Canaan Rise Villas [2004] QBCCMCmr 444 (16 September 2004)

Last Updated: 30 September 2005

REFERENCE: 0575-2004

ORDER OF AN ADJUDICATOR

MADE UNDER PART 9 OF CHAPTER 6

BODY CORPORATE AND COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT ACT 1997

Number of Scheme:	25255
Name of Scheme:	Canaan Rise Villas
Address of Scheme:	266 - 284 Henty Drive Redbank Plains, Queensland

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to an application made under the abovementioned Act by the Body Corporate for Canaan Rise Villas community titles scheme 25255:

I hereby order that for the purposes of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, the Body Corporate’s 2004-2005 financial year shall end on 30 April 2005. I further order that thereafter, each successive financial year of the Body Corporate shall begin on 1 May and end on 30 April.

STATEMENT OF ADJUDICATOR’S REASONS FOR DECISION - REF 0575-2004

"Canaan Rise Villas" CTS 25255

1.	The application

On 13 September 2004, the Body Corporate for "Canaan Rise Villas" filed an application with the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (the Act). The Body Corporate has sought an order changing the Body Corporate’s financial year end date from 31 January to 30 April each year.

"Canaan Rise Villas" is a community titles scheme under the Act, and the Act’s Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 1997 (the Accommodation Module).

2.	Determination

Bodies corporate for community titles schemes in Queensland do not necessarily operate on a normal business financial year of 1 July to 30 June. For schemes established after the commencement of the Act in 1997, the financial year is usually "the period from the establishment of the scheme until the end of the month immediately before the month when the first anniversary of the establishment of the scheme falls, and each successive period of 1 year from the end of the first financial year" (Schedule 6 of the Act).

The financial year for a body corporate is important for financial reporting purposes, as well as determining the timing of annual general meetings required by the legislation (see section 58 of the Accommodation Module).

The Act allows adjudicators to make orders changing the financial years of bodies corporate. Specifically, section 283 of the Act provides that "with the consent of the body corporate, the order of the adjudicator may include a change of the body corporate’s financial year and of the dates when later financial years begin".

In this instance, the Body Corporate appears to have consented to a change of financial year. The Body Corporate has presented me with minutes of its annual general meeting held on 29 April 2004, at which the following motion was carried:

"5 Ordinary Resolution – Change of Body Corporate’s financial year

THAT the body corporate consent to a change of the body corporate’s financial year to commence on 1 May 2004, and for later financial years of the body corporate to commence on 1 May annually, and that the body corporate manager be instructed to lodge the appropriate forms with the Commissioner for Body Corporate Management for an adjudicator’s order for such change."

In the circumstances, I consider that it is reasonable for me to issue an order declaring that the 2004-2005 financial year of the Body Corporate shall end on 30 April 2005, and that the future financial years of the Body Corporate shall operate from 1 May to 30 April each year.