Holding Strata Managers Accountable for Unauthorised Account Withdrawals At Handover
How Our Financial Review During Onboarding Ultimately Recovered $15,000 For Owners
As part of our onboarding process for a new townhouse estate, we uncovered that the previous strata manager had overcharged $15,000 for management fees. These management fees were withdrawn from the owners corporation’s bank account shortly before handover and the previous manager had hoped that this withdrawal would go unnoticed. The management fees were paid 12 months in advance, for services never rendered.
This isn’t a grey area. Owners corporation managers have no legal entitlement to invoice themselves for future services, regardless of what their contract of appointment states. We notified the previous strata manager, who ignored our emails, then claimed the fees were legitimate. They then claimed they’d already issued a refund (which they hadn’t). We pursued it until every dollar was returned to the owners corporation bank account.
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