News & insights
Q&A – Seeking Pet Approval from your Body Corporate?
Question: BCM fees for processing a pet application were paid by all owners. A decision was made that the respective owner should bear any fees. Can the body corporate charge owners to process a pet application?
We have a standard by-law regarding pets. A VOC fee was levied by the body corporate manager (BCM) unless the matter could be decided at a usual meeting.
Historically, fees were paid by all owners. That was considered unfair. The general principle is more relevant than the amount involved. Some feel that all owners should not pay for something that is personal to one owner.
A decision was made that the respective owner should bear any fees.
A BCCM Common Ground article cites, “In the matter of Lenvilla (2018) QBCCMCmr 146, where a lot owner was charged a fee for a pet application to be considered by the committee, the adjudicator upheld that the lot owner should NOT be liable for this charge.”
The BCM at the time stated, “The $65 fee has been charged to the application as it is not a body corporate expense but an individual owner expense”.
The adjudicator determined that the applicant was asking for a decision from the committee as per a by-law and was not seeking to purchase a service or product from the BCM.
Could we incorporate “covering all fees/expenses” for personal applications into our by-laws? What costs are likely involved?
Answer: Conducting a VOC is very much part of the body corporate managing its affairs, regardless of whether it impacts one, two or two hundred individuals.
We have lost count of the number of times we have referenced ‘Lenvilla’ for clients and respectfully, you also need to give it more attention.
That is because while adjudicators’ orders are not precedent, this order concisely articulates that a by-law purporting to impose a monetary liability on an occupier will be invalid.
Moreover, this order clarifies the reality you must face, namely, the relationship between the body corporate and the body corporate manager. The body corporate manager has no direct relationship to an individual. A body corporate manager may be able to invoice the body corporate for the expense of holding a vote outside committee (VOC), subject to the terms of their management agreement, but it is not possible for the manager to invoice an individual – there is no scope either under legislation, or in the terms of an agreement, to do that.
You ask why all owners should pay for something that is personal to one owner. To be blunt, if you are asking that query, perhaps strata living is not for you because that is precisely how strata works. All owners contribute to the expenses the body corporate incurs in managing its affairs. Conducting a VOC is very much part of the body corporate managing its affairs, regardless of whether it impacts one, two or two hundred individuals.
We know that many strata managers, committees, owners, occupiers, and real estate agents disagree with the above logic (we’ve had that stated to us in blunt terms at countless events!), and would like to charge the individual. Put it this way: if you did, and it went to the Commissioner’s Office, it is very likely it would be determined in the same way as ‘Lenvilla’. At which point, you’d likely find the costs (legal costs, costs of distributing the application, as well as reputational costs for the committee in being seen to have embarked on a folly) exceeding the original cost of the VOC concerned.
Don’t do it, in other words.
This is general information only (except for the blunt bits) and not legal advice.
Chris Irons
Strata Solve
E: chris@stratasolve.com.au
P: 0419 805 898
This post appears in Strata News #743.
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