Question: One of our owners has put a cabana in their exclusive-use balcony and won’t take it down. Can the committee force its removal?
One of our ground-floor lot owners has a large balcony that’s part of the common property under exclusive-use rights. They’ve erected a portable beach cabana on it despite being directed to remove it. Several of our owners have written to the committee raising concerns that it’s affecting the building’s aesthetics, obstructing views, potentially affecting property values, and creating occupational health and safety concerns.
Answer: It depends entirely on how the exclusive-use by-laws are worded.
If the cabana is portable and not fixed, it will depend on how the by-laws regulate the use of the lot and balcony, and whether the exclusive use by-laws permit the installation of the cabana.
For example, often a community management statement will include by-laws that regulate:
- the external appearance of a lot and which prevent owners from placing items on their balcony without first obtaining body corporate approval;
- nuisances, which generally prevent owners from using their lot or common property in a way that interferes unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of another lot or the common property (to mirror the requirements in the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997); or
- any obstructions to common property, which often prevent owners from placing items on, or exclusively using, the common property without first obtaining body corporate approval or pursuant to an exclusive use by-law. This would only be relevant in circumstances where the cabana extends beyond the boundaries of the exclusive use allocation attached to the lot.
Ultimately, it will depend on what the by-laws provide for.
This post appears in the August 2026 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
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