Body corporate laws
What is a body corporate
A body corporate is a legal entity—meaning a group of people acting as one—created when land is subdivided and registered under the Land Title Act 1994 to establish a ‘community titles scheme’.
Community titles schemes
Community titles schemes provide affordable, flexible living arrangements allowing you to privately own an area of land or part of a building as well as share common property and facilities with other owners.
A community titles scheme can comprise of 2 or more units, so it could be a duplex, residential unit block, townhouse complex, high-rise accommodation building, shopping complex or business park. Queensland has more than 38,000 community titles schemes made up of around 355,000 individual lots.
The body corporate for a community titles scheme is composed of all the owners in the scheme; so when you buy a lot within a community titles scheme you automatically become a member of the scheme’s body corporate.
What a body corporate does
The body corporate maintains, manages and controls common property and facilities—such as a communal swimming pool, garden areas, access roads or lifts in a high rise unit—and decides how much owners must pay to fund its operation.
The body corporate can also establish by-laws controlling the management and use of common property, body corporate assets and in some cases the use of individual lots within the complex. For example the body corporate can make a by-law placing conditions on the keeping of pets within a complex to minimise impact on other residents; although it can’t ban pets altogether as this would be unreasonable.
The body corporate makes decisions at either a general meeting or through a representative committee. As a legal entity a body corporate must keep records, such as minutes of general and committee meetings, a list of owners, financial accounts, and registers of assets, engagements and authorisations.
As well as using contactors such as a gardener, plumber or electrician to carry out maintenance, a body corporate may also engage full or part time employees and this effects the level of fees unit owners are charged.
If you own a unit, you can’t choose not to be a member of the body corporate; so if you are buying a property in a scheme, it’s a good idea to find out what the annual body corporate fees—or levies—are first. You will have to pay them.
Read more about other rules of body corporate, including common property, committees, general meetings, financial management, duties and obligations.
Lot owners’ responsibilities
As well as paying body corporate fees for the upkeep of the common areas and facilities of the complex, all individual lot owners are legally obligated to maintain their own property in good condition.
If you don’t keep your lot clean and tidy and it can be seen from another lot or the common areas of the complex, the body corporate may have the right to undertake any repairs or maintenance at your expense.
Bodies corporate and the law
The BCCM Act
The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (the BCCM Act) regulates bodies corporate in Queensland. In particular, it outlines the rights and responsibilities of lot owners, owner occupiers and tenants (the act groups owner occupiers and tenants together as occupiers).
Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management
The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management was established as part of the BCCM Act. Its role is to help people who live, work or invest in community titles schemes by providing information about the act, amendments to the act, and by resolving disputes they may have with their body corporate.
The office of the commissioner provides:
- a dispute resolution service
- answers to telephone and written enquiries about bodies corporate
- information about bodies corporate law via personal meetings and seminars
- easy to understand information on the legislation—online and in brochures
- a database of adjudicator's decisions resolving disputes in individual community titles schemes
- searches of adjudicator's decisions.
Regulation modules
There are 5 regulation modules that complement the BCCM Act. These outline the rules for committees, general meetings, financial and property management, and insurance. Every owner should know which regulation module applies to their particular scheme.
Generally, the 5 modules are designed for the following types of schemes:
- standard—highly regulated, suitable for schemes mainly made up of resident owners
- accommodation—less regulated, suitable for schemes mainly made up of owners who let their lots
- commercial—some regulation, suitable for business premises
- small schemes—little regulation, available to schemes of 6 lots or less
- 2-lot schemes—little regulation, available to schemes of 2 lots.
By-laws
By-laws are legally binding rules for a community titles scheme that regulate matters such as pets, noise and parking on common property. A body corporate can adopt standard by-laws or can make its own specific by-laws for the complex it manages.
The body corporate is responsible for enforcing the by-laws it has made or adopted. It can issue a contravention notice to an owner or occupier if it reasonably believes that the person is breaking a by-law—for example illegally parking on a common access driveway—and it is likely that the person will continue doing so. A person who then fails to comply with a body corporate’s contravention notice then commits an offence enforceable through the Magistrates Courts.
You should get copies of the by-laws for your complex to ensure you’re familiar with your rights and responsibilities as an owner or occupier.
Find out more about by-laws.
Laws regarding common property
The BCCM Act and its associated modules state that the body corporate must maintain the common property while owners maintain their own lots.
For a community titles scheme, common property is freehold land that forms part of the scheme land, but not part of a lot included in the scheme.
To find out what parts of a scheme is common property and what are individual lots, you should get a copy of the relevant plan for the scheme from any Department of Environment and Resource Management local business centre or you can call the titles Registration Service Centre on 13 13 04.
Find out more about what the law says about maintaining common property.
Dispute resolution and adjudication
Disputes can develop over a body corporate’s decisions—over by-laws or fees for example.
The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management provides dispute resolution and information services for people who live, work or invest in community titles schemes. The dispute resolution service:
- encourages parties to resolve disputes themselves through self-resolution
- encourages parties to use conciliation to try to settle the dispute without a formal order
- resolves disputes through adjudication if the parties can’t settle the matter.
Some more 'complex' disputes—such as lot entitlements or contractual disputes—must be dealt with by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) or specialist adjudication. You can also appeal to QCAT if you are unhappy with an adjudicator’s decision.
Recent changes to body corporate law
The body corporate laws are constantly evolving to ensure they remain relevant and continue to serve the needs of people living or owning properties in community titles schemes.
In 2010 the law was amended to prevent some covenants and by-laws that banned energy efficient devices and restricted certain house designs to preserve the aesthetic appearance of a complex; for example, a body corporate cannot make a by-law prohibiting the installation of a solar hot water system or solar power cells on the grounds of preserving the external appearance of a building. Find out more about these changes.
In 2012 changes were made to make the day-to-day management of two-lot schemes—a complex comprising just two units—less complicated for owners.
The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management provides information about changes to the body corporate laws and how they affect people owning and living in properties in community titles schemes.
Find out the latest body corporate news and how changes to the law may affect you.
