QLD: That’s it for contribution schedule lot entitlement adjustments
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal
This article about Queensland lot entitlement adjustments has been supplied by Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal.
The question about how to adjust contribution schedule lot entitlements (‘the CSLE’) that has been kicking around strataland since September 2012 has finally been put to rest. The complete article we wrote on the issue at the time is here.
In practical terms, no one will be able to adjust the CSLE unless there is a resolution without dissent at a general meeting. This is a resolution which no one votes against (as opposed to one which everyone votes for). Any CLSE adjustment means that some levies will go up and others will go down because the body corporate budget never changes. What adjusting lot entitlements does is allocate those costs differently among owners.
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Therefore, unless those owners whose levies are going to go up are asleep at the wheel, any proposed motion to change the CSLE will almost certainly be voted down.
The Attorney General says that the government will manage this by additional disclosure. This always sounds great in theory, but the cynic would say that it is yet another thing that buyers will not read because (at that stage) they are buying the dream. Buyers signing contracts do not usually care about that level of detail. But yes, if the CSLE are not ‘fair’ then the buyer can be pointed back to the disclosure in the contract where they were told of the position. Sort of like what this used to do.
If you are interested in the Attorney General’s views, you can click on this link to her recent speech at the Strata Community Association (Qld) Annual Conference and go to 14:30 where she talks specifically about the government’s position
The position is different for interest schedule lot entitlements, which should always be the proportionate value of the lot compared to others. That has never changed.
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