Body Corporate Special Levies QLD: Who Pays and Can You Refuse?

Prefer to watch/listen? Click here to consume this content via YouTube!

Watch on YouTube

Hi everybody – George Sourris, Empire Legal.

Today’s topic: Body Corporate Special Levies QLD & how to deal with them!

 When it comes to Special Levies in a Body Corporate, there is often knowledge gaps about who pays what and who is legally liable.

Let’s explore further.

In Queensland, Body Corporates is governed by the BCCMA (Body Corporate Community Management Act) 1997, Queensland. Within the 462 page Act are laws that the CTS or Community Title Scheme lots must abide by. You are a lot owner in a CTS if you own a unit / apartment / townhouse.  

HOT TIP- You can tell if a property is in a CTS from the Title search. There will be a reference to a “Community Management Statement” with a reference number.

Let’s start with a quick one minute explanation of the different levies, then we’ll dive deeper into Special Levies. A Body Corporate typically has three different levies that each lot owner in a complex must pay:

1. Administration Fund.

2. Sinking Fund.

3. Insurance.

The Administration Fund is there to pay for day-to-day operations of the complex, i.e. gardens, caretaker, paying the Body Corporate manager, onsite management, pool and maintenance, etc.

The Sinking Fund is effectively the “savings account”, to be used for repairs of the complex.

Examples include: lift repairs, repainting, resurfacing of the driveway, lobby upgrades, etc. There is a forecast that is completed to work out anticipated future costings. This is how the levy is calculated.

The Insurance levy is the lot owner’s contribution of the building insurance for the entire lot.

These levies are calculated based on the individual lot owner’s percentage of ownership of the entire lot. 

A lot owner can find out their contribution by looking at the CMS (Community Management Statement) of the building complex.

For example, in a block of units, the one bedroom lot owner will almost certainly pay less levies than the penthouse owner, as the penthouse has more square meterage of the lot area owned.

Special Levies.

Okay, now for the fun part. Special Levies. A word no lot owner wants to hear.

A Special Levy is struck when something unexpected happens to a building within a Body Corporate that requires expensive repair that was not forecasted. For example, let’s just say the pool in the complex starts leaking and it’s a $100,000 repair. If this has not been budgeted for, and there is not enough money in the sinking fund, the Body Corporate will call a General Meeting and pass a Special Levy for the repair.

There are of course rules that must be complied with, e.g. having several quotes, creating a proposed payment schedule, etc. If we use our example of the $100,000 pool repair – let’s say there’s 10 lot owners. If their lot entitlements were all equal, they will need to contribute $10,000 each.

Paying for Special Levies. 

Special Levies may be recovered in one repayment cycle or may be set out over multiple levy periods across several financial years of the Body Corporate. This is usually done to make the repayments more manageable for higher price levies. So, using our earlier example, say, an additional $2,000 over the next five periods of levies; so that each lot owner does not have to pay a lump sum of $10,000 immediately.

Keep in mind in the above example, that if say two of the five $2,000 instalments are levied before the contract date for a sale, and the remaining three are after the contract date, then the latter three of these levies become the buyers responsibility. 

Now, the part you’ve been waiting for. What happens when selling a property and there are Special Levies in play?

Section 2.6(12) of a standard REIQ contract outlines what happens in relation to Special Levies when a property is being sold.

The seller is liable for –

1. any special contribution of which a levy notice has been issued ON OR BEFORE the contract date; and

2. any other Body Corporate debt owing in respect to the lot or settlement. The buyer is liable for any special contribution levied AFTER the contract date.

Relevant Extract of a Standard REIQ CTS Contract below:

So buyers, if you have concerns, we suggest requesting a special condition be inserted into the contract,  so that you have time to explore the Body Corporate records, or otherwise do your research before you sign on the dotted line.

The meeting minutes could reveal issues with the complex that may require extra spending via Special Levies.

We help our buyers via a Body Corporate Records Agent, who attend the Body Corporate, search the records and provide a comprehensive report for our buyer’s consideration. If you sign a contract to buy, then from the date AFTER the contract date, any Special Levies struck are yours to bear in full.

