Douglas FM shows interest in Port Douglas body corporates (BC's)

What is a Body Corporate? The term is used to describe the collective of owners in a building or property. This means that the owners of the individual units in a strata scheme collectively own the common property of the building, such as the stairwells, elevators, roof, and gardens. Port Douglas has got plenty of body corporates. If we didn't we wouldn't have much in the way of holiday accommodation or places for retailers and Tradie's workshops.
Douglas FM were astonished about how Port's BC's work or in some cases don't work. That the management committees are made up of mostly unpaid volunteers. And most of them don't even live in Port Douglas.
That was so and it was unavoidable in the old days of the late 80's and early 90's. The first B&B licence was issued in 1993.
Fast forward to 2024 and the slow change to owner occupier accelerates as the housing dynamic changes. People are downsizing. Tourism business owners need to house their staff. People retire to smaller places. People can work from home and you can live in town. You may not need a second car? Ride a bike?

How are BC's managed?

A BC must have a committee. Most BC's hire a manager and considering the complexities it is handy to hire a good one.
BC's are governed by an act of parliament which is law. Ours is the Body Corporate and Community Management Act (BCCMA) and is 427 pages long. To cater for different types of BC's there are regulatory modules, ours is the Commercial Module Regulation which is 174 pages long.
Hence the idea of hiring a good manager. Common sense dictates it should be a local one.
The BCCMA is administered by the Commissioner of BCCM who has a staff of about 35.
They can be contacted by phone on 1800 060 119 and give advice on the act. They do not give out legal advice.
BCCM are not like the police. They are there to help BC's manage their own business. They offer a dispute settling service for matters within the BCCMA jurisdiction which could include concilliation or adjudication applications.
About 3% of BC's submit applications each year. Our BC averaged more than 2 per year since 2020 which is way above average.