Frequently asked questions

A Body Corporate is a legal entity which is created when a community titles scheme (CTS) is created. All owners in a community titles scheme are automatically owners in the Body Corporate upon purchase of their lot. 

The Body Corporate is given powers under the BCCM Act and associated modules to carry out its functions. The Body Corporate:

• maintains, manages and controls the common property on behalf of owners
• decides the amounts to be paid by the owners to make sure the body corporate can operate
• makes and enforces its own rules, called by-laws, which tell owners and other people who live in the scheme what they can and cannot do
• takes out insurance on behalf of owners, such as public risk insurance over the common property and building insurance
• manages and controls body corporate assets
• keeps records for the body corporate, including minutes of meetings, roll of owners details, financial accounts, registers of assets, improvements to common property by owners, engagements and authorisation

All lot owners in a Body Corporate are automatically a member of the Body Corporate.

A Body Corporate is a legal entity that is created upon the establishment of a community titles scheme  (CTS). All lot owners are automatically members of the Body Corporate and can contribute to the Body Corporate and vote at meetings. 

A Body Corporate Manager is engaged by the Body Corporate to aid in carrying out the responsibilities as dictated by legislation. 

Lot entitlements can be located in the Community Management Statement (CMS) for your scheme. 

For each owner Lot Entitlements:

• are used to calculated levy contributions;
• body corporate voting rights; 
• share of common property; and
• lot value for calculating government rates and other charges. 

You can access your Body Corporate information online via the StrataMax Portal.

The Body Corporate Manager does not set the levies. 

On an annual basis the Body Corporate Committee agrees on a budget of projected expenditure which is then tabled to all owners to vote on at the Annual General Meeting. Subject to the approval of this motion, the Body Corporate Manager will issue the levies as per the motion carried. 

The levies for the Body Corporate are not paid to the Body Corporate Manager. 

All fund for your Body Corporate are kept in a specific bank account under the control of the Body Corporate Committee, your levies go into this account as well. 

Levies are approved by owners at the Annual General Meeting based on the budget of projected expenditure for the next 12 months. If the levies have increased it will be due to a budget being approved that projects higher Body Corporate expenditure for the next 12 months.

At the Annual General Meeting a Committee must be elected from the lot owners or those who act for them (e.g. a corporate nominee). 

The Body Corporate Committee is required to have at least 3 members.

The maximum number of committee members for schemes with 7 or more lots is 7. If there are less than 7 lots, the maximum is the same as the number of lots.

For Body Corporates that act under the Small Schemes Module, the Committee consists of a maximum of 2 members. It will only include a secretary and treasurer. 

The Body Corporate Committee is responsible for:

• making decisions on behalf of the Body Corporate (subject to limitations designated by legislation); 
• enacting lawful decisions of the Body Corporate; and 
• The administrative and ongoing operation of the Body Corporate (a Body Corporate Manager can be engaged to aid in these duties). 

The Committee gets elected at the Annual General Meeting each year. You can place your nomination in writing to the Body Corporate prior to the end of its financial year to be included in the AGM Notice. 

Alternatively, should there be positions available, you can table your nomination for Committee from the floor of the meeting. 

This information can be located on the minutes of your last Annual General Meeting.