The story starts with a new committee for a new Queensland apartment building and body corporate and an apartment owner with history of falling and slipping on wet tiles...
The owner asks the Committee for approval to keep a sturdy non-slip door mat on the common property immediately outside her apartment’s front door. Medical evidence in support is provided.
Committee says no. Requires removal of the doormat.
Conciliation (mediation) through the Commissioner’s Office follows, no agreement reached.
An adjudicator from a Queensland State Government body* has to make orders to resolve the dispute:
Orders that the Committee has acted unreasonably, and owner can keep her doormat on common property.
How much of this dispute amongst fellow could have been avoided by body corporate manager leadership?
A brand new committee faced with conflicting work health and safety reports and an owner’s special circumstances should be able to turn to their body corporate manager for leadership, direction and sound advice to prevent time consuming disputes that risk damaging community cohesion.
Protect your owners from expensive disputes that damage community cohesion in your apartment building. Partner with the (nuu) co. As your body corporate manager, we proactively coach committees on how to make decisions that avoid unnecessary dispute.
Article based on the Adjudicator's orders in The Cosmopolitan Cotton Tree [2021] QBCCMCmr 480 (19 October 2021), pictured above.
* The Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management
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