Applying lot entitlements
This information is relevant to all schemes in Queensland registered under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (the Act) and any of the 5 regulation modules.
The community management statement for each community titles scheme in Queensland has 2 schedules of lot entitlements.
They are the:
- contribution schedule
- interest schedule.
See how lot entitlements are set under these schedules.
Lot entitlements decide many issues including an owner’s share in body corporate costs.
This page gives you some examples of how lot entitlements would be applied when deciding body corporate spending and voting.
Owner contributions
At its annual general meeting a body corporate approves an administrative fund budget for expected expenses. They may include (but are not limited to):
- maintenance of the common property gardens
- payment of the body corporate management fees
- cleaning of the common property driveway.
These expenses must be divided among the owners according to the contribution schedule lot entitlements. While schemes, registered under the Specified Two-lot Schemes Module do not have administrative or sinking funds, they are still required to divide the agreed expenses based on the contribution schedule lot entitlements.
If, for example, you have 3 contribution schedule lot entitlements and the total contribution schedule lot entitlements for the scheme is 30, you will contribute 3/30 or 10% of these costs.
The expenses are divided equally among the owners only if the contribution schedule lot entitlements for each lot in the scheme is equal. A body corporate cannot decide to equally share body corporate costs when the contribution schedule lot entitlements are not equal.
The scheme’s lot entitlements would have to be adjusted before owners would pay equal contributions.
For more information see:
Insurance
If a body corporate is required under the Act to take out building insurance, the premium may not be divided according to the contribution schedule lot entitlements of each lot.
This is because insurance is treated differently from most other body corporate expenses.
How building insurance costs are divided depends on the type of plan of subdivision that applies to the scheme.
- In a scheme created under a building format plan, the cost of building insurance is divided among the owners based on the interest schedule lot entitlements for the scheme.
- In a scheme created under a standard format plan, the cost of insurance is divided on the basis of the cost of re-instating the buildings on the lot.
Read more about insurance.
Voting when a poll has been requested
Usually when voting on a motion that can be decided by ordinary resolution, each lot in the scheme has 1 vote. However, the Act allows owners to request a poll vote.
A poll is another way of counting votes. It takes into account the contribution schedule lot entitlements for the scheme.
There are strict laws around requesting a poll vote and counting votes for a poll. Find out about poll voting at general meetings.