A Qld lot owner is asking about lot entitlement rules when it comes to the repair of the car park. Chris Irons, Hynes Legal provides the following response.
Question: We need extensive repairs to the car park. As we all own equal shares of this area ie one car space plus common property, why should we pay based on lot entitlement rules?
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In our apartment block, we need extensive work doing to the walls of the car park. The car park area does not form part of the main building. All owners have one parking area and the rest is common property. The tennis court and pool areas are above the car park.
It would seem unfair to me that if we have to pay an extra levy, some owners would have to pay more than others under lot entitlement rules when we all own the same portion of this ie. a parking spot and the rest is common property.
Has there ever been a ruling on this type of problem?
Answer: This has been a highly contentious issue for several governments for many years in Queensland and will likely be into the future.
It seems from your query that you’re referring to contribution schedule lot entitlements. Suffice to say that this has been a highly contentious issue for several governments for many years in Queensland and will likely be into the future.
If you’re after a ‘ruling’, you can research this database, potentially, using keywords.
For a fulsome overview of the topic, you might like to read this article: QLD: That’s it for contribution schedule lot entitlement adjustments.
Ultimately if you’re wanting to go down the path of considering an adjustment, you’ll need to seek legal advice.
Chris Irons
Hynes Legal
E: [email protected]
P: 07 3193 0500
This post appears in Strata News #378.
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We have a 2005 QLD registered CMS under the Accommodation Module giving “reasons” why unequal lot entitlements (and therefore unequal levy contributions) were “justified”. Anyone could drive a truck through them as they’re utterly baseless, arbitrary and inequitable yet there’s nothing that can be done except try to convince some people they should be paying higher levies – yeah, nah, that’s never going to happen.
Twice the external wall area of other lots requiring the owner to contribute more than others when it comes time to paint the building, no problem, but why should someone that has double the floor area of other owners have to pay double the levy component for services such as the body corporate manager fees? There’s no additional service provided to that owner just because he/she owns a larger lot.
All I can say to prospective buyers is do your homework and thanks to the experts contributing to Lookup Stata for keeping us up to date on this debacle. How our original CMS and lot entitlement calculations/justification were sanctioned and now can’t be legally challenged is beyond me.
Hi Martin
The following response has been provided by Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal:
The simple answer to your question (as unpalatable as it is) is that this is a political issue that will cost votes, so it gets left alone. Adjustment orders got frozen in 2011 and at the moment it looks like it will stay that way. You can read our complete article here – QLD: That’s it for contribution schedule lot entitlement adjustments