QLD: Should owners get costs back when repairs are delayed for years?

Question: A body corporate sat on independent structural advice for years before acting. Should owners automatically recover their costs, rather than fighting a second battle to get their money back?

I’ve lived through a dispute where the body corporate had independent expert advice on a structural problem for years before it acted. All that time, the cost and the risk sat with the owner, first to keep proving the problem was real, then to force any action at all.

Shouldn’t the Act make cost recovery automatic in that situation, once it’s shown the advice existed and wasn’t acted on? Now, owners have to fight a second, separate battle to get their money back.

Answer: Automatic cost recovery may not suit every case, but a rebuttable presumption of recovery where a body corporate unreasonably fails to act on a known structural problem could be a fairer reform.

The premise of your questions seems simple, but there are often complex layers when assessing structural issues and the statutory responsibilities to remedy those issues. There is an argument for reforming the legislation to provide a more straightforward pathway for owners to recover costs where a body corporate has unreasonably failed to act on known structural problems.

However, automatic cost recovery may not be appropriate in every case. Legitimate questions may remain about the scope of the advice, the reasonableness of the body corporate’s response, the necessity of the owner’s expenditure, and whether the costs were proportionate.

A balanced reform could establish a rebuttable presumption of cost recovery where the body corporate knew of a structural problem and unreasonably failed to act. This would provide greater certainty for owners, encourage timely action and reduce the need for separate proceedings, while preserving fairness for all parties.

These are all matters that will turn on the facts of each case, and bodies corporate and owners are encouraged to seek early advice, particularly on maintenance issues.

This post appears in the November 2026 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.

Brendan Pitman
Grace Lawyers
E: brendan.pitman@gracelawyers.com.au
P: 07 5554 8560