For residents who may not have been involved in a Body Corporate before here is a brief summary of the structure, parties involved and their responsibilities.
Role Of The Body Corporate
The role of a Body Corporate in Queensland is to administer common property and Body Corporate assets for the benefit of all of the owners, and to undertake functions required under the Body Corporate legislation.
What Is A Body Corporate?
A Body Corporate is a legal entity which is created when land is subdivided and registered under the Land Title Act 1994 to establish a Community Title Scheme (CTS). All owners in a Community Title Scheme are automatically members of the body corporate when they purchase an apartment within Hamilton Harbour Residences.
Community Title Scheme
Community Title Schemes allow you to privately own an area of land or part of a building, as well as share common property and facilities with other owners and occupiers.
Examples of a community titles could be a:
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duplex
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residential unit block
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townhouse complex
Who Is Involved In A Community Title Scheme?
At Hamilton Harbour Residences, the complex is managed by the onsite management and has been since 2011. The current onsite manager has been in place since 2014. We have 4 interested parties that make up Hamilton Harbour Residences to ensure the Body Corporate responsibilities and manage the complex
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The body corporate committee
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The body corporate manager
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The building management Group (BMG)
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The resident building manager
The Body Corporate Committee is usually formed from owners in the building who volunteer their time at Committee Meetings to make the decisions necessary for the Body Corporate to operate through functions and duties such as formulating a budget, authorising payment of invoices, approving insurances and determining the yearly levy charges.
Committee Meetings are usually held 4 times per year and only Committee members generally attend, however, owners can request to attend these meetings if the correct notice is provided to the Body Corporate Managers prior to the meeting.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held once a year and ALL owners are invited and encouraged to attend as all financial information, contracts and insurance are approved at these meetings. If owners cannot attend it is still important to complete and return the voting papers or you can also vote online.
The Body Corporate Managers are an external professional company appointed by the body corporate to take care of the day-to-day financial responsibilities of the body corporate such as payment of invoices /contractors, issuing Levies, receipting funds from owners as well as issuing minutes and agendas of all meetings. The Body Corporate Managers organise and attend all meetings and take instruction from the Committee as needed.
The Body Corporate Managers are responsible for sending out the agenda and minutes of meetings to all owners as well as levies and any other correspondence on behalf of the Committee. They also provide guidance to all owners and committee members in relation to the relevant legislation where needed
Resident Manager
The resident building manager is responsible for general care and cleaning of the common areas of the complex and takes instruction only from the body corporate committee. The resident manager is engaged under a service agreement that generally are a long term agreement of 25 years with the body corporate.
The resident manager does reside onsite under the caretaking agreement is the contact between the resident manager and the body corporate which outlines duties and remuneration of the resident manager as well as the responsibilities of both parties.
The resident managers are not responsible for property issues within private apartments and are only involved in warranty or building issues that relate to the common areas of the complex. The resident managers also cannot take instruction from an individual owner unless authorised & approved by the body corporate committee to do so.