Cannington Court Garden Villas [2005] QBCCMCmr 746 (10 May 2005)

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to an application made under the abovementioned Act by

I hereby order that:

1. The body corporate must hold an extraordinary general meeting on Saturday, 11 June 2005 to consider proposals to rectify subsidence of villas 5, 10 and 15;
2. Notice of this general meeting will be deemed to be valid provided that it is sent by 6:00pm on Wednesday, 1 June 2005.

I further order that proposals to rectify subsidence of villas 5, 10 and 15 must, whether submitted by the committee or individual owners:

1. Be submitted to the body corporate manager by 9:00am on Tuesday, 31 May 2005;
2. Specify an amount authorised to be spent pursuant to the resolution and, if above $3,000, be accompanied by at least two alternative quotations unless there are exceptional reasons making it impracticable to obtain two quotations;
3. Be accompanied by an explanatory note of up to 300 words for inclusion with the notice of meeting. Relevant comments may include a brief description of the work (including whether it is part of a staged approach), any engineering advice or guarantee as well as any time frame or known implications for insurance of the scheme. (Any lengthy explanatory material can also be provided to the body corporate and be available for owners to view on request);

I further order that any owner who paid the special levy adopted in July 2002 for rectification of subsidence of the villas must be credited the amount paid towards that levy (including interest earned) in respect of any request to pay a levy for a current rectification proposal adopted by the body corporate.

I further order that the body corporate must, as soon as practicable, distribute a copy of this order to all owners.

This is an interim order that cancels and replaces my interim order of 29 April 2005. This order will remain in effect for a period of not longer than six months. It is the responsibility of the applicants to apply to extend this order if no final determination has been made within that period. This order will automatically lapse upon a final order being made or this application being withdrawn.

STATEMENT OF ADJUDICATOR’S REASONS FOR DECISION - REF 0656-2004D

"Cannington Court Garden Villas" CTS 7132

Cannington Court Garden Villas Community Titles Scheme (Cannington Court) is a 24 lot scheme under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act (Act) and the Act’s Standard Module Regulation (Standard Module). Lot boundaries are designated under a building units plan (now known as a building format plan).

On 29 April 2005 I issued an interim order in relation to an application by Boris Tworek and Neil Weston, the owners of lots 10 and 15 respectively (applicants) seeking orders against the body corporate for Cannington Court (respondent). The application concerned a dispute about work the body corporate needs to perform to maintain the defective foundations of some of the villas in the scheme. The orders given included an order requiring the body corporate to hold an extraordinary general meeting on Saturday, 14 May 2005 to consider proposals to rectify subsidence of villas 5, 10 and 15. The order gave the committee an opportunity to submit a motion and two alternative quotations for a proposed first stage of rectifying subsidence. Other owners also had the opportunity to submit any alternative proposals for rectifying the subsidence including the submission of two alternative quotations. Motions and quotations were required to be submitted by 9:00 am on Monday 9 May 2005.

On Friday 6 May, one of the applicants provided this office with a copy of an order of the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal.^[1] This order indicated that the registration of the engineer who was to certify one of the proposals put forward by the committee had been cancelled. Concerns were therefore raised about the effectiveness of the proposal, the extent of any recourse if the proposal failed, and whether insurance cover would be refused if the proposal was not certified by a registered professional engineer.

The body corporate committee has subsequently sought an extension of 30 days to enable them to appoint legal representation and source an alternate engineer to assist them to comply with my interim order of 29 April 2005. I note also that the body corporate manager has contacted the body corporate’s insurer and received confirmation that the insurer will extend operation of the proviso under its insurance policy by three months to give the body corporate adequate time to repair the affected subsidence areas of the complex.

In these circumstances, I consider it appropriate to issue a new interim order on similar terms to my order of 29 April 2005 but with a longer timeframe for compliance. I will extend the date of the meeting to four weeks after the original date. To still allow reasonable notice of this meeting, I will extend the date by which the committee or owners need to submit motions and quotations for the meeting to three weeks from today.

^[1] Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland v Jutte [2004] CCT K005-03, P Lohrisch, 24 March 2005.

Number of Scheme:	7132
Name of Scheme:	Cannington Court Garden Villas
Address of Scheme:	24 Cannington Place HELENSVALE QLD 4212

Queensland Body Corporate and Community Management Commissioner - Adjudicators Orders

Cannington Court Garden Villas [2005] QBCCMCmr 746 (10 May 2005)