Pollies face barrage of questions on body corp laws as angry unit owners demand answers

ANGRY unit owners paying higher levies are furious that they will not know the outcome of a review into body corporate laws until after this weekend’s election.

High rise buildings at Surfers Paradise as seen from the balcony of a high-end property along Admiralty Drive in Paradise Waters, Gold Coast. Picture: Regi Varghese

ANGRY unit owners paying higher levies are furious that they will not know the outcome of a review into body corporate laws until after this weekend’s election.

The Bulletin has obtained numerous emails from Coast residents and body corporate groups lobbying both the LNP and Labor Party to outline their position on body corporate reform.

The Newman Government in 2013 amended Labor’s legislation on body corporate levies and later engaged Queensland University of Technology researchers to conduct a review.

Deputy Opposition leader Tim Mulherin, in a letter to a Coast resident, said Labor could not offer a policy because the Government refused to release research details.

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Ray Asher, from Atlantis West, wrote to Mr Mulherin to alert him that under the changes about 90 per cent of unit owners at his building were subsidising reduced levies to penthouse owners who were paying up to $15,000 less.

Unit owner Ray Asher has written to politicians demanding clarity on body corporate levies.

In his letter to Mr Asher, Mr Mulherin agreed that the Newman Government laws favoured penthouse owners.

“Despite having announced he is in receipt of the QUT report, the Attorney General has failed to outline the contents ... or the proposed position of the Government prior to voters going to the poll,” Mr Mulherin wrote.
“The Labor Opposition is not in a position to provide a detailed policy position on its approach to the setting of contribution schedule lot entitlements until the QUT report has been released.

“What is known is that the situation cannot persist whereby changes are made to the system for setting levies every time there is a change of government. That level of uncertainty is not sustainable.”

The Bulletin has also obtained correspondence sent to Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens from a resident calling for the details of the review to be made public.

Unit Owners Association of Queensland president Wayne Stevens has accused the Government of focusing on trivial issues such as pets, smoking and car parking.

“Given my mother is a pensioner who has been paying $5000 a year in body corporate fees more than she should ... I’m sure you understand our angst ... but we are heading into an election and have no idea what the LNP’s plan is ... is there any chance we could have a policy release or some announcement before the election,” the resident wrote.

Unit Owners Association of Queensland president Wayne Stevens has accused the Government of focusing on pets, smoking and car parking rather than acknowledging larger issues like unfair 25-year contracts for caretakers given by “unscrupulous developers”.

Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek, during a candidate forum organised by the Main Beach Progress Association, said the government review was an attempt to find solutions to a complex set of challenges in unit living.