WA Unpaid Parking- Lease notice

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therealbatman

Member
11 July 2017
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Hello,
I am an owner of an apartment in Perth (CBD). When I purchased the apartment there was a parking space that comes with it. I didn't know that I have to pay for a parking fee. In 2014, the owner of the parking space sent out a notice that from July 2014 onwards, we have to pay for the parking fee. And I have complied to that request. Here is the complete notice sent out Sept 2014.

" A review of the existing lease for the above car bay has shown that you are liable to pay all outgoing cost incurred by the lessor that contributed to the ownership of the car bay.

Please find attached a worksheet showing the increased cost incurred by the Lessor of lot x 148a Adelaide Terrace as a direct consequence of owning the car bay leased to you as a Lessee.

Although these cost have not been passed onto you in the past, the lease does not allow for these cost to be recovered from the Lessee of each car bay.

To date, we have been instrumental in convincing the Lessor not to back charge the affected Lessee for outgoings prior to July 2014.

As such, you will be invoiced from these outgoing cost effective the 1st July 2014."

Recently, the strata manager contacted my property manager asking for payment from 2012-2014.
We showed them that noticed and quoted us with this reply

"Although these costs have not passed onto you in past, the lease does allow for these cost to be recovered from the Lessee of each car bay” - which means that the owner can recover the cost anytime. This is in accordance to your lease.

and

To date we have been instrumental in convincing the Lessor not to back change the affected Lessee for outgoings prior to July 2014..” -
which means that until the date of that letter we managed to convince the owner to refrain charging but that does not restricts him to recover in future i.e. as of today.

The cost to pay that parking is over $2500+ and with the current rental market situation, I dnt think I can afford to pay it.

I have never signed a parking lease, as far as I know. and I was not told about the lease until we received that notice.

Do they have a case against us? Do we need to secure legal counsel to close this? Do we need to pay them or not? What should we do?

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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What does your parking lease say about costs?

Must say I'm a newbie when it comes to CBD apartment purchases. It never occurred to me that you have a separate lease for parking.

It gets complicated as I assume you are renting out the apartment and if you'd known about the costs you would have asked for more rent to cover the parking costs. They have denied you the opportunity to recover these costs and you'd have a good counter claim against the car park owner based on the notice you received.

What does your property manager say about the charges?
 

therealbatman

Member
11 July 2017
3
0
1
when we received the noticed last 2014 they wanted us to pay $104.70 per month for the parking. I never saw the lease agreement and I cnt remember signing any. there was no way I could recover the cost of the parking on those years cos we were never aware of it in the first place.

My property manager said they dnt have a case for us and they cnt back charge us for those years. but then again she suggested to get an opinion from a legal practitioner. she has sent me his CV and his rate and he cost like $405/hr and he is not even a lawyer.

I am looking to get some legal advise or something that wont cost me that much. I wont be able to recover that expenses with the current rental market. and plus I just secured a tenant after being without a tenant for over 3 mos. and if this goes to court I could end up paying more. one that I cant really afford.
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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I'd be asking the other party in writing for the signed lease agreement, at the same time as telling them you don't believe you ever signed an agreement. I'd throw in a comment that they will become liable for all your costs if you successfully defend the matter.

You don't need a lawyer just yet.