Review of property law in Queensland

The Commercial and Property Law Research Centre of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has now completed a review of Queensland’s property laws for the Queensland Government.  The review examined issues arising under legislation governing ownership, use and dealings in real property in Queensland including the Property Law Act 1974 and the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and other body corporate legislation.

The review was conducted in stages and reports about previous consultation activities are available below.

Announcements

New Body Corporate and Community Management Regulations

On 29 September 2020, the Governor in Council made the following regulations under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997:

The new regulations are scheduled to commence on 1 March 2021, giving bodies corporate, unit owners and other stakeholders time to learn about the new regulations and make any necessary adjustments to their processes and procedures.

The new regulations include a range of beneficial reforms that will streamline and modernise body corporate  procedures, reduce body corporate costs and enhance protections for unit owners The reforms included in the new regulations relate primarily to recommendations made by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) about body corporate procedural issues, which were contained in their final recommendations on procedural issues under the BCCM Act (PDF, 1.3 MB).

Learn more about the new regulation modules.

Government response to final recommendations—Body corporate lot entitlements

QUT’s report titled ‘Property Law Review: Lot Entitlements under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 – Final Recommendations’recommends a new system for allocating body corporate expenses between lot owners in Queensland community titles schemes.

Submissions to a public consultation process for the report showed a low level of support for QUT’s system for sharing expenses and has raised some significant concerns. The Queensland Government has decided not to adopt QUT’s recommendations proposing a new system for allocating body corporate expenses between lot owners in community titles schemes.

The Queensland Government will consider options to improve disclosure to buyers of the rights and obligations associated with owning a lot in a community titles scheme.

Past consultation activities

The following consultation papers and reports have been previously released for public consultation:

Seller Disclosure in Queensland

  1. Issues paper 1: Seller Disclosure in Queensland (PDF, 918.0 KB)
  2. Interim report: Seller Disclosure in Queensland (PDF, 674.9 KB)

Final Report Seller disclosure

  1. Final report: Seller Disclosure in Queensland (PDF, 1.3 MB)

Property Law Act 1974 (Qld)

  1. Issues paper: Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) – Sales of land and other related provisions (PDF, 1.4 MB)
  2. Issues paper 2: Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) – Part 8 Leases and Tenancies (PDF, 1.1 MB)
  3. Issues paper 3: Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) - Incorporeal Hereditaments, Rights of Way, Powers of Appointment & Perpetuities (PDF, 1.4 MB)
  4. Issues paper 4: Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) - Mortgages, Co-ownership, Encroachment and Mistake (PDF, 1.5 MB)
  5. Issues paper 5: Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) - Equitable interests and things in action, Corporations, Voidable dispositions, Unregistered land, De facto relationships, Miscellaneous (PDF, 890.0 KB)
  6. Issues paper 6: Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) - PLA Parts 1-4, Part 6 (Deeds) and Part 20 (Notices) (PDF, 2.5 MB)

Property Law Act 1974 – Final Report

  1. Final report: Property Law Act 1974  (PDF, 10.7 MB)

Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) and other community titles legislation

  1. Issues paper 2: Lot entitlements under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (PDF, 862.1 KB)
  2. Options paper: Body corporate governance issues: By‐laws, debt recovery and scheme termination (PDF, 750.9 KB)
  3. Issues paper: Procedural issues under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997
  4. Issues paper: Consistency between the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (PDF, 1.2 MB)

Final reports

  1. Final recommendations: Lot entitlements under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997
  2. Options paper recommendations: Body corporate governance issues: By-laws, debt recovery and scheme termination (PDF, 1.4 MB)
  3. Final recommendations: Procedural Issues under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (PDF, 1.3 MB)
  4. Final recommendations: Consistency between the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (PDF, 889.2 KB)
Last updated:
30 September 2020