Strict v Substantial Legislative Compliance – Myth Busting! The unwieldy and often complex nature of the Queensland strata legislation provides plenty of stories, which can lead to the creation of a myth! Following on from co-presenting with Commissioner Irons at the Southport Sharks last week, I thought it might be interesting to discuss one of…
Read More
End of Financial Year – Time to Get Ready! With 30 June 2019 almost upon us, preparations turn towards what needs to be done to be ready for the end of the financial year. In this article we provide some ideas and tips that might assist with your end of financial year housekeeping, starting with…
Read More
Monitored Fire Alarms in Queensland Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) have recently provided notices to the nominated building contacts of the pending 2019-20 Annual Alarm Management Charge/s to be issued in August 2019. These charges are associated with the automatic fire alarm monitoring services they provide. The QFES included a detailed fact sheet with…
Read More
QBCC Contract Requirements The QBCC (Queensland and Building Construction Commission) is Queensland’s building industry regulator. Established under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (QBCC Act), it provides information, advice and regulation. That includes resolving defective building work disputes, providing insurance to protect homeowners and licencing contractors. Under the QBCC Act, all contractors performing…
Read More
Insurance Premiums and Sinking Fund Levies – Construction Market Influences A common misconception within bodies corporate is that insurance premiums and sinking fund levies should increase with Consumer Price Index (CPI). Is this correct? Does it make sense? Well, no. In this article we look into construction markets and how this data is used by…
Read More
Transferring money between funds Questions regarding what the body corporate can do when there is not enough money allocated in a certain fund, in particular the transferring of money between the administrative fund and the sinking fund are common in our Office. In this article we will briefly touch on what are funds, how funds…
Read More
Most of our articles are Queensland centric. This one is effectively national, because while defamation is something that our constitution deems a State issue, each State has adopted the same defamation legislation. So, while this case was decided in NSW, its implications and findings are national. Defamation has been in the media a lot lately, particularly…
Read More
Commissioners Corner: Removing and Replacing Committee Members – FAQ’s We get a lot of enquiries about the process for removing and replacing committee members. While the FAQs in this article provide some general information about these topics, it’s worth saying that merely removing and replacing a committee member is not necessarily going to solve all…
Read More
Letting it Go – Not Giving Up! “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” – Ann Landers Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve had a spate…
Read More
Short Term Letting & Insurance Premium Increase Disputes Have you ever wondered what happens when a lot owner starts short-term letting and it affects the ability of the body corporate to get the required statutory insurance? If so, you might want to read this story about a dispute between owners of a two-lot scheme in…
Read More