This article clarifies the rights and responsibilities of tenants living in Queensland community titles schemes, addressing common misconceptions about their communication with the body corporate, participation in meetings, access to records, maintenance obligations, and pet approvals.
The role, rights and responsibilities of tenants in community titles schemes can be confusing.
In this article we will clarify the rights and obligations of tenants and dispel misunderstandings associated with tenants and bodies corporate.
Communicating with the body corporate
The most common misconception we encounter is that tenants are not allowed to communicate directly with the body corporate.
Tenants, as residents, can communicate directly with the body corporate – whether it be members of the committee or a body corporate manager.
There is no need for a letting agent to act as a go-between.
A tenant who wants to communicate with the body corporate can ask their landlord or letting agent for the contact details of the body corporate manager, a committee member, or the onsite manager.
Submitting written requests to the body corporate committee
Committees are normally elected at annual general meetings and are made up of owners, or people who act for them, and they make decisions on behalf of the body corporate.
Even though the legislation expressly enables owners to submit written motions to the committee for consideration, this does not preclude tenants from asking the committee for a decision.
If a tenant would like the committee to decide a matter – for example, maintaining common property or allowing the tenant to park on an area of common property – best practice is to submit a clearly written request to the committee.
Although there is no legislated timeframe for the committee to decide a tenant’s written request – unless it is a request for an animal, which we will discuss later – the six-week ‘decision period’ the committee must observe for an owner’s motion can still be a helpful guideline for tenants.
For instance, if a tenant submits a written request to the committee about maintenance and the committee does not agree or the tenant does not hear back after a reasonable period (such as six weeks), the tenant may consider lodging a conciliation application with our office.
General meeting motions
A tenant’s written request cannot be included on the agenda for a general meeting (specifically, annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings). These are meetings where owners vote on more significant body corporate matters.
The legislation provides that general meeting motions may be submitted by:
- an owner; or
- the body corporate committee.
If a tenant wants an issue to be considered at a general meeting because the committee is not authorised to make the decision – for example, a maintenance request which exceeds the committee’s spending limit or a change to the by-laws – their landlord or the committee may be willing to submit the motion on their behalf.
General meeting voting rights
A tenant does not have voting rights at a general meeting, but may be able to indirectly obtain voting rights.
Each lot in the scheme is entitled to one vote on each motion and each owner is a ‘voter’.
If an owner does not wish to be involved in body corporate decision-making, it may be possible for an owner to transfer their general meeting voting rights to a tenant – either by appointing the tenant as:
- their proxy for a general meeting (using BCCM Form 6); or
- the representative of the lot on the body corporate roll (using BCCM Form 8).
While a proxy is unable to vote on specified matters, a representative’s voting rights mirror the voting rights of the owner.
Committee membership
It may be difficult for an owner to nominate a tenant for committee membership due to the eligibility restrictions under certain regulation modules.
For schemes registered under the Standard Module or the Accommodation Module, an owner can only nominate a tenant if:
- the tenant is appointed as their power of attorney
- the tenant is a member of the owner’s family.
Conversely, an owner may be able to nominate other individuals (such as tenants) for committee membership under the Small Schemes Module or the Commercial Module.
Accessing body corporate records
The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (BCCM Act) enables some people – called “interested persons” under section 205 – to see or copy body corporate records if they:
- give a written request to the body corporate; and
- pay the prescribed fee.
While an owner is automatically classed as an interested person, this is not the case for a tenant.
However, an interested person can also be another person who satisfies the body corporate of a proper interest in the information sought.
Under this category, a tenant may be able to access records such as meeting minutes where a decision was made that impacts them, or the body corporate roll, if they need to confirm the details of another resident who they believe is breaching the by-laws as part of the enforcement process.
Ultimately, the onus is on the tenant to be precise about any records they are seeking and demonstrate to the body corporate their bona fide interest in the information sought.
Alternatively, a landlord may be willing to access body corporate records on their tenant’s behalf.
Maintenance responsibilities in a body corporate
Since the introduction of minimum housing standards under recent rental reforms, landlords may be required to do additional maintenance or improvements to their property.
However, some of these obligations may overlap with existing body corporate maintenance obligations.
It is therefore beneficial for tenants to have an understanding of who is responsible for what, if they wish to raise a maintenance concern directly with the responsible party.
For instance, there would be little point in a tenant going directly to the body corporate with their concerns if their landlord, as the owner, was responsible for the work to be done.
The format plan of subdivision a property is registered under largely determines the division of maintenance responsibilities between an owner and the body corporate.
The two common types of survey plans are:
- building format plan (also known as a building units plan)
- standard format plan (also known as a group titles plan).
In a nutshell, the body corporate bears greater responsibility for maintenance in building format plan schemes.
On the other hand, the owner is responsible for most structural and non-structural elements inside their lot boundaries (except for any shared utility infrastructure such as gutters or storm drains) in standard format plan schemes.
