A capital works fund balance tells you what an owners corporation has today. It tells you very little about how they got there, or what they have historically been willing to ask owners to pay. The special levy history tells you both.
What a special levy is
Ordinary levies are the quarterly contributions to the administrative and capital works funds, set at the annual general meeting on the basis of a budget. A special levy is an additional contribution, resolved when those funds are not sufficient to cover something the owners corporation has to pay for.
Because it is raised by resolution at a general meeting, it appears in the minutes of that meeting. That is where it is found, and it is the reason every set of minutes has to be read, not only the most recent ones.
The two things a special levy tells you
What the money was for. A levy raised to remediate a façade is a different signal from one raised to cover an insurance premium that came in above budget. The first says the building needed significant work. The second says the administrative fund ran a deficit, which in practice is the most common reason a levy appears at the end of a financial year.
What the owners corporation is prepared to do. A scheme that has raised three special levies in five years has demonstrated it will fund what needs funding. A scheme in a building with known defects that has never raised one has demonstrated something else. Neither is a verdict; both are information.
Why old levies still count. A special levy from five years ago is still evidence of how this owners corporation behaves and what this building has needed. It does not stop being relevant because it has been paid.
What it means for the lot you’re buying
A special levy is apportioned by unit entitlement, so the figure that matters is not the total raised, it is the subject lot’s share of it.
A levy of $412,000 across a large scheme may work out to a few thousand dollars for a single lot. The same figure across a nine-lot scheme is a very different proposition. A report should state both: what the levy meant for the owners corporation, and what it worked out to for the lot.
What a records inspection can and cannot establish
An inspection reports what the records contain. Where minutes record a levy, the amount, the date and the stated purpose can be reported. Where the minutes are silent on whether something was resolved, the outcome is not recorded, and it is reported as not recorded rather than inferred.
Procedural language matters here more than it looks. Moved is not carried. Noted is not resolved. A motion that was put and not passed is not a levy.
Equally, a records inspection is not a building inspection. It reports what qualified people have assessed and what the owners corporation has resolved. It does not form its own view on the condition of the building.
On future levies
A report can tell you what has been foreshadowed in the minutes, what quotes or costings are on file, and what the current fund balances are. Where those figures exist, the arithmetic between them can be stated.
What no report should do is predict what a future levy will cost. That is a forecast, not a finding, and anyone offering it is guessing.
Common questions
Want the levy history read properly?
A full strata records inspection covers every set of minutes on file, with the figures and what each one worked out to for your lot. $330 inc. GST.