Law Talks Episode: Resolving body corporate disputes

Robyn: Good morning and welcome to another edition of4CRB’s law talks and today, joining me from Attwood Marshall Lawyers is commercial litigation, senior associate Georgia Taylor. Thanks for joining me, Georgia.

Georgia: Good morning.

Robyn: Well, today we’re going to be talking about a topic which I believe may be pertinent to many of our listeners who reside in a unit complex, a duplex or high rise and that is body corporate disputes. Georgia, can you start by telling our listeners what is a body corporate?

Georgia: Of course. So, while each state and territory has its own legislation in a general sense, a body corporate is a legal entity which is formed by a group of owners who combine their common assets, lands or properties for the benefit of group members or otherwise the residents.

In the Queensland Government website, the role of a body corporate is to administer common property and body corporate assets for the benefit of all owners and also to undertake functions required under the body corporate legislation, such as your general reporting obligations.

Robyn: So, I imagine when people live in that kind of arrangement that not everybody agrees on many things. So, in your experience, what are the most common body corporate disputes?

Georgia: Body corporate disputes would be the most common, but certainly if they’re coming across our desk, what common things you can see are disagreements about repairs of common property when things need to be repaired, and why, and also to what standard. Often around your AGM time, insurance issues are a big, big qualm for people. The reason that is, is that some people may believe you need one particular level of insurance, the cost might have gone up and those sorts of things.

The other one would be if the body corporate wants to render a special levy for some either important repairs or improvements to the property as well. That always can cause the owners within the body corporate some distress because obviously they are just going to be given a large bill that they have to pay.

Robyn: Yeah. And I imagine that can be quite distressing. How do these disputes affect people’s everyday lives?

Georgia: Really, when it comes to your body corporate disputes, you have to think of it like you’re having a dispute with your neighbour, particularly if you’re in a smaller complex or a duplex. These are the people that are living, breathing and undertaking their lives right next to you. So, when you’re going home and you’re in a dispute with your neighbour, it can induce a lot of anxiety for everybody. So, it’s your place of residence that you need to share with a lot of other people. So really I find when it comes to body corporate disputes, it’s also the emotional toll that it will take on people knowing that they’re safe place in their home might be somewhere that’s causing them a little bit of angst if they’re not quite happy with what’s going on within the body corporate.

Robyn: And can become quite stressful. And how does someone identify if they can raise an issue about a body corporate scheme?

Georgia: So in terms of raising an issue about a body corporate scheme, if you’re perhaps not happy with how repairs are being done or maintenance is being done, you can always bring that up either with the company that manages your body corporate or if you’re a part of a larger scheme, you might have a body corporate manager or somebody who’s engaged permanently to conduct the maintenance of the property. If you’ve got an issue, it’s always best to address it in a calm manner with somebody, particularly perhaps independent of the committee itself, so that managerial entity to say, hey, this is what I’ve noticed. Is this an issue?

The other place to look is always your bylaws. That’s kind of your Bible when it comes to your body corporate, so that will tell you what people are allowed to be doing, what they’re not allowed to be doing. And then also, you’re generally allowed to attend all of the body corporate meetings as well. So, if you do have an issue that needs to be raised, you’re always allowed to attend and ask the people who are managing that scheme, if there is an issue.

Robyn: Yeah, okay. And how does someone know when to escalate an issue and to seek further advice?

Georgia: The seeking advice externally, rather than going towards the committee is really going to be situationally dependent. Is this just something minor such as, again, perhaps the maintenance not being done when you believe it should be done or in accordance with what the body corporate committee has decided or what everybody’s agreed on. Or is it something that perhaps affecting your direct lot? Is this an insurance claim you’ve made that’s not being managed. Is this an issue with a special levy that might not have gone through the committee when you needed it to? So really, it’s going to depend on what that issue is, but you should always be able to feel comfortable with what you’re doing within your scheme.

So, seeking that independent legal advice, when you feel like it’s necessary when you need some peace of mind is always going to be the best time to do it.

Robyn: And can you please explain the dispute resolution mechanism within common body corporate schemes?

Georgia: So generally, if you have a dispute within your body corporate, you should always try and resolve it at the bottom end which is either with the particular person that has an issue or within the committee or with the manager that is conducting the general day to day operations of your scheme.

The next step would be to consult your bylaws. Generally, they will have a dispute resolution process in there, how to deal with any sort of particular disputes.

The next thing to do would be to have a look at the office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management, if you’re in Queensland. They do have a conciliation scheme or something that may be appropriate for adjudication, which is where you get a final decision.

So, it’s going to first step review bylaws or see if you can resolve it yourself. Otherwise, there are a lot of free resources within the Commissioner’s website as well, and then of course you can always go and seek legal advice.

Robyn: And have you experience of a high-profile case here on the Gold Coast?

Georgia: In terms of the work that we do, we always like that they’re resolved. In which case the juicy details are something that can’t be disclosed. In some sort of context we’ve acted for owners and or the body corporates themselves in disputes with, for instance, full time maintenance managers who alleged weren’t carrying out their duties with managers of the scheme who weren’t carrying out their duties in accordance with their agreements as well. We have dealt with disputes with owners regarding waterways in some of your waterfront schemes. So, they can really range. And again, we always try to aim to resolve those disputes as amicably as possible.

Robyn: Yeah. Well, I’m sure your advice today has been very helpful for many of our listeners. Thanks for joining us today.

Georgia: Thank you so much.

Robyn: You’ve been listening to law talks here on 4CRB, which you can hear every Friday morning from 9 o’clock.