A body corporate may engage a manager to supply administrative services, though the law does not require it to have one. In the Queensland Government’s words, “At present, body corporate managers do not need to be licensed in Queensland”, and no formal training or qualification is needed for the role.
Explanatory noteGeneral information about the BCCM Act, not advice about any contract. The Queensland Government’s office for body corporate matters says it cannot interpret or advise on body corporate contracts. The official pages are the body corporate manager page and the page on service contractors and letting agents.
1.Four roles, side by side
| Role | What it does | Place on the committee | Code or licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body corporate manager | Administrative services, and only what the body corporate asks of it. | Non-voting member, automatically. | No licence. Bound by the code of conduct for managers and caretaking service contractors. |
| Service contractor | Services other than administration, for at least a year, such as pool cleaning, mowing or gardening; not an employee. | None stated. | The Act has no code of conduct for this role. |
| Caretaking service contractor | A service contractor who is also the scheme’s authorised letting agent (or an associate of one), usually running the letting business from a lot it owns or leases. | Non-voting member, and cannot be a voting one. | Both the managers’ and caretakers’ code and the letting agents’ code. |
| Letting agent | Authorised by the body corporate to let lots and collect rent for investor-owners. | None stated. | Must be licensed under the Property Occupations Act 2014. |
Owners do not have to let through the authorised letting agent: they can let privately or through a real estate agent. Schemes under the Small Schemes or Specified Two-lot Schemes modules can neither engage a caretaking service contractor nor authorise a letting agent. A manager or caretaking service contractor who receives a commission, payment or other benefit must disclose it to the body corporate.
2.Engaging a manager when there is a committee
The committee has no power to engage a manager. The owners do it at a general meeting by ordinary resolution, and the contract’s terms go out with the meeting papers beforehand. The written engagement has to set out every duty the manager is authorised to carry out, how long it runs, which cannot be more than 3 years, and how the manager is paid. In schemes under the Standard and Accommodation modules, a proxy cannot vote on a motion to engage a manager or service contractor or to authorise a letting agent.
Usually the manager takes on the secretary’s and treasurer’s work: calling meetings, sending levy and by-law contravention notices, sending minutes, handling the money and receiving voting papers. Looking after the common property is not the manager’s job, though the manager may arrange work if the committee asks. None of this reduces the committee’s own powers; the secretary, for instance, can still call a committee meeting.
3.A manager in place of the committee
Where the owners cannot fill all the executive positions at the annual general meeting, or there are fewer than 3 voting members, they can engage a manager to act as the committee. The process is tighter:
The motion
It goes on the annual general meeting agenda, or to an extraordinary general meeting held within 2 months of it, as the last item.
The papers
The notice carries the contract terms and an explanatory note covering when a manager can be engaged, which committee functions it will perform, the limits on its authority and how the engagement can be ended.
The vote
A special resolution by secret ballot (unless the owners have agreed by ordinary resolution to an open ballot), with no proxy votes.
The term
The manager then carries out all the committee’s functions and makes the decisions a committee would. The engagement ends at the end of the next annual general meeting after the general meeting that approved it, or 12 months after it began, whichever comes first.
4.The code every manager works under
The code of conduct is written into every manager’s engagement automatically, and where the two differ, the code prevails. Under it, a manager must, among other things:
- know and understand the BCCM Act and the code that applies to its work;
- act honestly, fairly and professionally;
- act in the body corporate’s best interests, where that is lawful;
- not be fraudulent or misleading;
- not unfairly sway a committee election or the outcome of a motion;
- keep the records the Act requires.
5.When an engagement ends early
An engagement can be ended if the manager agrees, is convicted of an offence involving dishonesty, fraud or assault, or fails to perform its duties or comply with the Act or the code. For a failure, the body corporate first serves a remedial action notice, which the committee can decide to send. It names the duties not done or the breach claimed, with specific details, gives at least 14 days to put it right, and warns that the engagement can be ended if nothing changes. If the manager does not comply in time, the owners can end the engagement by ordinary resolution at a general meeting. With no committee, the owners of at least half the lots can decide to serve the notice.
Disagreements over these contracts are complex disputes, which the Commissioner’s office does not resolve; the guide to disputes explains where they go. The fees a manager may charge sit inside the body corporate’s yearly budget, covered in the guide to the budget and spending.