A Qld lot owner would like to know what power a body corporate member has over strata information displayed on the noticeboard.
Table of Contents:
- QUESTION: In high-rise, residential strata buildings is a certificate of occupation required to be on display? I live in a residential strata building and I have not seen a certificate of occupation displayed.
- QUESTION: If a scheme maintains a noticeboard, notices of proposed committee meetings must be placed on it. Is an online noticeboard, accessible only via the BCM’s portal, a valid noticeboard?
- QUESTION: Our body corporate notice board is in the main foyer. We’d like to move it to a more appropriate spot. Can this be done and how do we go about it?
- QUESTION: If Committee meetings notices are published on a “community” website, does this satisfy the legislative requirement for the display of the Notices on the noticeboard?
- QUESTION: What rights does a member of the committee have to remove, or prohibit a lot owner from displaying, strata information on the noticeboard?
Question: In high-rise, residential strata buildings is a certificate of occupation required to be on display? I live in a residential strata building and I have not seen a certificate of occupation displayed.
Answer: Typically this will apply to those high rise residential buildings from 1997 onwards.
Section 108A of the Building Act (Qld) provides that if a building:
- has a certificate of occupancy given after 1 July 1997;
- is occupied; and
- is not a class 1a building
the certificate of occupancy must be displayed at the building’s main entrance. Typically this will apply to those high rise residential buildings from 1997 onwards.
Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: [email protected]
P: 07 3007 3753
This post appears in Strata News #594.
Question: If a scheme maintains a noticeboard, notices of proposed committee meetings must be placed on it. Is an online noticeboard, accessible only via the BCM’s portal, a valid noticeboard?
The BCCM legislation permits, but does not require, a scheme to maintain a noticeboard in a suitable position on common property. This noticeboard can be for the display of notices and other material of interest to the owners or occupiers. If they do maintain a noticeboard, notices of proposed committee meetings must be placed on it. Is an online noticeboard, accessible only via the BCM’s portal, a valid noticeboard?
Answer: If there is no obligation to have a physical noticeboard, there is no issue with putting something you aren’t obliged to do online.
Voting and notices have now moved online lawfully, on an opt out basis. What I would say is that if there is no obligation to have a physical noticeboard (which there isn’t), then there is no issue with putting something you aren’t obliged to do online. So go for it!
Frank Higginson
Hynes Legal
E: [email protected]
P: 07 3193 0500
This post appears in the July 2022 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
Question: Our body corporate notice board is in the main foyer. We’d like to move it to a more appropriate spot. Can this be done and how do we go about it?
We live in a strata complex of 32 units commercial/residential mix. We have a notice board next to the building’s main front entrance with papers attached showing pool registration, contact listing and lift approval some going back to 2016 which looks quite messy.
We think these notes could be moved to a different lobby that is frequented less by visitors to improve the appearance of the main front entrance.
Can we move the notice board somewhere else? What would the process be to conduct this? Do we need to have a meeting and vote, or can we simply just move the board?
Answer: This sounds like a good idea and the committee should be able to authorise the changes via a committee meeting.
This sounds like a good idea and the committee should be able to authorise the changes via a committee meeting.
As a minimum, the Committee can spend up to $200 times the number of lots for minor improvements. So, if you have 32 lots that allows for a budget of $6400 which should be more than sufficient for this type of work. It depends on the scope of the work and how your scheme runs, but I think you could vote on the proposal via a VOC and proceed from there.
In terms of notice boards, you may want to think about what the key messages you want to promote are. Notice board styles range from basic cork ones to more expensive versions that are locked and enclosed by glass. The cork boards can be quite good for having information going up and down quickly and they can allow occupants to put up general notices by themselves. However, they can be a bit scruffy. Enclosed boards give the committee more control over the information on display and tend to present better.
See the BCCM website for more details on making improvements to your scheme.
William Marquand
Tower Body Corporate
E: [email protected]
P: 07 5609 4924
This post appears in Strata News #529.
Question: If Committee meetings notices are published on a “community” website, does this satisfy the legislative requirement for the display of the Notices on the noticeboard?
Our Committee never displays the Notices of pending Committee meetings on our notice board. This failure to display such notices has been occurring for many years.
Does the use of a “community” website whereby Notices for pending Committee meetings are published satisfy the legislated obligation to display such notices on our common property notice board?
Does the Covid-19 Emergency Response Amendment Act 2020, or some other legislation, provide for the bypassing of the legislative requirement for the display of these Notices as per Schedule 4 of BUGTA?
Provisions applying to committees and office bearers
- Noticeboard
A committee shall cause a noticeboard to be affixed to some part of the common property.
Answer: An electronic copy would not strictly meet the requirements of BUGTA
I presume that the body corporate is regulated by the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980? If so, schedule 4 requires a noticeboard to be affixed to common property and committee meeting agendas to be attached to the noticeboard at least 24 hours prior to a meeting.
Given the requirement relates to being attached to a noticeboard, an electronic copy would not strictly meet the requirements of BUGTA. The COVID regulations have not affected this requirement.
However, if the alternate method is just as effective and no lot owners suffer any detriment, I do not see a referee making any orders about the noticeboard’s use.
Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: [email protected]
P: 07 3007 3753
This post appears in Strata News #518.
Question: What rights does a member of the committee have to remove, or prohibit a lot owner from displaying, strata information on the noticeboard?
Assuming nothing to the contrary in the by-laws, is there any type of notice relating to the affairs of the body corporate that a lot owner is prohibited from placing on the noticeboard? This is assuming of course that the information displayed isn’t defamatory.
What rights if any does a member of the Committee or any other lot owner have to remove such strata information?
Answer: The body corporate must act reasonably.
In the absence of a by-law, there are no rules around how a noticeboard is to be administered.
The Module simply allows for the body corporate to ‘maintain’ the noticeboard. So in theory, the committee has the power to choose what is and isn’t displayed, but must act reasonably in making those decisions.
This post appears in Strata News #247.
Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: [email protected]
P: 07 3007 3753
Read Next:
- QLD: Q&A Applying for Conciliation with Form 22
- QLD: Q&A Levy Increases – As Lot Owners, Can We Refuse?
- Calling a committee meeting
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