The Owners – Units Plan 546 v Donnelly & Anor (Civil Dispute)

[2018] ACAT 27

ACT CIVIL & ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

THE OWNERS – UNITS PLAN 546 v DONNELLY & ANOR (Civil Dispute) [2018] ACAT 27

XD 873/2016

Catchwords:             CIVIL DISPUTE – unpaid levies – owners corporation incurred expenses when taking action to recover unpaid levies – whether it was reasonable for the relevant owners corporation to incur the expenses claimed – whether engagement of a local law firm to file documents is recoverable – whether each component of the expenses sought is reasonable

Cases cited:The Owners – Unit Plan No 3182 v Black and Anor [2018] ACAT 6

Tribunal:                  Senior Member H Robinson

Date of Orders:  20 March 2018

Date of Reasons for Decision:         20 March 2018

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY        )

CIVIL & ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL     )          XD 873/2016

BETWEEN:

THE OWNERS – UNITS PLAN 546

Applicant

AND:

JASON SCOTT DONNELLY

First Respondent

NAOMI MAREE HAMILTON

Second Respondent

TRIBUNAL:Senior Member H Robinson

DATE:20 March 2018

ORDER

The Tribunal orders that:

1.Within 28 days the respondents pay the applicant the amount of $366.06.

………………………………..

Senior Member H Robinson

REASONS FOR DECISION

1.These reasons should be read as supplementary to the Tribunal’s reasons in The Owners – Unit Plan No 3182 v Black and Anor [2018] ACAT 6 (Black).

2.In this case, the respondent was ordered to pay the applicant the sum of $1,207.97. The Tribunal notes the advice of the lawyers retained in that matter, Kerin Benson, that the amount of the judgment included the ACAT filing fee of $290.00; administrative charges and disbursements incurred by the strata manager and the cost of a title search; legal costs incurred in issuing a letter of demand totalling $55.00 and a sum of $263.94 for legal costs incurred in preparing the claim to file at the Tribunal. The total amount of legal costs incurred for preparing the claim for filing at the Tribunal was $469.00.

3.The following expenses were also claimed:

Balance of legal costs to issue debt application	$205.06
Legal agent filing fee	$44.00
Legal costs default judgment/assessment hearing	$161.00
Total	$410.06

4.Taking into account the guiding principles outlined in Black, the Tribunal accepts that it was reasonable to incur the costs as itemised, save for the legal agent filing fee of $44.00. Apparently, this fee represents the cost of a Canberra based solicitor attending the tribunal on two occasions to lodge paperwork. The Tribunal considers this to be an unnecessary expense as the tribunal permits claims and applications to be filed by post and this is the most cost efficient way to attend to filing.

5.The legal agent filing fee costs of $44.00 are disallowed. Therefore, the Tribunal allows expenses in the sum of $366.06.

………………………………..

Senior Member H Robinson