Published tribunal order
Tenancy Tribunal case 9060784 — Unit Titles in New Lynn, Auckland
Decided 20 Mar 2025 · Published 20 Mar 2025 · Application 9060784
Mixed / unclear
- Unit Titles
Order
- E Family Trustee Limited must pay Body Corporate 472616 $3,830.59 immediately, calculated as follows: DescriptionsRespondent Outstanding Levies $1,422.09 Costs $1,908.50 Filing Fee $500.00 Total award $3,830.59
Reasons
- Both parties attended the hearing by video link.
- 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. The Body corporate provided evidence of the outstanding levies by way of a running total summary or statement of all charges the Body corporate says are owing by the unit owner. This was, in part, because the unit owner has made a series of “round figure” payments to the Body corporate. However, it meant that the actual levies outstanding were not as clearly and concisely identifiable as they should have been. In future, it would assist the Tribunal if the body corporate provided clearer evidence in relation to outstanding levies. That said, I am satisfied, having reviewed the spreadsheet, that the body corporate has proved its claim for outstanding levies.
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. However, the body corporate has proved the amount of interest owing from the due date to the hearing date.
- The body corporate provided evidence, by way of an invoice to the unit owner, to claim interest of $1,016.62. There is no breakdown of the interest claim or how it has been calculated.
- The application form states that interest has been calculated from August 2024. The amount claimed for levies at that date was $4,960.74. Since then, the amounts owing has fluctuated, increasing to approximately $16,000 in November 2024 and steadily reducing to $1,422.09 at the date of hearing.
- The body corporate has not persuaded me that its interest calculation is correct. Given the ways its claim was presented, it was not possible for me to cross-check the calculation, nor should the Tribunal be required to calculate the interest owing.
- Counsel suggested that the Body corporate could submit further evidence after the hearing. That is not appropriate. This was the body corporate’s’ claim and it has the onus of proof. The Tribunal regularly receives a full breakdown of how interest has been calculated.
- The claim for interest is dismissed.
Is the Unit owner liable for costs?
- Pursuant to section 124 UTA, and as resolved at meetings of the body corporate, 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. I am satisfied that the costs ordered above are reasonable.
- The unit owner suggested that the costs would not have been incurred if the body corporate had agreed to a payment plan proposal and been prepared to negotiate regarding the debt. A unit owner has a statutory obligation to pay levies and the body corporate has a responsibility to all unit owners to collet those levies. There is nothing improper about the way the body corporate has responded to this debt, or in its debt collection procedures.
- 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.