On 29 September 2020, the QLD government finally released the long-awaited new body corporate and community management regulations. The changes subjects of these regulations come into effect on 1 March 2021. The new regulations are designed to facilitate the modernisation of committee and general meeting procedures and to enhance lot owner protections. Some of the changes include:
- greater facilitation of electronic voting, electronic delivery of notices and attending meetings electronically;
- limitations upon the use of powers of attorney to prevent “proxy farming” under a previous regulatory loophole;
- restriction of benefits being received by committee members from caretakers and service contractors, without body corporate approval;
- additional requirements for body corporate managers and caretakers for the disclosure of benefits and commissions, with the actual monetary amount of the commission, payment or other benefit being required to be disclosed to the body corporate;
- increased requirements for the documents and information a developer is required to hand over to the body corporate at the first AGM;
- establishment of lot owners’ ability to submit agenda items for consideration at committee meetings and the first AGM;
- further clarity of a lot owner’s responsibility for utility infrastructure which only services their lot;
- creation of a statutory duty of a body corporate to consider a defect assessment motion at the general meeting after the first AGM; and
- clarification of the requirement of lot owners to serve documents on the secretary as including giving documents to the body corporate manager, who has been properly authorised to exercise some or all of the functions of the secretary.
The new regulations represent the most significant change for many years in the way that bodies corporate are administered. If you would like to arrange for Chambers Russell Lawyers to provide you with further information on the new regulations or to register your interest for one of our webinars, please contact us.