 Thank you for watching. Today's recording in collaboration with the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management. Today's topic is on the upcoming Tenancy Law changes on minimum housing standards and also how that will impact body corporate units, townhouses and apartments. My name is Lynne from the Residential Tenancies Authority and today we will be stepping through the Queensland Tenancy Laws regarding repairs and minimum housing standards. We will then introduce our guest speaker from the commissioner's office who will step you through body corporate bylaws and repairs and their processes. We will also run through some scenarios to help understand who may be responsible for a repair, a noner or a body corporate. Queensland Tenancy Laws, the Residential Tenancies and Rumi Accommodation Act 2008 outlines the obligation than rights of owners and tenants. The owner is responsible to ensure the premises are fit to live in, comply with health and safety laws and carry out repairs and maintenance during the tenancy. Tenants do have responsibilities to inform their owner or their managing agent of any damage or repairs. The RTA does recommend owners attend to repairs in a timely manner. A tenant can inform the owner or the manager of the repair by way of a phone call, email or if there's an onsite manager or a real estate agency there may be a portal or system to log that repair request. Tenants can also issue an RTA Form 11 breach notice. The RTA does recommend self-resolution in the first instance gain really good communication between owners, managers and tenants to resolve issues. The RTA has self-resolution tips available on our website. If it's not successful you can apply to the RTA's free dispute resolution service where impartial conciliators will help parties to try and resolve the matter. If that's unsuccessful an application can be made to QCAT and potentially a repair order. There are two types of repairs routine which is maybe like a dripping tap or a stove element not working versus an emergency repair such as your burst pipe causing flooding or potentially electrical safety issue. Repair orders add an additional pathway for tenants to have repairs carried out. A tenant can apply to the tribunal for an order for an emergency or routine repairs and a copy of that order is sent to the RTA. When the tribunal makes an order it considers the conduct of the owner and the agent risk of injury and the loss of humanity. The repair order directions may include what needs to be repaired and by when and who, who is going to pay the repair it could also be a reduction in rent or a level of compensation paid or that the agreement will end if the repairs are not done by a certain date or it could be that if the repair is not complied with the property cannot be re-led. There are penalty provisions under the Queensland Tenancy Laws to contraven a repair order. Repair order provisions came into one effect on 1 October 2022 and they are now under the RTA's law now. You can find more information about the process on repair orders on the RTA's website. Now let's have a look at minimum housing standards and when they will commence. The residential tenancies legislation section 17A states a prescribed minimum housing standard means a standard prescribed by regulation. This is now outlined under the changes implemented under the Housing Legislation Amendment Act 2021 Schedule 5A. It does impact residential tenancies which you will be including the rental properties that you find in body corporate complexes such as your units, your apartments and your townhouses. Minimum housing standards will start from 1 September 2023 for new tenancies so that's where a new agreement is signed and for all tenancies will be from 1 September 2024. Rental properties need to be safe, secure and reasonable functionality. So if I just quickly step through with you what safe and secure means firstly it's weatherproof and structurally sound so we're looking at the roof and windows prevent water entering. The floors wall ceiling roof deck or stairs are not likely to collapse due to rot or a defect. A supporting structure is not affected by significant dampness and the property condition is not likely to cause damage to the occupant's personal property. Fixes and fittings need to be in good repair and not likely to cause injury and it will include any electrical appliances that's part of the property. So this may relate to more like semi furnished or furnished properties so the property also needs to be free of vermin, damp and mould but this obligation does not apply if it was caused by the tenant for locks and windows on doors. The legislation states property needs to have a functioning lock or latch is fitted to all external windows and doors to secure the premises against unauthorised entry. So this applies to windows and doors that do not require a ladder to access so clearly the purpose here is to ensure the premises are secure. Windows in all rooms which the tenant would expect privacy so such as like a bedroom they will require privacy coverings so that could be a curtain, blind, tinting or glass frosting. Doesn't apply if the window is obstructed by a fence, hedge, tree or another feature. Now we just have a look at the reasonable functionality so the premises must have adequate plumbing and drainage for the number of people occupying the property and be connected to a water supply service or infrastructure supplying hot and cold water suitable for drinking. The bathroom and toilet facilities must provide privacy and function as designed and they must be connected to a sewer, septic or other waste disposal system. Now if included the kitchen must include a function cooktop and the laundry must include the fixtures required to provide a functional laundry. Again there's more information on the RTA's website regarding minimum housing standards. I'd like to welcome our guest speaker Sharon from the commissioner's office. Welcome and thank you for joining us today. Thanks then for the opportunity to be here today. So Sharon is going to step through their role and also the impacts of minimum housing standards for community title schemes in Queensland. Over to you Sharon. Thanks Lynn. The commission's office is established under the body corporate and community management so we provide information and community education service as well as a dispute resolution service. Our enquiries come from various people in the body corporate sector and that includes owners and tenants. A dispute resolution service consists of conciliation and adjudication. We're not a complaints body advocacy service or an investigative agency. Today I want to talk to you about the minimum housing standards and the impact that they'll have on owners of properties