Body Corporate
Can body corporate committee members be held personally liable?
Article by Frank Higginson
Current as at October 7, 2026
In any battle with a supplier, consumers usually have one weapon they can fall back on: they can refuse to pay.
But a lot owner in a strata scheme who is in dispute with a body corporate risks a highly expensive no-win outcome if they refuse to pay their levies.
Regardless of whether the lot owner believes the levies are unfair or were invalidly struck in the first place, refuse to pay, and it will likely cost you. The same applies if there are concerns about whether the body corporate is doing (or not doing) something else, like fixing a leaking roof or a pool.
Instead, lot owners are far better off taking a “pay now and argue later” approach.
Why?
Because a body corporate is obliged by law to seek payment of levies, and late payers face a ruinous 2.5% interest a month on any unpaid amounts. They will also potentially start racking up even more expensive ‘recovery’ costs.
For the same reason consumers are advised to clear their credit card bill each month to avoid extreme interest penalties, lot owners really should keep up to date with their levies.
Withholding levy payment as a form of protest not only risks financial costs, but an unfinancial lot owner will also lose their vote in any deliberations of the body corporate and will be unable to serve on the committee.
So they are potentially out of pocket and disenfranchised.
This is not a strong position from which to win an argument.
Instead, a lot owner wanting to query the validity of a levy or pursue a body corporate through the Commissioner’s office over some other matter is always advised to separate the issues – first, pay the levy, and independently take the appropriate action to argue the case against the body corporate.
In the case of arguing that a levy is unlawful, a lot owner has three months from when the levy was struck to lodge their case with the Commissioner’s office.
But in the meantime, the levy stands and lot owners are obliged to pay.
We would receive at least one of these enquiries a week – where owners are conflating two separate issues. Don’t fall into that trap.
People often tell us that we don’t seem like lawyers. We make a point to have real conversations with our clients in everyday language. At our core, we know that success is built on relationships.
