[Glynes Maxfield]

Hi all.
Would appreciate some help on what to do with the following scenario.
Originally the residential unit and the garage were rated together, then some years into the ownership the then owner sold the residential unit to her daughter and kept the garage, at which time they were split and separately rated.
Rates have not been paid on the garage account since at least 2015/2016. The property was sold again in 2019 and the arrears on the garage were not paid at settlement. So, as per The Act, these are now the responsibility of the current owner, however she is refusing to pay them.
She has also made application to have the lots aggregated again, which I am happy to do, but I now have the problem of what to do with the arrears that have accumulated on the garage lot.
Your assistance on what I can and can’t do with this situation would be appreciated. Is debt recovery my only course of action?
Thank you in advance
Glynes

[Simone Fisher]

Hi Glynes. Here we would aggregate from date of settlement putting the two lots into joint ownership. Arrears on the garage lot would stand & we would refer the new owner back to their solicitor/conveyancer to discuss why payment wasn’t made at settlement. I’ve had a couple of these sorts of things over the years & a couple of them have been able to claim payment of the arrears not paid at settlement from some insurance they had with their conveyancer (Stewart Title I think) so its worth them discussing with them. If it remained unpaid we would commence recovery proceedings on the new owners.
Thanks,

[Glynes Maxfield]

Thank you to all that have either phoned or posted regarding this.
Your comments have all been extremely helpful.
Glynes

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