Cancer sufferer's quest for hardship payment plan highlights issues with ACT's strata management system
In the weeks leading up to her mother's death, the small Canberra business owner struggled to balance everything on her plate, including keeping on top of her bills.
"I was trying to balance the chemo, my treatment out with her care, as well having to run a business and work just to pay the bills — it was a lot," she said.
She tried to organise a payment plan to keep up with the fees but unlike over the border in New South Wales, the ACT strata system does not allow for hardship provisions for people struggling to pay their strata fees.
Her experience highlights issues with the ACT's strata system, issues that are likely to impact more people in the future, with about one in five Canberrans now living in apartments or units.
Earlier this month, a Legislative Assembly inquiry into the management of strata properties heard half of all forced bankruptcies in the ACT last financial year were a result of strata companies seeking money from unit owners.
After surviving seizures caused by her brain tumour, Ms Vatavalis's mother, Connie, was in "great spirits".
So, it came as a shock to Ms Vatavalis when her mum suddenly took a turn and died.
"All I could do was cry. I've got one of her pillows, I just wanted to hug it."
Feeling overwhelmed, Ms Vatavalis spoke to her home and car loan providers about hardship payment plans, and she said they were accommodating and understood her situation.
"I rang my bank. I said, 'I just can't do it, my mum has just passed, I'm overwhelmed', and they were so understanding, they put my mortgage payments on break for a couple of months, which was so lovely," she said.
But when it came to trying to set up a payment plan for her body corporate fees for her apartment, she couldn't reach an agreement with her strata manager.
"I contacted the strata manager so many times by phone, left messages, they were never available to talk, never got back to me. I emailed them asking [them] to get back to me," she said.
"They tell you to do something and it's their way or the highway, there's just no negotiation and that's what I found absolutely abhorrent.
Ms Vatavalis eventually had to appear before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal over her unpaid strata fees and was ordered to pay them back.
She said the ACT government needed to change legislation to ensure people struggling to pay their strata fees could access payment plans, similar to those for home loans, insurance and energy bills.
The ACT Strata Community Association (SCA) said it was "not opposed" to a framework which would allow for hardship provisions, however it stressed the importance of paying strata levies.
"This money goes towards things that are absolutely essential like insurance of the building," SCA CEO Chris Miller said.
"There's a statutory obligation to insure the building that's not something they can opt out of, and critical systems supporting life and property, fire systems, CO2 extraction from basements.
Mr Miller also defended a strata manager's role in the process when unit owners who have struggled to pay fees have had their requests for payment plans knocked back.
"The strata manger is simply an agent for the owners corporation and these matters are determined and decided by the corporation," Mr Miller said.
The SCA did however recognise a need for higher standards and mandatory qualifications for strata managers in the ACT, and called for changes to the current set-up.
"Strata managers, and potentially assistant strata managers, engaging with customers, doing work on behalf of owners corporations, there should be a requirement for minimum qualifications and ongoing professional development in those roles," Mr Miller said.
"Presently in the ACT the only requirement is for the principal of the strata business to have a minimum qualification and an ongoing licence and professional development, we think that should extend to a broader collection of operators in strata management."
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