Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 9057604 — Unit Titles in Auckland Central, Auckland
Decided 25 Nov 2024 · Published 25 Nov 2024 · Application 9057604
Mixed / unclear
- Unit Titles
Order
- Munesh Chand must pay Body Corporate 317571 $5,322.92 immediately, calculated as follows: DescriptionsApplicantRespondent Ordinary Levy: 1.1.24-31.12.24 $1,229.36 Costs: BC Management handover fee $287.50 Costs: BC Management handover fee $632.50 Costs: Legal fees (to hearing) $2,373.50 Interest $70.06 Filing Fee $500.00 Costs: Legal fees (hearing) $230.00 Total award $5,322.92 Total interest Total award with interest $5,322.92 Total payable by Applicant to Respondent $5,322.92
Reasons
- Both parties attended the hearing which was held by teleconference.
- The Body Corporate has applied for recovery of unpaid levies, interest, costs and the filing fee from the unit owner.
Does the Unit Owner owe the levies claimed?
- A unit owner must pay all Body Corporate levies and outgoings payable for the unit. See sections 80(1)(f) and 121(1) Unit Titles Act 2010.
- The Body Corporate has determined the levies payable and unit owner's share has been calculated according to their utility interest.
- The Body Corporate has fixed the due date for the levies to be paid, and the unit owner has not paid the levies by that date. See section 124(1) Unit Titles Act 2010. The body corporate has provided records to prove the amount claimed.
Is the Unit owner liable for interest?
- If a unit owner fails to pay levies by the due date, interest accrues on the unpaid balance. A body corporate may charge interest up to 10% per annum. See section 128 Unit Titles Act 2010.
- The Body Corporate has resolved to charge interest at 10% per annum on unpaid levies. The Body Corporate has proved the amount of interest owing from the due date to the hearing date.
Is the Unit owner liable for costs?
- The Unit Owner confirms that he does not dispute payment of the overdue levy. His position though, is that it is unfair for him to have incurred collections costs for recovery of the levy so soon after the levy invoice was due for payment. He also says that the amount of the legal fees charges is disproportionate to the amount of the levy itself.
- The levy was struck at an Annual General Meeting of the Body Corporate held on 14 February 2024.
- The levy invoice was sent to the Unit Owner on 26 February 2024, noted as due for payment by 1 May 2024.
- In accordance with the Debt Recovery Regime approved at the AGM, reminder letters and notice of impending legal action were sent to the Unit Owner. The Unit Owner questions where they were sent, saying he does not live at the unit, but the evidence shows that those communications were also were sent by e-mail to the Unit Owner’s current e-mail address.
- Pursuant to section 124 UTA, and as resolved by the Body Corporate at the AGM, the Body Corporate is entitled to recover any reasonable costs incurred by it in collecting unpaid levies as a debt due by the owner to the Body Corporate. In accordance with the judgments (of the District Court and Court of Appeal respectively) in Body Corporate 162791 v Cheah DC Auckland, CIV2014-004- 0120, 24 June 2014 and Body Corporate 162791 v Gilbert [2015] NZCA 185, the Tribunal must order that the reasonable costs incurred by the Body Corporate in recovering the levies, objectively assessed, be paid by a defaulting unit owner.
- The Body Corporate has provided invoices for debt recovery costs incurred by the Body Corporate manager. It has provided time records showing how the legal fees are calculated.
- The Unit Owner is correct that the recovery costs are high in proportion to the outstanding levy itself, but the costs incurred to the Body Corporate to recover the levy are little different, regardless of the quantum of unpaid levies being sought. There is no basis in the evidence for me to find that the costs claimed are unreasonable.
- Because the body corporate has succeeded with the claim, I have reimbursed the filing fee. Section 176(1) Unit Titles Act 2010 and section 102(4) Residential Tenancies Act 1986.