that have a body corporate because a few of the requirements may fall to an owner's responsibility to repair and others to the body corporate. It's important to know what you need to ask the body corporate to do and how to ask for it. Remember bylaws are also applicable to bodies corporate and you may need to find out a little bit more about those. Who's who? When you live in a body corporate there are a few titles that get thrown around and it can be a bit confusing as to who's who and what they actually do. So I'll just briefly explain the roles of the onsite manager letting agent and body corporate manager in relation to dealing with minimum housing standards. The onsite manager is engaged by the body corporate to perform maintenance duties such as gardening and cleaning. They may also have the letting rights for the scheme. They can ask the body corporate to do maintenance of the common property for things that fall outside the scope of their contracts. Owners aren't obliged to use the onsite manager to let their lot and external agents can be used. The body corporate manager is also engaged by the body corporate but their jobs to perform administrative functions. If you want to ask a body corporate to fulfill their maintenance obligations you can propose a motion and send it directly to the body corporate manager. Their role is to pass on your request to the committee to make a decision. It's really important to understand that neither the onsite manager or the body corporate manager have any capacity to make a decision on behalf of the body corporate. And finally the committee is made up of owners or their representatives of the body corporate who make decisions on the day to day running of the body corporate including some requests that you may have in regards to maintenance or in seeking approval under a bar law. So now I'm going to talk to you a bit about bar laws. It's important to check the bar laws that apply to your body corporate as each body corporate is different. Bar laws are additional rules made by each body corporate to manage behavior on the common property or within lots. This includes appearance of lots especially from the outside. Somebody's corporate have a specific bar law which regulates the installation of curtains and blinds. They may dictate certain products styles and colors that can be used. Others are more general in nature and simply state that you must ask for approval if you want to change the external appearance of the lot. Things such as tinting and frosting of glass may be captured under this type of bar law. If you need to make these sorts of changes in order to comply with the tenancy legislation you may have to propose a motion to be considered by the body corporate committee. In most circumstances it's the committee that can grant these types of approvals in relation to bar laws. However in some cases the decision might need to go to a general meeting of the body corporate so you need to check with your own body corporate if this is the case. So let's talk a bit about maintenance. When you own a property in a body corporate the body corporate is responsible for some of the maintenance. With bodies corporate the plan of subdivision usually determines the maintenance responsibilities so it's really important to check the type of plan that your body corporate is registered under. You can do this by contacting titles Queensland. There are two types standard format plan formally group titles plan and building format plan formally called building units plan. So Sharon what would be an example of your standard and building format so we're talking your normal townhouse apartment unit complexes would that fall to that or can you give us an example of what might be even like a group plan as well. Sure so a standard format plan is generally a townhouse style complex however there are some registered as building format plans and then your apartment buildings and high rises are your building format plans. Your group titles plan and building unit plans they're usually more if you mix juice or resort style of development. Some of the examples where a body corporate may be responsible for maintenance in relation to minimum housing standards includes the plumbing plumbing and drainage that services more than one unit or pipes and drains located on the common property or in a boundary structure. With regards to ensuring the properties weatherproof and structurally sound the body corporate is registered under a building format plan or building units plan of subdivision are responsible for the windows and doors that are located on the boundary of the unit and the common property the roof and most external walls. If the building body corporate is registered under a building format plan it's also responsible for the locks on the doors and the windows that are located on a boundary between the unit and the common property. The body corporates usually responsible for pest control of the common property and they could also be responsible for the damp and mould if it's responsible for the external walls weatherproofing and plumbing and drainage which has caused the damp and mould. I also need to point out that whilst the body corporate is responsible for maintaining certain things it's not necessarily responsible for the installing of things such as locks if they weren't already there. This may be the owner's responsibility however permission is most likely required from the body corporate before locks are installed. So Sharon we talk you talk about a roof leak hypothetically and say that it's causing mould on an internal ceiling while it's clear the body corporate may be responsible to fix that roof leak. Who would be responsible for the mould that's been damaged that's caused the damage internally so we know in some instances maybe the owner or the tenant might clean off that mould but if the leaks the body corporate then could it be that the mould is also their responsibility to rectify? Yeah that's right Lynn so if the damage such as mould occurs because the body corporate has not maintained what it is its responsibility to maintain the body corporate could also be responsible to fix that damage. So how do we get the repairs done and who do we report them to? Tenants will most likely tell their managing agent or owner if they need anything to be repaired. When an owner knows it's a body corporate's repair they can get one or two quotes as a part of submitting a motion as this will save the committee time. There is information on how to do this on our website you just need to google drafting motions and BCCM. You can submit your motion to the secretary or to the body corporate manager. The cost of the repairs and the body corporate's budget will determine whether or not the decision can be made