A Queensland body corporate is a legal entity. It comes into being when land is subdivided and the plan is registered under the Land Title Act 1994, setting up a community titles scheme. Every owner in the scheme becomes a member automatically on buying a lot. Membership cannot be opted out of. Strata Management is a guide to how that body corporate is run, written and published by Dotto.
Explanatory noteMost Queensland bodies corporate come under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (the BCCM Act), with a regulation module chosen to suit the kind of scheme. A body corporate with no community management statement recorded falls under one of several older Acts instead, and Titles Queensland can say which. This guide covers BCCM Act schemes only, as general information, not legal advice.
What a body corporate does
The Queensland Government describes its role as administering the common property and body corporate assets for the benefit of all the owners. In practice, the body corporate:
- maintains, manages and controls the common property for the owners;
- decides what owners pay so that it can operate;
- makes and enforces by-laws, the rules on what owners and residents may and may not do;
- insures for the owners, including public risk cover over the common property and building insurance;
- manages and controls its own assets;
- keeps the records, from minutes and the roll of owners to the accounts and registers.
It decides these things at general meetings and through its committee. A scheme can be as small as 2 lots, from a duplex to a high-rise building, a shopping complex or a business park.
The agenda
Five guides, each built around one kind of decision, with the rule that governs it.
- The committee and what it may decideWho sits on it, how it votes, and the questions only a general meeting can settle.Elected at each annual general meeting
- Body corporate managers and caretakersFour roles a body corporate can engage, what each may do, and where a licence comes in.Manager engaged by ordinary resolution
- The budget and committee spendingHow the yearly budgets are set, and how far the committee can spend without a general meeting.Budgets approved by ordinary resolution
- By-laws in a Queensland schemeWhere to find them, how they change, what they cannot say, and how a breach is dealt with.Usually changed by special resolution
- Disputes and the Commissioner’s officeSelf resolution, conciliation and adjudication, and the disputes that go to QCAT or a court instead.Self resolution first, then conciliation
Three roles people often confuse
The committee is made up of lot owners or people acting for them, elected by the owners. A body corporate manager is engaged to supply administrative services, and in the Queensland Government’s words, “At present, body corporate managers do not need to be licensed in Queensland.” A caretaking service contractor looks after services for the scheme and is also its authorised letting agent, or an associate of one. The guide to managers and caretakers sets the roles side by side.
Where the official word is
The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management gives information to people who live, invest or work in Queensland bodies corporate, and resolves disputes by conciliation and adjudication. Its information service is on 1800 060 119 (freecall), and it does not give legal advice or tell anyone about their own body corporate. Its services and forms page is the place to start.