Avalon Apartments [2007] QBCCMCmr 57 (5 February 2007)

Number of Scheme:	36246
Name of Scheme:	Avalon Apartments
Address of Scheme:	2 Wahroonga Place SURFERS PARADISE QLD 4217

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

I hereby order that for the purposes of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 ("the Act"), and pursuant to section 283 of the Act, the next financial year end date of the Body Corporate for Avalon Apartments Community Titles Scheme 36246 shall be 31 July 2007, in place of the previous financial year end date.

I further order that thereafter, each successive financial year for the Body Corporate for Avalon Apartments Community Titles Scheme 36246, shall commence on 1 August and end on 31 July.

STATEMENT OF ADJUDICATOR’S REASONS FOR DECISION - REF 0105-2007

"Avalon Apartments" CTS 36246

Avalon Apartments community titles scheme (Avalon Apartments) consists of 170 lots and common property. The scheme’s community management statement indicates the Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 1997 (Standard Module) applies to the scheme.

APPLICATION

This application was made under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Act) by the Body Corporate for Avalon Apartments on 5 February 2007, and seeks the following declaratory order:

The application is made under a resolution passed at an extraordinary general meeting on 22 December 2006, notwithstanding that the First Annual General Meeting has not yet been held^[1], at a time when the original owner was the only owner of the lots in the scheme.

JURISDICTION

This is a matter which falls within the dispute resolution provisions of the legislation (see sections 227, 228, 276 and Schedule 5 of the Act). Section 276(1) of the Act provides that an adjudicator may make an order that is just and equitable in the circumstances (including a declaratory order) to resolve a dispute, in the context of a community titles scheme, about a claimed or anticipated contravention of the Act or the community management statement, or the exercise of rights or powers, or the performance of duties, under the Act or the community management statement. An adjudicator's order may contain ancillary and consequential provisions the adjudicator considers necessary or appropriate (section 284(1)). Section 283 of the Act specifically 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 will begin.

DETERMINATION

This scheme was registered in December 2006 and accordingly the financial year currently ends on 30 November of each year.^[2] The application submits that the timing of the financial year end creates difficulties in the Christmas/New Year period with the availability of auditors and accountants necessary to finalise and audit body corporate accounts.

I accept that changing the financial year will make it more convenient to prepare the information necessary for the annual general meetings that must be held within three months of the end of the financial year. In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the Body Corporate has properly consented to the proposed change of the Body Corporate’s financial year and that it is appropriate to make an order changing the financial year end date to 31 July in each year.

This order results in the Body Corporate’s first financial year being a one-off eight month financial year. The Body Corporate should be cognisant of this when managing its financial affairs.

^[1] Pursuant to section 60 of the Accommodation Module, this must be called and held within 2 months of the first of either more than 50% of the lots no longer in the ownership of the original owner or 6 months after the establishment of the scheme
^[2] See definition of ‘financial year’ in the Schedule 6 Dictionary of the Act

Queensland Body Corporate and Community Management Commissioner - Adjudicators Orders

Avalon Apartments [2007] QBCCMCmr 57 (5 February 2007)