Gannon v The Owners - Strata Plan No 14403 [2013] NSWSC 1916

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Gannon v The Owners - Strata Plan No 14403 [2013] NSWSC 1916 Hearing dates: 8 May 2013 Decision date: 19 December 2013 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Hall J Decision: (1) Leave to appeal granted but such leave limited to the order sought in paragraph 1(b) of the Amended Summons; (2) Leave to the parties to file and serve any affidavit evidence and provide further written submissions in respect of the quantum of expenses arising in respect of order 1 above in accordance with an agreed timetable. Catchwords: STRATA TITLES - appeal from Local Court - order made for unpaid levies "special levies" pursuant to s 76(4) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (SSM Act) - order made by Local Court for expenses incurred in recovering unpaid levies pursuant to s 80(1) of the SSM Act based on estimate of costs provided by owners corporation's solicitors

GROUND 1 - the Local Court erred in upholding the levy under s 76(4) - special levy validly raised by owners corporation by reason that it was faced with other expenses it could not at once meet from its administrative or sinking fund - evidence before Local Court that owners corporation had been issued with Fire Safety Order by the council - evidence that estimate provided to owners corporation by a consultancy as to cost of complying with the Order - evidence available that the financial position of owners corporation before special levy raised would not be sufficient to meet the cost of the estimate - s 76(4) must be considered in context of the SSM Act including ss 75, 75A and the other subsections of 76 - s 76(4) must be construed in terms of an "estimate" rather than a particular total cost - ground not made out