Thinking Of Buying In A Body Corporate?

If you are thinking of buying in a Body Corporate you can purchase a Body Corporate Information Certificate. These are available from the body corporate secretary or manager whose name and address is supplied in the seller’s disclosure statement. The Information Certificate will confirm any annual levies you will be required to pay and disclose any outstanding amounts.

You can also conduct a search the body corporate records to find out if you are responsible to maintain or take out additional insurance for any improvements to the lot you are purchasing (e.g. balcony enclosure, air-conditioning unit).

You can also view any contracts that the body corporate may have already entered into (e.g. caretaking, letting, body corporate management or lift maintenance) and to which you will contribute through levies. Please note that the body corporate is entitled to charge you a fee for any search.

Each body corporate has a ‘community management statement’ (CMS) particular to the scheme.

The CMS identifies, among other things, any proposed development of the scheme, the lot entitlement schedules (used to calculate your levies), the relevant by-laws and the regulation. module that applies to the scheme. You can purchase a copy of the CMS for your scheme by calling 13 QGOV (13 74 68).

The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management provides a free information service for those who live, work or invest in community titles schemes.

We have produced a range of factsheets about the operation of bodies corporate, including financial arrangements, insurance, decision-making and by-laws which may assist your understanding.

We also provide a dispute resolution service to resolve any disagreements which may arise within the body corporate and which cannot be resolved internally. You can search our records (BCCM Form 3) to see if any disputes have arisen in your scheme which required an adjudicator (a decision maker) to intervene in matters affecting owners, occupiers or the body corporate.