Industry

A bill to end lot entitlement reversions

A bill to amend the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 was introduced to parliament on 14 September.  

In accordance with Standing Order 131 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, the bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration.

The committee is due to report back to the parliament by 22 November 2012.

The explanatory notes to the bill state in part:

The principal objectives of the bill are to:

  • remove the requirement for bodies corporate to undertake a process to adjust contribution schedule lot entitlements to reflect the original entitlements prior to any, and all, relevant orders of a court, tribunal or specialist adjudicator;
  • establish a process for contribution schedule lot entitlements that were adjusted pursuant to the 2011 reversion process to be changed to reflect the lot entitlements that applied to the scheme prior to the application of the reversion process;
  • remove certain disclosure requirements for sellers of lots in community titles schemes and;
  • provide jurisdictional consistency for the resolution of disputes about contribution schedule lot entitlement adjustments.

Ending the 2011 ‘reversion process’ – The 2011 amendments to the act included a ‘reversion process’ that applied to existing schemes that have, prior to the amendments, been subject to a contribution schedule lot entitlement adjustment order of a specialist adjudicator, tribunal or court. The reversion provisions enable a lot owner to request the body corporate to revert the contribution schedule lot entitlements to their pre-adjustment settings.

The ‘reversion process’ has come under significant criticism by some lot owners and peak legal and stakeholder bodies for allowing a single lot owner the ability to effectively overturn a lawful order of an independent court, tribunal or specialist adjudicator. The bill removes the ability of a lot owner to compel a body corporate to undertake the ‘reversion process’.

Adjusting lot entitlements affected by the 2011 reversion process – The bill provides a new process for dealing with contribution schedule lot entitlements that have been affected by the reversion process introduced in 2011. A lot owner may submit a request to the body corporate committee proposing an adjustment of the contribution schedule lot entitlements to reflect the contribution schedule lot entitlements as they applied prior to the 2011 reversion process.

The committee must undertake a prescribed process to notify and engage the body corporate of the proposal, prior to changing the contribution schedule lot entitlements to re-instate the lot entitlements that applied prior to the reversion process, subject to any adjustments necessary to reflect relevant amalgamations, subdivisions, boundary alterations and any other material changes to the scheme.

Removal of certain disclosure provisions for the sale of lots – The bill removes the provisions of the act that require a seller of an existing lot to:

  • provide a copy of the scheme’s community management statement with the disclosure statement given to prospective buyers;
  • state in the disclosure statement the extent to which the annual contribution is based on the contribution schedule lot entitlements and interest schedule lot entitlements; and
  • state in the disclosure statement that the contribution schedule lot entitlements and interest schedule lot entitlements are set out in the CMS for the scheme.

The bill also removes the provisions of the act that require a seller of a proposed lot to state in the disclosure statement given to proposed buyers:

  • the extent to which the annual contributions is based on the contribution schedule lot entitlements, and interest schedule lot entitlements; and
  • that the contribution schedule lot entitlements, and interest schedule lot entitlements are set out in the proposed CMS for the scheme.

The bill can be viewed at:  http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/Bills/54PDF/2012/BodyCorpOLAB12.pdf

Related Articles

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Back to top button
WP Tumblr Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com
AccomNews
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x