Explaining the BCCM Act amendments

AccomNews Sunday, April 14, 2013

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The Queensland parliament recently passed the Body Corporate and Community Management and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013.

The act contains a number of important changes to the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 concerning lot entitlement changes and disclosure requirements on the sale of lots.

Ending the 2011 reversion process – The amendments bringing an end to the lot entitlement ‘reversion process’ established in 2011 are taken to have commenced on 14 September 2012 (the date the amendments were first introduced into the parliament). The 2011 amendments to the act included a reversion process that applied to existing schemes that had, prior to the amendments, been subject to a contribution schedule lot entitlement adjustment order of a specialist adjudicator, tribunal or court. The reversion provisions enabled a lot owner to request the body corporate to revert the contribution schedule lot entitlements to their pre-adjustment settings.

The reversion process had 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 act 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 amendments enabling a body corporate affected by a reversion process to reinstate the contribution schedule lot entitlements last decided by a specialist adjudicator, tribunal or court commenced on 27 March 2013.

A lot owner in a scheme affected by a 2011 reversion process may submit a request to the 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 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.

Also, from 27 March 2013 a body corporate may proceed to register a new community management statement to reflect a lot entitlement adjustment order that was previously unable to be acted on due to the 2011 amendments.
In addition, the amendments clarifying jurisdiction for disputes about changes to lot entitlements decided by resolution without dissent also commenced on 27 March 2013.

Removal of certain disclosure provisions for the sale of lots – The amendments to reduce disclosure requirements and red tape associated with the sale of lots in a community titles scheme will commence on a date to be set by proclamation. Those provisions remove the requirement for a seller of an existing lot to:

• provide a copy of the scheme’s CMS with the disclosure statement given to prospective buyers;

• state in the disclosure statement the extent to which the annual contributions 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.

They also remove the requirement for 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 act can be viewed at: http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/ACTS/2013/13AC011.pdf

The BCCM Office is developing a factsheet explaining the effect of the Body Corporate and Community Management and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013.