Question: What is the accepted legal definition of an addition/alteration, and at what point is private property considered an addition or an alteration?

How will you respond to the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the Cooper case which says that a by-law prohibiting pets is invalid? Will you wait for the dust to settle before deciding what you will do?

It’s important that both owners and bodies corporate get advice before they start (or in the case of a body corporate, approve) work. Both the lot owner and the body corporate can be punished for a contravention of the Planning Act.

The appellants sought orders from the Tribunal to improve the alleged noises, smells and vibrations from the café below them in their three lot mixed-use strata scheme. Where they successful?

The recent changes to fee recovery hearings in VCAT is progressive and will provide a time and cost-efficient way for owners corporation stakeholders in receiving VCAT’s decision on these types of matters.

With the proclamation of the revised Act on 1 May 2020, the Industry was given six months to seek a variation to contract or enter into a new agreement and ensure that as from today, their contract complies with the specific requirements of the revised legislation.

The amendments to the ACT Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 come into effect on the 1 November 2020. Kerin Benson Lawyers have provided the following Summary Table of those amendments.

NCAT’s Appeal Panel has decided that strata records are not protected by privacy laws and that an owner is entitled to inspect strata records that relate to other owners.

Owners Corporations wishing to regulate short term rental accommodation in their community should seek advice on their by-laws and how the process can be managed in light of these new regulatory changes.

Question: How would an item get onto the AGM agenda without the required notice period?

Removing committee members is a complex process that often results in disputes, which end up in the Body Corporate Commissioner’s Office. It is therefore important that a body corporate committee and body corporate manager seek expert legal advice before removing a committee member.

A recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia has highlighted the importance of making all relevant disclosures in the course of applying for an insurance policy, and the repercussions that the withholding of such disclosures may have on the enforceability of the policy.

What strata owners should expect from their strata managers and what services are and are not included as part of a strata manager’s duties can be a heated topic.

The circumstances concerning COVID-19 have been very adversarial and unprecedented in nature. This has influenced the Australian Parliament to make changes to legislation in place.

Aside from the recovery of levies, the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) (BCCMA) gives bodies corporate a number of specific protections to allow costs to be recovered from owners

The Go Solar for Strata program will give the best payback for solar for common areas, individual apartments, shared uses and embedded networks.

Many lot Owners know the strata company must have a 10 year plan but don’t understand its purpose or how this affects the type of report they should commission.

Question: Are we allowed to install roof solar panels for our Queensland unit and/or do we need body corporate permission?

As a general rule, the remuneration under a caretaking agreement increases every year. However with a negative annual inflation rate (or CPI), for only the third time in Australia’s history, bodies corporate and caretakers will need to approach any remuneration review with care.

Based on Queensland legislation, lot owners in strata buildings with common walls do not have the option to insure property defined as “building” under the BCCM Act outside of an insurance policy arranged by the body corporate. This is because of the basic principal that insurers will not insure part of a building.