2025–26 levies

3 levy periods → 4 levy quarters

The committee pays the same levies as all the other lot owners, so we make decisions knowing they affect us too! We also know lots of us are finding it tough. We had to balance that with making sure that Northmarque has enough money to operate and for contingency if something happens. We also need to start building some savings to do the sort of maintenance that complexes like ours need as they age – that’s something that hasn’t been considered before now.

We need to keep levies the same for the year (actually a little bit less than the actual total last year), but still have enough money to run the community. So what to do?

The short answer

We were able to split the remaining $6,300 for FY2026 into 3 payments of $2,100 – $1,816 if paid by the due date – instead of 2 more payments of $3,150. The longer answer is below.

The longer answer

Until this year, Northmarque has operated on 3 levy periods each financial year. This meant that an interim levy was decided at the previous financial year’s AGM (e.g. The 2025–26 interim levy in Table 1 below was decided at the 2024–25 AGM). The amount of this levy is often significantly less than what it really should be, with the remainder then being split over only 2 more payments.

The only way to reduce the amount payable for those next 2 payments was to reduce the total budget for Northmarque and then when things go wrong, owners are expected to pay a ‘special contribution’. This is financially irresponsible and also means owners have no idea how much their total levies are each year – that total could change at any time! The committee talks more about our more responsible approach to budgeting on the Budget page.

A bit of a downside

We were already going to have some tighter due dates for paying levies this year because of the delayed AGM. See the Timeline section on this page for more about that. And remember, we are still paying the same amount for the year of $6,300 ($8,400 less the $2,100 from August 2025) regardless. But…

It does mean we have 3 due dates that are only about 6 weeks apart (Sidenote: no levies have been due since 01–Aug–2025 though!). Each one of those will be for $2,100.  So the same amount of money needs to be paid either way. However…

The benefit of 3 payments though is that everyone now has 3 chances to pay by the due date and take advantage of the discount! And hopefully that will be easier than having to find $3,150 in 2 big chunks.

All these numbers are probably a fair bit to get your head around, so hopefully seeing it in the tables below will make it a bit easier. Don’t be afraid to ask questions though – we asked our resident accountants for help too. If you have questions, just contact us.

Before we do that though, a quick refresher →

Understanding levies

There are 2 funds

How your share is worked out

Every lot at Northmarque pays the same amount. This is called the Equality Principle – it is set in our Community Management Statement and means your levy does not depend on the size or value of your unit.

Timeline

The 2025–26 AGM is running late this year – it is scheduled for 15 April – which has compressed the levy schedule. The AGM being delayed and all the other dates are a bit confusing. We put together a timeline because when we drew it on a whiteboard it helped us — our drawing skills are average, so we cleaned it up. We hope it makes things a bit easier for you too.

2025 – 2026 financial year (FY2026)

01–Aug–2025 to 31–Jul–2026

		Administrative fund/Lot			Sinking fund/Lot			Admin + Sinking/Lot			Notices
Quarter and dates		Gross levy	Discount	Nett levy	Gross levy	Discount	Nett levy	Gross levy	Discount	Nett levy	Due date	Status
Q1	01–Aug–2025 to 30–Nov–2025	$1,500.00	$225.00	$1,275.00	$600.00	$90.00	$510.00	$2,100.00	$315.00	$1,808.90	01–Aug–2025	PAID ✓
			15.00%	85.00%		15.00%	85.00%		15.00%	85.00%
Q2	01–Dec–2025 to 31–Jan–2026	$1,655.00	$225.00	$1,430.00	$445.00	$59.00	$386.00	$2,100.00	$284.00	$1,816.00	13–May–2026	UPCOMING
			13.60%	86.40%		13.26%	86.74%		13.52%	86.48%
Q3	01–Feb–2026 to 30–Apr–2026	$1,655.00	$225.00	$1,430.00	$445.00	$59.00	$386.00	$2,100.00	$284.00	$1,816.00	24–Jun–2026	UPCOMING
			13.60%	86.40%		13.26%	86.74%		13.52%	86.48%
Q4	01–May–2026 to 31–Jul–2026	$1,655.00	$225.00	$1,430.00	$445.00	$59.00	$386.00	$2,100.00	$284.00	$1,816.00	05–Aug–2026	UPCOMING
			13.60%	86.40%		13.26%	86.74%		13.52%	86.48%
	Lot total	$6,465.00	$900.00	$5,565.00	$1,935.00	$267.00	$1,668.00	$8,400.00	$957.00	$7,256.90
			13.92%	86.08%		13.80%	86.20%		13.89%	86.11%
	Scheme total	$439,620.00	$61,200.00	$378,420.00	$131,580.00	$18,156.00	$113,424.00	$571,200.00	$65,076.00	$493,469.20

Discount summary

	Administrative fund		Sinking fund		Combined
Q1	15.00%	85.00%	15.00%	85.00%	15.00%	85.00%
Q2–Q4	13.60%	86.40%	13.26%	86.74%	13.52%	86.48%
FY2025–26	13.92%	86.08%	13.80%	86.20%	13.89%	86.11%

How the discount percentage was determined

When the 2024–25 budget was prepared by the scheme’s previous manager, Hartley’s, the discount calculation contained errors that – if left uncorrected – would have produced a shortfall in expected income of around $8,000.

The committee considered three options:

1. reduce the discount slightly to protect budgeted income;
2. retain the 15% discount and absorb the shortfall; or
3. increase levies to preserve both the 15% discount and the budgeted income.

The committee decided the first option was the most prudent – it keeps levies lower, still offers a meaningful discount, and avoids the risk of a deficit requiring special contributions. Owners who pay all 2025–26 levies by their due dates will receive a combined discount of 13.89% across both the administrative and sinking funds.

2026 – 2027 financial year (FY2027)

01–Aug–2026 to 31–Jul–2027

Administrative fund/Lot

Sinking fund/Lot

Admin + Sinking/Lot

Notices

Quarter and dates

Gross levy

Discount

Nett levy

Gross levy

Discount

Nett levy

Gross levy

Discount

Nett levy

Due date

Status

Q1

01–Aug–2026 to 31–Oct–2026

$1,694.00

$254.00

$1,440.00

$478.00

$71.00

$407.00

$2,172.00

$325.00

$1,847.00

17–Sep–2026

UPCOMING

14.99%

85.01%

14.85%

85.15%

14.96%

85.04%

Q2

01–Nov–2026 to 31–Jan–2027

01–Nov–2026

UPCOMING

Q3

01–Feb–2027 to 30–Apr–2027

01–Feb–2027

UPCOMING

Q4

01–May–2027 to 31–Jul–2027

01–May–2027

UPCOMING

The 2026–27 discount

For 2026–27, the discount reverts to approximately 15%. The small variation from exactly 15% reflects the committee’s decision to use whole-dollar amounts for levies and discount figures.

No cents on the levies – it seemed the sensible approach to us!

A few final thoughts

Issuing of notices

Notices for payment will be issued by BC Systems. The FY2026 Q2 notice should come out almost immediately after the AGM. Subsequent quarters will usually be between 30 and 45 days prior to the due date.

If you are registered with BC Systems to received notices by email, that’s how you will get the levy notice. Otherwise, it will arrive by post. If you aren’t sure or would like to change your preference for how you receive notices, please contact us.

Levy discounts

Firstly, we encourage you to review the Frequently Asked Questions about levies and discounts.

Put simply, for the 2025–26 financial year, if payment is received by the due dates indicated in the tables above, then the amount owing is the figure in the ‘Nett levy’ columns.

If you have read this page and the FAQs, but still have questions, please contact us.