Qld’s body corporate watchdog needs help: former boss

Queensland’s body corporate watchdog has failed to keep pace with an explosion in apartment living and is grossly understaffed and ‘running on the smell of an oily rag’, says its former commissioner.

Chris Irons spent more than five years as the Body Corporate and Community Management Commissioner before joining law firm Hynes Legal as a strata advisor in 2020.

It was during his reign when unit developments boomed under the State Government’s priority for urban consolidation.

Between September 2015 and September 2020 there were more than 5,000 new registered bodies corporate and 80,000 new strata title lots.

During that period there was also a 33 per cent spike in disputes lodged with the BCCM and yet the watchdog did not employ one additional staff member.

“My former office is running on the smell of an oily rag. I can say that now I am not there,” Mr Irons said.

“There is one office for the entire state and the number of people in that office has not gone up in proportion to the number of bodies corporate and strata title owners each year.”

FOLLOW THE COURIER-MAIL REAL ESTATE TEAM ON FACEBOOK

Figures obtained by The Courier-Mail show the BCCM employed 30 staff in 2015 and that number has remained stagnant despites apartment relentlessly popping-up across the state.

In tandem, the number of strata title lots skyrocketed from 422,852 in September 2015 to 505,213 in September 2020 and along with it, disputes have markedly increased.

“There are a lot of people who buy a new apartment and have no idea what they are getting themselves into … and don’t know about levies, voting, maintenance and improvements or by-laws,” he said.

“The place they turn to is my former office and it is literally one of a kind but it needs to be supported and resourced.”

Conciliations rose from 557 to 663 between 2015-20 and dispute resolutions have leapt from 1284 to 1696 during the same period.

The BCCM has just seven adjudicators and four conciliators to deal with the growing number of issues, which include disputes over pets, parking spaces and maintenance, that are lodged.

The BCCM comes under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

A Justice Department representative said they were working on a reframing legislation that governs bodies corporate.

“The government has committed to establishing a new Community Titles Legislation Working Group to examine matters arising out of the Queensland University of Technology property law review, and other matters of interest to bodies corporate and broader strata community,” they said.

“The working group will be chaired by the Deputy Director-General – Liquor, Gaming and Fair Trading and it will include key stakeholder representatives.”

The review had been underway for sometime, but it did not directly cover the BCCM’s duties and the blowout in the amount it time to takes to deal with complaints, Mr Irons said.

He said the review would look at the powers of a Bodies Corporate in dealing with smoking and pet complaints as well as potentially preventing units being let on Air Bnb.

“When this property law review started Airbnb was not really a big thing and Body Corporate legislation is pretty inflexible … a body corporate can’t ban Airbnb. But it is an issue now,” he said.

“It’s good to have a working party … but it doesn’t do anything for the day-to-day demands on that office.”

MORE REAL ESTATE STORIES

BUYERS FLOCK TO BECOME ASH BARTY NEIGHBOURS

Mr Irons said the BCCM was an essential service and did an outstanding job despite being understaffed.

Anyone tenant or owner, who is not familiar with the government department, needs to be.

One of the hot issues for new and current owners was body corporate fees as well as maintenance programs, animal by-laws and committees.

He said prospective owners should always be wary of any new development offering ‘low body corporate fees’ as they can literally change overnight.

“I think it should raise red flags straight, whenever something is advertised as low body corporate fees, as they can change in an instant and go up dramatically,” he said.

“The best example of that is if there are serious works that are needed, like a new lift, a cooling tower or the swimming pool needs to be fixed.

“They are never cheap, especially if they are not foreseen and not budgeted for.”

He urged anyone who buys a strata title property to be familiar with all aspects of ownership and their obligations to a body corporate, and vice-versa, and, where possible, join the committee.

“The only way forward, whether you like it or not, you are part of the body corporate and being involved is not as hard as people may think it is,” he said.

“It’s the surest way possible to ensure everything have invested is protected.”

Specialist strata lawyer Michael Kleinschmidt said in more than two decades of representing clients in disputes, he as seen a blowout in time frames to resolve issues through the BCCM.

“In our experience, resolution times, especially for adjudication, have been increasing,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Unit Owners Association of Queensland said that other than a delay in response time during the early weeks of the pandemic, they have not experienced any increases in wait times for responses.