Corella Rd developer fined for body corp law breach at Gympie estate

A development company carrying out a lucrative subdivision near the Gympie golf course has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for breaching corporate laws.

Gympie developer Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd, who was represented in Gympie Magistrates Court by director Philip Goodman, has been fined $125,000 and ordered to pay more than $115,000 in costs after breaching Queensland's body corporate laws in a landmark case. No convictions were recorded.

A Gympie development company has been slapped with a $125,000 fine for breaching Queensland’s body corporate laws in a state-first judgement.

Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd was taken to court by the body corporate members of its Gympie Pines Fairways Villas estate, next to the golf course 2km north of the city.

The action was launched after Corella Rd Dev failed to give the body corporate 30 days notice when it lodged a development application with Gympie Regional Council in 2020.

Body corporate members only heard about the proposed development changes from an article published in The Gympie Times.

Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd was found guilty of breaching Section 29 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act following a trial in May, 2023.

The court heard Tuesday that Corella Rd Dev had taken ownership of the villas in 2019 when it purchased the adjoining golf course.

Body corporate members of Gympie Pines Fairways Villas only heard about a proposed development change for the final stages of the estate’s development after reading about it in The Gympie Times. Developer Corella Rd Dev was found to have breached state laws by not notifying the body corporate 30 days before it lodged its development application.

The original plan for the estate was for it to be developed across five stages.

The first three had already been completed when Corella Rd Dev took ownership.

Instead of rolling out the final two stages of 36 units, the application instead proposed building 21 new homes with the potential to be offered buyers under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

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The court heard the company was aware of a previous application made to the council in 2015 to which the body corporate objected.

That application was refused by the council.

An estimate from prosecutors representing the body corporate claimed the company stood to gain a profit of $1.3-2 million from the proposed development change.

Corella Rd Dev director Philip Goodman, who represented his company at the sentencing, disputed this claim telling the court he had spent about $250,000 defending the charge.

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Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd director Philip Goodman said in court he had spent about $250,000 fighting the charge.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan, who said developers “don’t do (these) things for altruistic motives”, found not providing the notice denied the villas’ owners their right to object to the proposal.

He found no remorse had been shown over this breach, which the court heard had happened on advice to Mr Goodman from a town planner.

“You should have taken legal advice from a lawyer,” Mr Callaghan said.

He noted Corella Rd Dev had no previous history of breaches and did not accept submissions by the prosecution the fine should amount to 90 per cent of the maximum of $200,175.

Mr Callaghan did find the case was of “special complexity” and “special importance” and as such handed down a sentence at the higher end of the scale.

“This isn’t a prevalent problem, there are no other cases,” he said.

He fined Corella Rd Dev Pty Ltd $125,000, and ordered it pay $115,594.92 in costs.

Half of the fine, $62,500, was to be paid to the body corporate.

No convictions were recorded.

Mr Goodman told the court Tuesday he would appeal the decision.