Calls to fix warring neighbour disputes faster to protect retirees, families from ‘toxic’ communities

Two major unit associations want a review of “old” body corporate legislation to protect retirees and families from “toxic” communities.

TWO major unit associations want a review of “old” body corporate legislation to stop retirees and families unknowingly buying into “toxic” communities.

The Unit Owners Association of Queensland (UOAQ) and the Strata Owners Speak Out group say change is needed to the Body Corporate Act to allow warring neighbours to settle their disputes faster and with less upheaval.

The Bulletin last week revealed ongoing battles at two residential towers — Chevron Renaissance in Surfers Paradise and Palmerston Tower in Southport — had brought body corporates to a standstill and sparked claims of bullying and threats.

UOAQ president Wayne Stevens said the incidents were only the “tip of the iceberg” and warned that uneducated buyers were locking themselves into costly 25-year-long management contracts or bad body corporates without the know-how to escape.

RESIDENTS REFUSE TO SHARE LIFTS AS BODY CORP STOUSH LASHES TOWER

Wayne Stevens at his Atlantis West apartment, in Paradise Waters.

“People who come from interstate or move to the Gold Coast to buy a unit in Queensland have no idea what they are a walking into,” Mr Stevens told the Bulletin.

“You see a lovely apartment, with a lovely view and find out the government regulations have trapped them into a dreadful arrangement tied up with a manager they can’t get rid of.

“There are never-ending problems when you live strata, and the acrimony and fighting that goes on can make a complex unliveable.”

Wayne Stevens wants unit owners to be aware of their rights when it comes to dealing with Body Corporates and building managers.

Mr Stevens, who said he had encountered body corporate disagreements that had resulted in the slashing of car tyres and even a shooting, argued that lucrative building management contracts should be limited to a handful of years to allow body corporates to tender more frequently.

“Right now we have individuals being paid over $100,000 a year in management fees in contracts that stretch over decades, so owners have no choice but to put up with them.

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“Managers are supposed to undertake certain responsibilities but what incentive do they have if they are locked in for the next 25 years?

“Unless they are challenged in court they can’t be moved.

“That power imbalance needs to change. The current act might be good for the building and management industry but it is not working for owners.”

MAJOR STOUSH AT GOLD COAST SUPER TOWERS

A body corporate fight has broken out at Chervon Renaissance, one of the Gold Coast's biggest residential towers. Picture Glenn Hampson

Marcus Fitz-Gerald, a founding member of the Strata Owners Speak Out group, said the state’s body corporate commissioner was under resourced and would like body corporate members to undertake training before managing sinking funds which can total well into the millions of dollars.

“People take on these roles and have no idea,” he said. “Some have never managed a budget, been in governance or have experience reading legislation.”

Mr Fitz-Gerald would also like a review of the legislation, which is 20 years old.

“On the Gold Coast a lot of people are not informed or know what their rights are.

“We hear horror stories of people unfairly charged extra for their quarterly levy through to victimisation and bullying because they speak out against the body corporate or the managers.”

According to 2016 Census data, the number of adults with children living in apartments between 2011 and 2016 increased by 56 per cent nationally.