This is a summary about entitlements for Queensland Body Corporates, and how they should be calculated according to the law.
Your entitlements are imported because it determines how much of the total building running costs you will pay.
Types of lot entitlement schedules
The community management statement for community titles schemes in Queensland has 2 lot entitlement schedules.
They are the:
- contribution schedule (used for admin, repairs, utilities, & other costs)
- interest schedule (used for insurance costs)
Who sets entitlements
The original owners (developers) sets the entitlements and you can find them in the CMS.
How to calculate entitlements
From 2011 original owners (developers) were required to set lot entitlements according to certain principles:
- the equality principle, or
- the relativity principle.
The equality principle for Body Corporates
Lot entitlements must be equal under the equality principle (except to the extent that it is just and equitable for them not to be equal). For example, if there is a commercial community titles scheme where the owner of 1 lot uses more water or runs a more dangerous or higher risk activity than the other lot owners it may be just and equitable for that lot to have a higher contribution schedule lot entitlement.
The relativity principle for Body Corporates
Under the relativity principle, lot entitlements must consider the relationship between the lots according to a number of factors.
Factors include:
- how the scheme is structured
- the nature, features and characteristics of the lots
- what the lots are used for
- how each lot affects the costs of maintaining the common property
- the market value of each lot.
The interest schedule principle
The principle for deciding interest schedule lot entitlements is the market value principle except to the extent that it is just and equitable not to reflect the market value.
The community management statement must say whether the market value principle applies and if not explain why.