{"id":846109,"date":"2026-08-06T23:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846109\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T23:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:04:15","slug":"strata-fees-melbourne-victorian-womans-struggle-to-sell-apartment-above-a-vape-shop-losing-my-life-savings-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/846109\/","title":{"rendered":"Strata fees Melbourne: Victorian woman\u2019s struggle to sell apartment above a vape shop, \u2018Losing my life savings\u2019 | Exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au\u2019s new series aims to raise awareness over apartment owner rights.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Exclusive: A Melbourne<\/a> woman is trapped in a property money pit after sky-high strata fees and a vape shop made it impossible to sell her unit \u2013 even at a $50,000 loss.<\/p>\n

Southbank is a bustling inner-city suburb on the banks of the Yarra River in the Victorian capital<\/a>. There are thousands of high-rise apartments in this area alone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tarrlita Kay bought her unit in 2022 and is facing selling at a more than $50,000 loss.\u00a0Tarrlita Kay<\/p>\n

Apartments in Southbank are uncharacteristically affordable for an Australian capital city \u2013 but nobody wants to buy Tarrlita Kay\u2019s two-bedroom unit.<\/p>\n

Kay told nine.com.au she believes it is because of the \u201cenormously high\u201d strata fees, driven mostly by a sky-high insurance premium to cover a vape shop at the bottom of her complex.<\/p>\n

A string of firebombings targeting tobacconists and vape shops <\/a>in Melbourne has caused commercial insurance premiums to skyrocket \u2013 and innocent homeowners like Kay are dealing with the collateral financial damage.<\/p>\n

Kay said the insurance excess for the vape shop is $150,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The apartment building is located nearby Crown Melbourne.\u00a0April Glover<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I purchased that place, it was a bit rushed, so possibly it was overlooked,\u201d Kay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I got this bill for body corporate fees, which were already about $5200 for the year, and then it went up to $7500.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought it knowing that the strata fees were already a bit too high for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kay\u2019s block has no amenities or any parking which would justify the high fees.<\/p>\n

But this yearly bill has ballooned over the building\u2019s insurance and unexpected costs associated with what Kay blames on poor building construction and water damage.<\/p>\n

Co-founder of the Strata Owners Alliance Adam Promnitz said it is unfortunate that innocent Australians are paying the price for Victoria\u2019s tobacco wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call for the supply of tobacco to be immediately banned in buildings, or adjoining buildings to where people live,\u201d Promnitz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil the Victorian government brings the crime crisis under control, this presents an unacceptable risk to peoples\u2019 lives. <\/p>\n

\u201cAllowing that risk directly beneath people\u2019s bedrooms presents an unacceptable danger to residents\u2019 lives and homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fees climb as Kay struggles to sell<\/p>\n

Her first quarterly bill came as quite a shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just moved in… I\u2019m a single mum. I was furious, absolutely furious,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing at all. There is no management on site. There\u2019s no parking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kay is slowly losing any equity she built on the unit as the months roll on.<\/p>\n

The frustrated homeowner is now desperately trying to sell for between $385,000 to $415,000, recently knocking the price down by $50,000 below the price she paid for it 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as people find out the body corporate fees, they\u2019re out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would you pay that much for an apartment when you can go somewhere else, pay less, and have amenities?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to another owner in the building, and he\u2019s in the same position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tried to sell $50,000 under his asking price and could not sell it, so he\u2019s just decided to keep his as a rental.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prices for apartments in Southbank have fallen by 1.2 per cent on average in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

The suburb itself is listed among the worst in Melbourne for hidden apartment defects, according to Forge Real Estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscounted Melbourne apartments in the CBD, Docklands, Southbank and St Kilda Road can hide costly strata defects, special levies and owners corporation disputes,\u201d the team said in a recent blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDomain reported in late 2024 that several Melbourne unit markets were still below their previous peaks, including the Melbourne CBD, Southbank, and Docklands, while more recent apartment research shows inner-city values and transaction volumes recovering unevenly across precincts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor buyers, that creates a genuine entry-point opportunity \u2013 but also a concentration of stock where vendors may be motivated to sell because holding costs, remedial works, insurance premiums, or rising levies are becoming harder to absorb.<\/p>\n

Kay\u2019s precarious position may have been unavoidable, according to strata lawyer and spokesperson for the Australian College of Strata Lawyers (ACSL) Amanda Farmer.<\/p>\n

An owners\u2019 corporation is not required to volunteer information to prospective buyers about potential or planned fee increases.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A look inside the vape shop in Southbank, Melbourne.\u00a0April Glover<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it must do, on request, is issue a certificate honestly disclosing certain prescribed information. This includes levies struck (or \u2018fees\u2019 as they\u2019re called in Victoria), current insurance details, and any upcoming works,\u201d Farmer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPotential future increases aren\u2019t on that list, so it\u2019s up to purchasers to do their own due diligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmer warned prospective apartment owners to be mindful that strata fees are seldom stagnant.<\/p>\n

As the cost of properties rise and cost of living continues to climb, so will the cost of owning a unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe sure you\u2019ve factored an increase into your budget. And when you are looking at records, look for things like: expert reports and engineers\u2019 recommendations about the repair or maintenance of the building; disclosures made to the insurer; copies of legal advice,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where you may find hints that levies are about to increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Insurance for the vape shop has caused Kay\u2019s strata fees to rise.\u00a0April Glover<\/p>\n

\u2018Constantly paying them back\u2019<\/p>\n

Kay\u2019s unit is still for sale, but she doesn\u2019t have much hope it will sell any time soon, particularly as the Melbourne market faces a downturn.<\/p>\n

She is now renting the property out as she anxiously awaits a willing buyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to stay for sale, because if I take it off for sale, I\u2019ve got to pay up the advertising fees,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to take it off so that I could wait until the market changes, but I\u2019m really in a tight place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unrelenting strata fees remain an albatross around her neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m constantly trying to pay it back,\u201d Kay said. \u201cI\u2019m basically losing my life savings through that apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine.com.au\u2019s new series aims to raise awareness over apartment owner rights.\u00a0Nine Exclusive: A Melbourne woman is trapped in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-846109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}