Strata levies are a fee or ‘contribution’ paid by all lot owners in a scheme to cover any projected costs and expenses. All levies must be worked out in proportion to the unit entitlements of each lot.
All strata schemes must establish an administrative fund and a capital works fund to administer the finances of the strata scheme. This includes managing any interest earned from investing the moneys of these two funds.
Administrative fund
The administrative fund is used to manage the day-to-day expenses of running the scheme, including maintaining the common property, providing for insurance, and other recurrent expenses, such as electricity, water, carpet cleaning, lawn mowing services and the like.
Exemptions for two-lot schemes
Owners in two‑lot strata schemes may be exempt from the requirement to have a capital works fund if the strata buildings are physically detached, no buildings are situated outside the lots within the scheme, and the owners corporation passes a unanimous vote that a capital works fund does not need to be set up.
Strata Administration Fund Bank Account
The Act states that an owners corporation must pay any amounts that are received by it and are not otherwise invested in accordance with this Act into an account established in an authorised deposit-taking institution in the name of the owners corporation. In other words, the owners corporation must set-up a trust account with an Australian bank in the name of the owners corporation.
Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (Section 78)
