This article discusses how an owner bullying and defamation situation in a Queensland body corporate can be navigated when legal options are limited.
Question: How can I protect myself from defamation and bullying by the committee and body corporate manager if I cannot afford legal action, and QCAT will not accept my complaint?
I am an individual lot owner in a Queensland body corporate, and I feel that some committee members are targeting me. Their behaviour includes defamation, aggressive verbal attacks, bullying and what I believe may amount to criminal conduct. The body corporate manager has ignored my concerns and failed to act on any of them.
QCAT has advised me that I cannot lodge a complaint or application against the body corporate manager as an individual owner unless the committee first approves and votes for that action. Given that the committee is part of the problem, I feel completely exposed and without any real avenue for help.
I also understand that committee members may be protected by office bearers insurance paid for out of body corporate funds. This means that I, as a victim, potentially pay for their legal protection through levies and then again if legal costs are covered by the body corporate. Is that correct, and if so, how can an owner in my position protect themselves from defamation and bullying when they are not in a financial position to start legal proceedings?
Answer: When an owner wants to assert their strata rights, they do indeed pay twice.
Unfortunately, you are correct. When an owner wants to assert their strata rights, they do indeed pay twice: their levies contribute funds that the body corporate committee can draw upon to defend themselves. At the same time, the owner also pays their own costs (e.g., legal fees) to initiate it.
Is that fair? Well, no, to put it bluntly. Then again, that’s the system we have to work with for now. We always suggest that people get absolute clarity on what is going on here, so they don’t waste money and can be clear about their objective. You use words like ‘defamation’, ‘bullying’ and ‘criminal’. Each of those is quite different. ‘Defamation’ requires legal action to pursue (and sometimes what we think is defamation is not really that at all). ‘Bullying’ is not a term which exists in strata legislation, so you need to be specific about what’s happening and what you want to do about it – strata legislation is not geared towards issuing punishments or penalties – while ‘criminal’ means you’ll need to speak to the Police. QCAT is rarely going to be your port of call to resolve strata issues, and typically, you’d need to initiate an application in the Commissioner’s Office for a strata dispute.
Often, your solution won’t be legal action or proceedings, but other things, such as communications, lobbying and strategy. Again, you need to be clear about where the problem lies. Is it the committee? Is it the strata manager? Is it another owner? Is it because you were denied something you requested and believed you were entitled to? Each of those has its own outcome to pursue. Remember, for example, that the strata manager is not a decision-maker and typically acts on the committee’s instructions.
Our suggestion? Take a deep breath, pause, reflect and then start to narrow your focus on what you actually want. At the moment, you’re a little too general, and that accounts for why you haven’t had much joy so far. Feeling like you don’t have options is, in our experience, the worst feeling in strata.
This is general information only and not legal advice.
Chris Irons
Strata Solve
E: chris@stratasolve.com.au
P: 0419 805 898
This post appears in the February 2026 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
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Read next:
- QLD: Q&A How can committee members respond to bullying or defamatory behaviour from owners?
- QLD: Q&A How Do We Deal With a Bullying Lot Owner?
- QLD: Defamation in Bodies Corporate
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