Fun fact! There are no body corporate policemen. The Queensland Body Corporate and Community Management (BCCM) legislation is overwhelming. The Act combined with the associated regulation together exceeds 600 pages. The documentation is extremely prescriptive. For a self managed scheme, this can be very helpful so that committees can use the documentation to administer their […]
Both penalties and discounts are permitted to be applied to levies issued by bodies corporates that are regulated by the BCCM Act. However, it is our experience that penalties are best applied on all levies but that discounts are only applied in special circumstances. The Act permits a maximum levy penalty rate of 2.5% per […]
We recently added support for levy payment by BPAY for our DIY bodies corporate. However, the issue of bank expenses for the body corporate will be difficult to justify for many small bodies corporate. Firstly, there is a bank setup fee, typically $150. Then there are monthly banking charges, typically $10 per month. Lastly, there are individual transaction […]
This month, a lot owner’s hot water went cold. A plumber was called who found no issue with the plumbing. Eventually, Energex was called and identified a fault in the electrical infrastructure on the property. They also stated that other lot owners would have been affected in the same way. The plumber charged $200. The lot owner asked the plumber […]
We occasionally get one of the questions listed below from a prospective lot purchaser. Recently, a client using our bookkeeping service received these questions. In small schemes, committees can struggle with an answer particularly when the lot owner selling is well regarded by the committee and the committee wants to be helpful. As always, the committee needs to […]
A lot owner had some concerns about a motion that was scheduled to be voted upon at an upcoming AGM. The issue was around the motion wording, the explanatory note, and the attached quotation to the Notice of meeting. Written and verbal clarification had been sought from the committee and specifically the committee member who had organised […]
A property manager of one of our clients queried the format of the levy notice that we issue on behalf of a body corporate that we manage. They suggested that they might have to withold tax because the body corporate did not have an Australian Business Number (ABN). The body corporate is a small scheme that […]
The BCCM Commissioner recently advised that there are now in excess of 43 thousand community titles schemes in Queensland. Only 1.5% of these schemes are registered under the two-lot module, yet about 50% of the 43 thousand schemes consist of only two lots. Since the two lot regulation has only existed since February 2012, it is likely […]
This month, we helped a body corporate that came unstuck with GST after they took on the responsibility for charging lot owners for water usage. The body corporate was registered for GST. The reason for taking on the responsibility was so that a fairer allocation of the charges could be made to lot owners based on sub […]
Recently, in a body corporate that we manage, a lot owner installed solar panels on the roof above his townhouse without approval. Whilst he was totally unaware that permission was needed to make improvements to common property, it is not always easy to work out what is common property in a town house scheme. You must […]