QLD: Can a caretaker sell body corporate property?

Question: The new caretaker sold the body corporate’s box trailer and pocketed the money. Can we invoice them the cost of a replacement trailer?

A new caretaker has just started at our complex. Without permission, they sold the body corporate’s box trailer that was located on common property and pocketed the money. Can they do this?

If not, can the Body Corporate Committee invoice the Caretaker for the replacement cost of the box trailer?

Answer: The caretaker may be under the (mistaken) assumption that it was theirs to begin with.

No – they can’t.

But the difference between the caretaker doing it and a lot owner is the caretaker may be under the (mistaken) assumption that it was theirs to begin with because it may have been mentioned on the inventory to the management rights contract when they bought – by mistake or otherwise, it is very common for the management entity to supply caretaking equipment like this, so it is not unnatural for a caretaker to think it might be theirs to sell.

So I think the best way to approach it is to:-

Review the caretaking agreement to see who supplies equipment

If the body corporate bought it, get a copy of the evidence of that (because bodies corporate sometimes make the same mistake the caretaker has been accused of here)