Know your by-laws, and where to find them

I don’t get to live by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me – Tiger Woods

Do you know what the by-laws for your community titles scheme* are?

The answer is often straightforward. They are the by-laws in schedule C of the current Community Management Statement (CMS) for the scheme.

However, some schemes don’t have by-laws in schedule C of the CMS. Then it gets a little bit, or a lot, tricker, depending on when the scheme was created. 

Finding your by-laws

If your by-laws are not in schedule C of your CMS, and the scheme was created after 13 July 1997, the by-laws are those in schedule 4 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997. That is the only time those by-laws apply. 

If your scheme was created before 13 July 1997, the location of the by-laws depends on the Act the scheme was created under: 

1. Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (BUGT Act): the by-laws are those in schedule 3 of the BUGT Act and any changes registered with Titles Queensland.
2. Group Titles Act 1973 (GT Act) or the Building Units Titles Act 1965 (BUT Act) the by-laws are:
   1. those recorded with Titles Queensland:
      1. under the BUGT Act; and
      2. as amendments to the first schedule of the GT or BUT Acts that are consistent with the BUGT Act;
   2. those in the second schedule of the GT or BUT Acts, including any amendments that are consistent with the BUGT Act; and
   3. those in the third schedule of the BUGT Act, that were not amended or removed and are consistent with any remaining by-laws from the GT or BUT Acts.

If that’s not tricky enough, before the BUGT Act, exclusive use rights did not have to be included as a by-law or registered with Titles Queensland. As such, exclusive use rights may exist that have not been recorded. 

Guiding you through the strata maze

If you need help understanding what the by-laws for your scheme are, we can review the records, obtain the necessary searches and collate those for you. 

Or you may want to register by-laws that suit the specific characteristics of your scheme. We can help with that too. 

Compiling your scheme’s by-laws is important for everyone to know what the rules are. 

To discuss this topic, or body corporate issues more generally, contact our friendly team.

* This article doesn’t consider higher level bodies corporate created under specified Acts (the Integrated Resort Development Act 1987, the Mixed Use Development Act 1993 and the Sanctuary Cove Resort Act 1985). We can advise regarding these Acts and schemes also.