If a lot owner sells during an adjudicator dispute about unlawful special levies, does any refund go to the former or current owner?

If a lot owner commences an Adjudication Application, but the lot owner sells their lot before the Application is finally determined, then the Application will continue, unaffected, unless the Commissioner substitutes a new person in, for the original lot owner Applicant; see section 239C of the BCCM Act.

The Commissioner may take that action where, for example, the relief sought in the Application is not personal to the original Applicant, such as where the Application seeks orders that the body corporate fix a leaking waterproofing membrane inside the Applicant's Lot.

The Commissioner is unlikely to make such a substitution of Applicant, where the relief sought in the Application is personal, such as where the Application seeks reimbursement for funds expended by the lot owner Applicant, in rectifying damage within their lot caused by the body corporate's failure to discharge its statutory duties; for example, to keep windows in good condition, by ensuring they did not leak.

If we assume that the original lot owner Applicant remains as the Applicant, and the dispute was about the validity of contributions (levies), then it is the original lot owner Applicant who would (and should) receive the benefit of the Adjudicator's order that the improperly raised contributions be repaid.

Adjudicators do consider these matters, and not just the circumstances of the lot owner Applicant before them. Prudent Adjudicators in this situation would enquire as to how many other lots have changed ownership since the unlawful contributions (levies) were raised. They may then use their investigative powers further to obtain information to enable them to craft orders to achieve a just result. In summary, orders that provide that person who bore the expense of the unlawful contribution, is the person who gets the refund.