THE OWNERS - UNITS PLAN 3788 v BLACK & ANOR [2018] ACAT 24 | Case summary

The applicant noted that paralegal staff, amongst others, undertook significant work for which no payment was sought.
Taking into account the guiding principles outlined in Black, the Tribunal accepts that it was reasonable for the corporation to:
- (a) engage an agent to take steps to recover the debt;
- (b) issue proceedings; and
- (c) recover the enforcement costs of previous proceedings against the same debtor in this proceeding, including the costs of a garnishee order.
The next question is whether the amount of the expenses claimed are reasonable.
On the evidence available, and for the reasons set out above, the Tribunal accepts the majority of the legal costs claimed for issuing the debt application, default judgment, assessment hearing, registering and serving the judgment are reasonable for the same reasons as those set out above in relation to Black.
The one exception is the expense of $457.00 for registering a charge. There was no evidence before the Tribunal as to how this amount is calculated. It appears that the charge was registered by the strata manager while work was being done by the lawyers retained in the matter to garnishee the owners' income to satisfy the judgment debt. While the Tribunal accepts that in some cases it may be prudent to explore multiple methods of enforcement, the Tribunal is concerned by the seemingly parallel actions of the manager and the legal advisors. On the evidence available, the Tribunal is not satisfied that the charge of $457.00 is reasonable and it is disallowed.
The Tribunal therefore allows the sum of $1,243.00 for expenses under section 31 of the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 in this matter.

THE OWNERS - UNITS PLAN 3788 v BLACK & ANOR

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THE OWNERS - UNITS PLAN 3788 v BLACK & ANOR (Civil Dispute) [2018] ACAT 24 (20 March 2018)