Every scheme has one. The owner who ignores the levy notice, ignores the reminder, tells the strata manager “I’ll sort it” and doesn’t. Meanwhile the sinking fund is short, the lift maintenance contract is overdue, and the compliant owners are quietly paying for a neighbour’s share of the building.
Levy recovery is one of the most routine things an owners corporation does, and one of the most badly done. Committees either wait years, or they send a lawyer’s letter before they’ve given the notice the Act requires and then can’t recover their costs. The process is simple if you follow the statutory sequence.
Your rights
In every state, contributions properly levied by the owners corporation (body corporate, strata company) are a debt owed by the lot owner as at the due date, and the corporation may recover them, with interest and the reasonable costs of recovery, in a court or tribunal. In most states the corporation is not merely entitled but obliged to pursue arrears. Interest accrues at a statutory or resolved rate once the contribution is overdue. Most states require a specific notice before proceedings are commenced, and several impose a minimum overdue period before the corporation can sue. The owner cannot set off a complaint about the building against levies: disputes about how the scheme is run are separate proceedings, and the levy is still payable meanwhile.
By state
- New South Wales. Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, ss 85–86. Interest at 10% simple once a levy is more than one month overdue (unless waived by resolution). The owners corporation may recover the levy and interest as a debt, but since 27 October 2025 it must first give the owner at least 30 days’ written notice, saying how the amount may be paid and that the owner may request a payment plan. Reasonable recovery costs can only be recovered by order of NCAT or a court. Proceedings in NCAT or the Local Court.
- Victoria. Owners Corporations Act 2006, ss 31–32. Serve a fee notice (approved form), then a final notice stating the corporation will take action if the amount is not paid within 28 days. Penalty interest only if a general meeting has resolved to charge it. Then VCAT (or the Magistrates’ Court).
- Queensland. Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and the regulation module. Contribution notices must give at least 30 days; penalty interest up to 2.5% per month if the body corporate has resolved it; a contribution outstanding for 2 years must be pursued. Recover in QCAT (minor debt up to $25,000) or the Magistrates Court.
- Western Australia. Strata Titles Act 1985, s 100. Unpaid contributions bear interest at the rate in the regulations (if the strata company has resolved to charge it) and are recoverable as a debt in the Magistrates Court. SAT hears disputes about the levy itself, not routine debt recovery.
- South Australia. Strata Titles Act 1988 / Community Titles Act 1996. Unpaid contributions are recoverable as a debt, with interest if the articles or by-laws provide. Proceedings in the Magistrates Court (minor civil up to $12,000).
- Tasmania. Strata Titles Act 1998, ss 83–84. Interest only if fixed by resolution. The body corporate can seek an order from the Recorder of Titles (s 113) requiring payment, or sue in the Magistrates Court.
- Australian Capital Territory. Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011. Overdue contributions accrue interest at 10% simple; the owners corporation recovers the debt, interest and costs in ACAT.
- Northern Territory. Unit Title Schemes Act 2009 (or Unit Titles Act 1975 for older schemes). Contributions are a debt recoverable by the body corporate; up to $25,000 in NTCAT, above that in the Local Court.
The Claim Done document asks your state first and drafts the demand to that state’s notice, interest and pre-action rules.
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Answer 3 quick questions to check you have the details your document needs, and see your next step.
1. Who owes you?
2. How much?
3. Do you have it in writing?
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What to do right now
- Confirm the levies were validly struck. A levy set outside a properly convened meeting is unenforceable. Pull the minutes and the levy notices.
- Prepare the arrears statement. Each contribution, due date, amount, interest to date at the rate your state allows, recovery costs incurred so far.
- Resolve to recover. Most states require a committee or general-meeting resolution before proceedings. Minute it.
- Serve the pre-action notice. New South Wales’s 30 days, Victoria’s 28-day final notice, Queensland’s 30-day contribution notice: whichever applies, serve it in the form your state requires with the arrears statement attached.
- File on expiry. Tribunal and court debt applications for levies are simple and cheap.
The cost-recovery trap
Most states let the corporation add its reasonable recovery costs (including lawyers or strata managers’ fees) to the debt (except New South Wales, where recovery costs need an NCAT or court order), but only if the statutory sequence was followed. Send the lawyer’s letter before New South Wales’s 30-day notice, or before the Victorian final notice has expired, and the owner argues the costs weren’t reasonably incurred. Do the notice first, in the right form. Also note the owner’s unpaid levies affect voting rights in most states: an unfinancial owner can’t vote on ordinary motions, which is useful leverage the committee sometimes forgets it has.
Who to complain to
For the debt: the New South Wales Local Court or NCAT; VCAT; QCAT or the Queensland Magistrates Court; the Western Australia, South Australia or Tasmanian Magistrates Court (or the Tasmanian Recorder of Titles); ACAT; NTCAT or the Northern Territory Local Court. For disputes about the validity of the levy itself: NCAT, VCAT, the Queensland Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management, SAT, SACAT, the Recorder of Titles, ACAT, NTCAT.
Recover the levies — $49
Stop reading. Start doing. Claim Done drafts a Strata Levy Recovery Demand that sets out every overdue contribution, calculates interest at your state’s rate, adds recoverable costs, gives the pre-action notice your state requires, and names the tribunal or court the owners corporation will file in.
Draft the Levy Recovery Notice — $49 →
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What happens when you send a Strata Levy Recovery
Same problem. What a prepared case looks like.