Question: Is there a legal time limit in QLD for a BCCM Form 8 to be issued once a body corporate property has been sold?
We have a situation in our complex where a property was sold back in March. It’s now tenanted, yet the developer of the complex is still down as the owner of the property on the Body Corporate roll.
Is there a legal time limit in QLD for a Form 8 to be issued? Is there anything we can do to speed this along?
Answer: The period of an owner to provide information to the Body Corporate was shortened to one month when the legislation changed in March 2021.
The period of an owner to provide information to the Body Corporate was shortened to one month when the legislation changed in March. The Body Corporate then has 14 days from receiving the notice to update the roll. However, there is no direct penalty for not providing an update, so effectively all the body corporate can do is update the roll when the correct details are provided.
When the property is transferred from one owner to another owner it’s important that the body corporate is updated as soon as it can be otherwise, the new lot owner is not going to be receiving any information because no one knows who they are. For starters, they’re not going to get their levies, they’re not going to get their AGM notice. They’re going to be denied their rights. It’s within that person’s interest to try to ensure that body corporate is updated. Is there any kind of formal requirement to do it? Not that we could find.
It’s a good question, because I think in body corporate offices up and down the country, managers have to spend quite a bit of time chasing up owners who we don’t know who they are. We contact solicitors, and we contact other people to say, ‘Do we know who this new lot owner is?’. It’s a time consuming part of the job that we do. Usually people find out because the old lot owner remains on the roll until they’re replaced, and they continue to get the levy notices coming through, and that’s usually tends to be the trigger point of which the change can happen. But what you’ll find is, in some owner’s cases, if they don’t take the time to update, then that lot is building up a debt over time. If it goes on long enough that might be transferred to the debt collector, and the first time they hear about it is when large amounts of debt collection fees have been racked up and they’re getting a phone call from someone saying ‘When are you going to pay?’. If you are changing properties, make sure we make submissions as soon as possible.
Yeah, they go up quite quickly. Unfortunately, it’s a necessary part of the industry to ensure that the body corporate fees are up to date. No one really enjoys the debt collection part of it, but it works. Owners have to take responsibility of their property.
The money is needed to run the building. If one owner is not paying, other owners have to make up that deficit. It’s not really fair on any of the other owners who are paying on a regular basis. Be careful please, and keep up to date with those levies.
This post appears in Strata News #496.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924