by the committee or at a general meeting of the body corporate. If it is a committee's decision they have six weeks to make that decision about your request. They can take up to 12 weeks if they need more time but they do need to let you know if this is the case. If the cost of the repairs more than the committee's spending limit or there's an inadequate amount of funds in the budget the decision must be made at a general meeting of the body corporate which is where all of the owners can vote on your motion. Some bodies corporate only have one general meeting each year so you may need to consider this in the timing of submitting of your motions. If it's more urgent you can ask the committee to call an extraordinary general meeting. More information about calling EGMs can also be found on our website. So Sean you mentioned spending limits here is there a formula or specific amount that body corporates have like in particular if something is an emergency repair like a burst pipe in a wall or something like that. Yeah the default spending limit for a committee is $200 times the number of lots so for a six lot scheme it's going to be $1,200. Some body corporates set a higher limit so you actually need to check with your own body corporate as to what that limit is. Whilst a tenant is usually able to talk to their agent or owner there's also an option for them to go directly to the body corporate. So what do we do when the body corporate says no. You must try and resolve the issue yourself first however if the body corporate says no to your motion you can consider lodging a dispute application with our office. In most cases conciliation is the first step in the formal dispute resolution process. If conciliation fails you may have to seek an adjudicator's order which if successful can be enforced through the magistrates court. Please remember there are fees to lodge a dispute application with us and these applications and information about the fees can be found on our website. Great thanks Sharon. Let's have a look at some scenarios now whether it's body corporate or whether it might end up being an owner. So burst pipe and wall between units you probably kind of covered on that so we would think most likely body corporate. That's right Lynn so a burst pipe located between two units is most likely the body corporate regardless of the plan of subdivision. An apartment door lock in a high rise complex does not work. The lock on a door that's located between the boundary of the unit and the common property is usually the body corporate's responsibility if registered under a building format plan. If a standard format plan it's most likely the owner. Okay so again really important to understand that those variables come into place what sort of format is in place. That's right. Roof leaking from a recent storm we kind of probably did cover that but most likely here we're talking about obviously the roof needs to be repaired by the body corporate. That's right but only if it's registered under a building format plan of subdivision. And mould appears in the ceiling of the townhouse complex. So again whether that might be from like the roof leak or it could be what would happen if the situation is that the gutter is full of leaves and you know waters entered because the gutters are overfilled with water. So and that's caused the mould. So would that fall to the owner or would that fall to the body corporate? It depends on the circumstances. So mould in a townhouse complex that's registered under a standard format plan is likely to be the owner's responsibility unless it's caused by some shared guttering that's leaking. However body corporates registered under building format plan if there's evidence that the mould is caused by something the body corporate has failed to maintain the body corporate would be responsible for the mould. Okay stairs so we've got a step tread rotting in a say a small unit complex. Yeah the body corporate's responsible for keeping in a structurally sound condition any stairs that are located on the common property. Okay and let's face it this I would think is probably a fairly urgent situation because obviously a safety point of view. So is there anyway like if this exceeds the spending limit that we just talked about previously is there any way that this step tread can actually be dealt with quicker through the body corporate? Yeah it is. So the body corporate committee is empowered to call an extraordinary general meeting however that can still take at least 21 days. So another option is that they apply to our office for an emergency order if they can show that it's urgent. You did touch on pest control but problem with rat infestation only in complex that's near a shopping centre. Yeah the body corporate is responsible for any pest control of the common property. And so if we were looking at that there's like mice or rats internally inside a unit that might be a discussion between the owner and the tenant what may have actually caused the infestation but again if it's potentially because of a body corporate situation it could fall to the body corporate. Yeah if they can show that the body corporate is somehow responsible then even though it's inside the unit the body corporate may be responsible for the pest control. And our last one here going back to your bylaws the only ones to install purple curtains in a bedroom so this was going back to the privacy coverings that are required. You know obviously going back and having a look at the bylaws. Yeah whether or not purple curtains are allowed will be determined by the bylaws for each individual body corporate. You may need to seek approval. So we've covered a lot of information today and most of this information that I've discussed can be found on our website at www.qld.gov.au forward slash body corporate. If you're not sure if you plan to subdivision please contact Titles Queensland before contacting us with any inquiries. We respond to written inquiries within 14 days or we can call you back on our callback service between the hours of 8 30 and 3 p.m. Monday to Friday if you prefer a quicker response. Thanks Sharon and the RTA's website rta.qld.gov.au has a lot of information and resources available to help you navigate the tenancy laws and processes. Our contact centre is available Monday to Friday 8 30 to 5 and does exclude public holidays on 1300 306 301. Thank you Sharon for your time today in stepping us through the world of body corporate bylaws and the processes for repairs in a body corporate complex or building. Really do appreciate your time in sharing your knowledge and also the information informing the rental community, the tenants, the owners and the agents out there where to get more information from your office. So thank you. Thanks Lynn.