The respondent was the owner of unit 2 and the applicant the owners corporation. The total claimed was: (a) balance of levies owed ($602.93); (b) ACAT filing fee; (c) legal expenses for preparation of and attendance at the hearing and the mediation; and (d) witness expenses.
The respondent argued that the legal and administrative expenses were incurred unreasonably since the two parties had entered into an oral agreement for the payment of the out standing levies at a rate of $500 a month and the existence of such an alleged oral agreement made it unreasonable for the applicant to pursue him for the debt. However, on the basis of the evidence provided by both parties, the Tribunal was satisfied that no such agreement had ever been arrived at.
The Tribunal ruled that the expenses claimed by the applicant fell squarely within the type of expenses outlined by the Ruling Tribunal and were reasonably incurred as the witnesses were called by the applicant to rebut the respondent’s claim that there was a repayment agreement in place and to provide information as to the history of arrears by the respondent.