Modernising apartment living
The Institute has reviewed the State Government’s Body Corporate and Community Management (Standard Module) Regulation 2019 – Consultation draft. The Institute has made a series of recommendations to the State Government and has specified that the original owners should not be excluded from committees before the first AGM. We have also stipulated that the requirements for development approvals that would be supplied to the first AGM are limited.
Other recommendations include:
- Acceptance of a more succinct facilities management plans
- The provisions for principal schemes be clarified with respect to sinking and administrative fund forecasts for future development
- Consideration of alternatives to requiring a full facilities management plan for the first AGM in a staged development
- Making obtaining a defect assessment report mandatory and clarify effective roles and responsibilities in addressing defects.
The proposed consultation draft also proposes to:
- Clarify voting rights
- Allow up to 12 members in principal scheme in a layered arrangement of community titles schemes
- Expand the list of documents and other information that the original owner of a community titles scheme must hand over to the body corporate at the first annual general meeting to include a development approval, facilities management plan and a five-year administrative fund forecast.
- Permit bodies corporate to change how a quorum for a general meeting is to be calculated
- Allow bodies corporate to establish a voluntary defect assessment scheme for community titles schemes containing standard format plan lots
- Streamline and modernise communication in bodies corporate by enabling electronic communication.
Any comments on this issue can be directed to Manager of Policy, Martin Zaltron.