Owners Corporation Fee Recovery

Our team assists Owners Corporations in a whole range of matters including:

1. Debt management and fee recovery;
2. Drafting leases and licenses;
3. Drafting and amending Owners Corporation Model Rules;
4. Resolving management and lot owner disputes.

Owners Corporation Fee Recovery

At Davies Moloney, we offer a number of recovery services that makes it worthwhile for your Owners Corporation to bring outstanding fees and arrears up to date.

VCAT Fee Recovery Hearings

In circumstances where a lot owner is in arrears, and has failed to comply with the fee notices as provided in the Owners Corporation Act 2006 (“the Act”), we can commence recovery proceedings at VCAT under Part 11 of the Act to recover Owners Corporation fees, plus interest and legal costs.

Where we can predict the amount of legal work required, we will perform fee recovery hearings at fixed rates or within an agreed range of costs.

Magistrate Court proceedings

If an Owners Corporation passes a special resolution to collect outstanding Owners Corporation fees, we can issue recovery proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria. In this case, our fees will be charged in accordance with the Magistrates’ Court Scale.

We advise that there are many advantages in issuing proceedings in the Magistrates’ Court, including:

1. The awarding of costs is on the relevant court scale, opposed to VCAT where Tribunal Members may award a nominal amount for costs.
2. That there is a procedure for obtaining default judgment, whereby judgment can be obtained quickly against a recalcitrant lot owner. There is no procedure for default judgment at VCAT. This means that an appearance is required at VCAT for the Owners Corporation to prove its case.
3. That the Magistrates’ Court has its own enforcement mechanism for judgments. Any Order obtained in VCAT must be registered in the appropriate court before it can be enforced.

We invite you to contact our Owners Corporation Lawyer, David Harper.