Strata Building Management

State elective: Queensland

Goal: apply the core lessons in Queensland: the BCCM Act and your scheme’s module, how by-laws are enforced, the Commissioner’s dispute process, and the Queensland regulators you’ll deal with.

The framework

The law:

• Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (the BCCM Act), plus one of five regulation modules (Standard, Accommodation, Commercial, Small Schemes, Specified Two-Lot). The module is on the community management statement (CMS).
• The CMS holds the scheme’s by-laws, lot entitlements, any exclusive use allocations and the module. Changes to by-laws must be recorded on a new CMS to take effect.
• The scheme’s legal name is “Body Corporate for [name] Community Titles Scheme [number]”. Use it on contracts and work orders.
• Information and disputes: the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management. Appeals on a question of law go to QCAT.

Caretakers, service contractors and letting agents

Lesson 3 covered engagement, the code of conduct and remedial action notices; the Queensland management rights elective covers the business side. Points worth repeating:

• Every engagement must be in writing, approved by ordinary resolution at a general meeting after the developer’s first one, and within the module’s maximum term (10 years Standard, 25 years Accommodation and Commercial).
• You must comply with the code of conduct in Schedule 2. Where your contract and the code disagree, the code applies.
• A remedial action notice gives at least 14 days to fix a failure. Read it the day it arrives, respond in writing, fix what’s fair to fix, and get advice.
• The committee can’t direct you about how you do your letting business, but it can direct you about your caretaking duties.

Spending and the committee

The law:

• The committee can’t approve spending above the major spending limit (set by the module, based on the number of lots, and changeable by the owners at a general meeting). That needs a general meeting.
• Before the committee approves spending above the major spending limit (where allowed) or puts a motion to a general meeting, it must get at least two quotes, unless that’s impractical.
• In an emergency, the committee can spend above its limit to deal with the emergency.
• The body corporate’s sinking fund budget must cover the current year and make reasonable provision for the next nine. Most schemes get a 10-year sinking fund forecast from a quantity surveyor.

Who maintains what

• Building format plans: lot boundaries follow the building. The body corporate also maintains some items that are part of lots, including railings, parapets and balustrades on lot boundaries, doors and windows on boundaries, and roofing membranes protecting lots.
• Standard format plans: lot boundaries are surveyed on the ground, and owners maintain the buildings on their own lots.
• Entry to lots: at least 7 days’ written notice for maintenance access, at a reasonable time, except in an emergency.

By-laws and enforcement

1. Talk first and record what you see (Lesson 13).
2. The body corporate (usually by committee decision) gives a contravention notice: BCCM Form 10 for a continuing contravention (stop it within a stated time) or Form 11 for a likely repeat (don’t do it again).
3. If the breach continues, the body corporate can apply to the Commissioner’s office for conciliation, then adjudication, or in some cases start Magistrates Court proceedings for a by-law offence.

The law, recent changes:

• Pets: since 1 May 2024, by-laws can’t ban animals or restrict their number, type or size. They can set reasonable conditions, and an animal can be refused only where it poses a risk that conditions can’t manage.
• Short stays: by-laws can’t restrict the type of residential use of a lot, so short-stay letting generally can’t be banned by by-law. Guests are bound by the by-laws.

The Commissioner’s dispute process

1. Try to resolve it yourselves (the Commissioner’s office expects evidence you tried).
2. Conciliation: a facilitated meeting run by the Commissioner’s office. Application fee about $118 (2026 to 27; fees rise each 1 July).
3. Adjudication: a written decision by an adjudicator, enforceable as an order. Fee about $118 for a final order, or $248 with an interim order (2026 to 27).
4. Appeal to QCAT, on a question of law only.

Building managers are often witnesses in these disputes. Your dated records and photos are the evidence.

Regulators and registers

Fire safety in Queensland: the occupier must keep evacuation routes clear and their doors unlocked from inside while people are in the building, maintain prescribed fire safety installations, keep maintenance records, display evacuation signs and diagrams, and give evacuation instructions. Larger and high-occupancy buildings have additional duties (a fire and evacuation plan and a fire safety adviser).

Smoke alarms: all dwellings must have interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms in the required places by 1 January 2027 (already required when a lot is sold or leased).

Pools: a shared pool needs a compliant barrier and a pool safety certificate whenever a lot in the scheme is sold or leased (the body corporate usually keeps a current certificate), and the pool must be on the QBCC pool safety register.

Queensland checklist

• Module and CMS found and read
• Major spending limit known, and your own delegation in writing
• Pool safety certificate current
• Fire safety installation maintenance records and evacuation diagrams current
• Smoke alarm 2027 deadline communicated to owners
• Contravention notice templates (Forms 10 and 11) and the process agreed with the committee
• Commissioner’s office guides bookmarked

On the job

Find your scheme’s module and major spending limit, and check that the last two years of committee spending above that limit had two quotes. Then check the pool safety certificate’s expiry.

Sources

• Queensland Government, Body corporate, Maintenance responsibilities by format plan, Entering a lot or exclusive use area
• Queensland Government, Conciliation and Applying for adjudication
• LookUpStrata, Queensland animal reforms for community titles schemes
• QBCC, When you need a licence
• Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 (Qld), legislation.qld.gov.au
• WorkSafe Queensland, Apartment owners and bodies corporate
• Queensland Fire Department, Smoke alarms

General education, not legal advice. Strata law is different in every state and territory and it changes often (NSW and Victoria both changed theirs in 2025 and 2026), so check the current Act and your own agreement, and get advice before acting on anything here.