Recovery of Wrongly Charged Levies

In Byron Moon Pty Ltd and Anor v The Owner Strata Plan 76830, Sachs Gerace Lawyers successfully represented two commercial lot owners who sought reimbursement of levies that included incorrect calculations for hot water charges, with the effect that the commercial lot owners had subsidized the residential lot owners.

The decision is of particular interest in at least two respects:

1. It confirms that Section 232 of the is Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 is a source of power to permit the Tribunal to order the reimbursement of monies that have been incorrectly levied; and
2. Although Section 14(1) of the Limitation Act 1969 may preclude a lot owner from recovering overpaid levies for charges that were incurred more than 6 years before the commencement of the proceedings, where the miscalculation arose from a mistake, Section 56 of the Limitation Act permits the Tribunal to disregard the period of delay until the mistake could have been ascertained by the lot owners with reasonable diligence.