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Property Law Review Submission

  • September 06, 2018

Property Law Review Submission

Six years on from the establishment of the State Government’s ‘Property Law Review‘, the Property Council has provided another submission to the latest reports produced by the ongoing examination by QUT’s Property Law Research Centre.

The Property Council has responded to the Review’s final reports on ‘Consistency between the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (BUGTA)’ and the ‘Property Law Act 1974 (Qld)‘.

The Review has recommended that amendments be made so that bodies corporate operating under the BUGTA more closely resemble the BCCM Act in relation to dispute resolution and procedural issues. The Property Council has argued that the procedural and dispute resolution inconsistencies between the two Acts are not significant enough to warrant the recommended amendments.

Repeal of the Property Law Act 1974, and the enactment of a new Property Law Act has been recommended by the Review. The Property Council has supported the Government’s further consideration, and consultation, on a modernised Property Law Act.

The Property Council has written to the Attorney General expressing concern with the timeframes of the Property Law Review and calling for the Government to respond to previous reports which called for a 75% consent threshold for the termination of a strata schemes in Queensland.

The Property Council has provided a submission to the independent property law review being undertaken by the Commercial and Property Law Research Centre of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

In responding to the latest discussion paper on procedural issues under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, the Property Council recommended the adoption of a 75 per cent majority threshold for the termination of strata title schemes in Queensland, similar to the recent reforms adopted in NSW.

The current need to achieve unanimous consent from all lot holders to terminate a scheme places significant financial and safety risks on lot owners and is not compatible with a fair and equitable legislative framework.

It is imperative that Queensland keeps pace with the strata reform occurring in other jurisdictions.

Through the adoption of 21st century property laws, Queensland stands to significantly benefit from the economic opportunity of reactivating our older building stock.

The Property Council’s submission to the discussion paper can be viewed below.

The Queensland Government has committed to consider the recommendations made by the ongoing QUT review.

 

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