Where the body corporate is responsible for maintenance, a tenant can:
- submit a written request to the body corporate committee asking them to fix it; or
- ask their landlord to submit a motion to the body corporate about the required maintenance.
Requests for fixtures and structural changes
Tenants, under tenancy legislation, are allowed to attach a fixture, or make a structural change, if their owner agrees in writing.
Tenants in community titles schemes need to remember that if their request is for something that is a body corporate responsibility, impacts the common property or is the subject of a by-law, they will most likely require additional approval from the body corporate.
The body corporate legislation specifies that an owner must seek the body corporate’s approval before making any improvements to the common property that benefits the lot.
Pet approvals
When a tenant in a body corporate receives approval from their landlord to have a pet, this is not an automatic green light to bring the pet into the scheme.
There are two layers of approval for tenants seeking to keep an animal in a body corporate:
- body corporate approval (if the body corporate’s by-laws require it); and
- landlord approval.
A tenant can seek approval from their landlord and the body corporate at the same time.
However, as a landlord may have grounds to refuse a tenant’s request if keeping the animal would breach a body corporate by-law, best practice may be for a tenant to ask the body corporate for approval first.
If a landlord refuses their tenant’s request for an animal and the tenant believes the decision is without grounds, the tenant can contact the Residential Tenancies Authority about their options.
If the body corporate refuses a tenant’s request to keep an animal, the tenant may have grounds to lodge a conciliation application with our office.
Tenants can read more about animal by-laws and the body corporate’s limited reasons for refusal on our website.
Timeframes for pet requests
While there is no legislated timeframe for general written requests submitted by tenants to the committee, animal requests are an exception.
Since 1 May 2024, if the committee does not decide within 21 days after receiving a request to keep an animal, the request is considered (or deemed) to have been approved.
In those rarer situations where general meeting approval is needed because the committee does not have the authority to approve a request to keep an animal, the request will automatically be deemed approved by the body corporate if either:
- the body corporate does not call a general meeting within 21 days after the tenant makes the request
- the body corporate does not decide the tenant’s request within six weeks after the body corporate circulates the general meeting notice to owners.
Understanding the body corporate’s by-laws
Each body corporate has a unique set of by-laws which regulate the use and enjoyment of common areas and lots within the scheme.
As occupiers in the scheme, tenants must comply with the body corporate’s by-laws.
We strongly advise tenants familiarise themselves with these by-laws to better understand their rights and obligations in the body corporate and avoid unintentional breaches.
Tenants should have a copy of their body corporate by-laws as part of their tenancy agreement. Otherwise, they can ask their landlord for a copy.
Tenants should also be aware that under section 180 of the BCCM Act there are limitations for by-laws – essentially, a body corporate cannot create just ‘any’ by-law. Importantly for tenants, the BCCM Act states that by-laws must not discriminate between types of occupiers. So, if your body corporate has a by-law which prevents tenants from using a common property pool, the validity of that by-law may be disputed through this office.
Enforcing by-laws
The body corporate can enforce by-laws against any owners or occupiers in the scheme who are not complying with a by-law.
Where the body corporate issues a by-law contravention notice to a tenant, they must also give a copy of the notice to the lot owner as soon as possible afterwards.
Tenants can also take steps to enforce a by-law against another occupier or owner in the scheme.
The BCCM Act specifies that an owner or occupier (the complainant) can lodge a dispute application through our office to enforce the by-laws only if:
- the complainant has first asked the body corporate (using an approved BCCM Form 1) to give the accused person a contravention notice for the by-law breach that is the subject of the dispute; and
- within 14 days of receiving the BCCM Form 1, the body corporate does not advise the complainant that a contravention notice has been issued.
Tenants can read more about enforcing by-laws on our website.
Lodging disputes through our office
As an occupier, a tenant can lodge a dispute application through our office to resolve a dispute with:
- the body corporate
- the occupier of another lot
- the owner of another lot.
Before lodging a dispute application, a tenant must first try to resolve the issue with the other party – we call this mandatory self-resolution.
The type of self-resolution that is needed may differ depending on who the other party is. For example:
- where the dispute is with the body corporate, self-resolution may involve submitting a clear written request to the committee
- where the dispute is with another occupier or an owner, self-resolution may be evidence of communication with the other person, such as an email or letter.
As outlined earlier, if a tenant would like to enforce the by-laws against another person in the scheme, they must follow the preliminary procedure set out in the BCCM Act.
We frequently talk to tenants in community titles schemes who feel frustrated or powerless. This is often a symptom of limited or incorrect information being given to the tenant about their rights and responsibilities in the body corporate.
We hope that this article has clarified some of the key information about tenants for our stakeholders and that tenants feel better equipped to address any future issues which may arise in their body corporate.
Information Service Freecall 1800 060 119
Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management
This post appears in Strata News #744.
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Read next:
- QLD: Feudal lords, tenants and body corps: Time for some facts
- QLD: Conciliation process and its benefits
This article has been republished with permission from the author and first appeared in the BCCM Common Ground newsletter.
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