The Queensland Government may wish to cast an eye towards NSW before finalising amendments to its strata legislation which will permit 75% of owners to terminate uneconomic community title schemes.
On 24 August 2023, the Body Corporate and Community Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 was introduced into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Safety Committee for detailed consideration. The closing date for written submissions was a mere nine days later on 2 September. The Qld Law Society raised concerns in their submission regarding the short timeframe.
Under the proposed Queensland amendments, minority unit owners may be forced to sell their units in circumstances where there are economic reasons for terminating the scheme supported by 75% of the scheme owners.
This reform was described as "deliver[ing] a key action of the 2022 Queensland Housing Summit by reforming the BCCM Act to allow for termination of uneconomic community titles schemes to facilitate renewal and redevelopment."
The Bill's Explanatory Notes specifically refer to "having regard to the New South Wales approach."
The only problem is that terminating schemes in NSW has not been that simple with only a handful of schemes apparently managing to negotiate a sale. Developers are now saying they "aren't interested in buying older buildings unless there’s 100 per cent agreement from owners to sell."
Designed to protect the elderly owner from unscrupulous developers, at least in one instance in NSW, the reverse seems to have occurred - protecting a rival developer from the building's elderly owners. The NSW amendments have not prevented strategic blocking attempts by competing developers.
The NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading has vowed to fix the glitches. “The NSW government is committed to updating and reforming this system, including fixing the loopholes that have made it out of date."
Perhaps the Queensland Government will revisit its amendments before passing a Bill with baked-in glitches, at least based on the NSW experience.
The Legal Affairs and Safety Committee is due to hand down its Report on 6 October.
This law was meant to solve Sydney’s housing crisis. It’s left owners devastated
October 2023
© PELEN 2023
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