Recent Work

Recommended legal provider to a number of large bodies corporate – including Hope Island and Sanctuary Cove (regulated by the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 and the Integrated Resort Development Act 1987).

Advising hundreds of bodies corporate on a range of issues from cabling for new information technology infrastructure to easement disputes and management rights issues (amongst other things).

Some notable matters we have acted on include:

• At Surfers Palms North, we managed to have an adjudicator in the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management order the appointment of an administrator to a body corporate committee. This was based solely on their conduct with respect to our client, the resident manager, and was the first time in Queensland this had occurred.
• At Tennyson Reach, we acted for the body corporate in securing urgent approval to raise a special levy of $3 million and convene a general meeting on 7 days (instead of 21 days) notice, as well as approval to spend $1 million of monies pending the approval of the body corporate as a result of the January 2011 floods.  This was the first time this had occurred in Queensland.
• At Noosa Blue, we acted for a body corporate against a receiver to negotiate significant commercial concessions in relation to the existing management rights arrangements.
• Acting for a body corporate in circumstances where the QFRS had issued certain statutory notices relating to alleged fire safety defects in the building, fundamentally arising out of concerns over whether it was a class 2 building being used for class 3 purposes.  We have also been involved in numerous disputes arising out of the class 2  / class 3 issue, particularly where they involved a dispute with a resident manager undertaking short term letting in a class 2 building.
• At Tennyson Reach we advised the body corporate on the mechanism to assign their rights to pursue an insurer for a disclaimed insurance claim to Mirvac for the purposes of Mirvac pursuing the insurer in its own right.
• At Aarons, we acted for a developer to control the nominations to committee positions of their representatives of a largely owned strata building.  This was challenged, and our view was upheld on appeal.  The BCCM Act was changed in 2008 as a result.
• We acted for a group of disgruntled owners at Viridian Residences to overturn an approval of certain works otherwise approved at general meeting.