summons to appear in court?
2) You mentioned the fourth letter of Demand should be “by lawyer/debt collector”
My question is which is preferred in the first instance, lawyer or debt collector, and why?
3) How can the Owners Corporation recover the costs of using a lawyer/debt collector be recovered from the recalcitrant owner?
4) If the services of a lawyer become necessary, do the lawyers charge their fees to the OC; or do they pass their fees on to the recalcitrant?
Hi No1Optimist
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata has responded to your comment in the above article.
I am the “Honorary Administrator” of a self-managing strata scheme, of four town-houses.
We may need to take levy recovery action against one owner; who is refusing to pay the 4 equal quarterly levy contributions; discussed and agreed to as an agenda item at our AGM.
I have sent him several friendly reminders; and a formal letter of demand to pay by 4 equal quarterly instalments as require under the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act and the Owners Corporation, but he is refusing.
He wants to pay by setting up a periodic payment arrangement with his bank to pay in small fortnightly instalments.
My question is: after sending out reminder notices and a formal letter of demand, what is the correct/recommended procedure to pursue debt recovery; and in what order should those steps be taken?
Hi No1Optimist
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata has responded to your question in the above article.
Hi There,
I live in a residential building of 6 units, One owner has been overseas for more then a yr and hasnt paid his levies for that duration, strata have said they are in debt recovery and going through the courts my question is why hasnt strata acted much sooner and how long can this go on for before its resolved? I would have thought after 3 months of not paying your levies strata would issue a debt recovery action letter to the owner. Please advise thank you
Hi Joseph
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata has responded to your question in the above article.
I am confused
You state
“Otherwise, the act is clear on interest being payable 30 days after a levy falls due and collection costs being borne by the responsible owners.”
Yet
The NSW STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 83 states:
Any contribution levied by an owners corporation becomes due and payable to the owners corporation on the date set out in the notice of the contribution. The date must be at least 30 days after the notice is given.
Could you clear this up for me, please?