And vendors, You have a duty to disclose.

Updated for the law as at 1 August 2025. The old Section 206 body corporate disclosure regime was tested for accuracy at settlement, which is why the advice used to be that a special levy struck after disclosure had to be dealt with. That test is gone. Under section 104 of the Property Law Act 2023 the disclosure statement is tested for accuracy as at the date it is given to the buyer, so a levy struck after that point does not give the buyer a right to terminate, and there is no statutory duty to update the disclosure. What still bites is your contract and the Australian Consumer Law: levies are adjusted at settlement, so a levy falling due before settlement is generally the seller’s, and a seller who knows about a levy before the buyer signs and stays silent risks a misleading conduct claim. So if you know about a special levy, tell the buyer, and make sure it’s paid.  If you don’t, it will get found when the buyer requests the information certificate from the Body Corporate as part of the searches and it will be paid as part of the property settlement.

Special shout out to Drew Davies from Place Ascot + Nundah for the blog suggestion.

Guys – like, subscribe, share. If this has added ANY value to you, please pass it along to someone that may want to know about Body Corporate levies.

Thanks.

See you next week.

Part 2 bonus content (1 min) available here:

Guys, just wanted to say a massive thank you. We’ve had great growth of our YouTube subscribers over the last month, so please, please, please – if we’ve added ANY value to you across any of our blogs or videos, we would really appreciate you subscribing to the page, leaving a comment, liking a video, or sharing with a friend. We’re currently not even at 10%.

So if you learnt something today, please take an extra 20 seconds to subscribe, and please give our video a like or even a quick comment.

Thank you very much and we’ll see you guys next week.

If someone you know is a Queensland real estate agent or in the industry, please share this video.

Also, if you could like and/or subscribe, if this content has added any value, we would really, really appreciate it.

Get in touch with us. Jump on our Instagram, our Facebook, our website.

George Sourris. Empire Legal.

If you have any questions, you can email me: george@empirelegal.com.au.

If this has added value, please share this blog / the YouTube video with a friend.

Thanks for reading everybody. See you on the next one.

Ladies and gentlemen, please keep in mind that all advice is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. This is authorised by George Sourris, Empire Legal, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

We can help…

For simple, sunny, smooth sailing conveyancing – Empire Legal.

We look forward to continuing to help thousands of Queenslanders every year with their conveyancing!

Any questions? Want to know more? Get in contact with us via the below form or via info@empirelegal.com.au.

What is a body corporate special levy?

A special levy is a one off charge raised by the body corporate for something the ordinary administrative and sinking fund budgets do not cover. Major remedial work, a building defect rectification, an insurance excess after a storm, or unexpected legal costs are the usual triggers.

It is separate from your regular quarterly levies and it is normally payable as a lump sum or in a small number of instalments.

Can you refuse to pay a special levy?

No. Once a special levy has been validly raised by resolution at a general meeting, it is a debt you owe the body corporate. Refusing to pay does not put the resolution on hold. Unpaid levies accrue penalty interest, the body corporate can recover them as a debt, and arrears can block you from voting on ordinary resolutions.

If you think the levy is invalid, the route is to pay and dispute, not to withhold. You can apply for adjudication through the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management, and the grounds are usually procedural: whether proper notice was given, whether the resolution type was correct, or whether the spending is within the body corporate’s power.

Who pays a special levy when a property is sold?

This is where it becomes a conveyancing question, and it is one of the more expensive things buyers miss.

The general position is that levies are adjusted at settlement, but a special levy that has already been struck before settlement is usually the seller’s liability for the portion attributable to their ownership, and the balance falls to the buyer. What actually governs it is the contract and the body corporate certificate.

A special levy that has been discussed but not yet resolved is the trap. If a levy is looming and has not yet been struck, it may not appear anywhere in the disclosure, and the buyer lands it in full after settlement.

How do you find out about a special levy before you buy?

Do all of these, not just the first:

• Order the body corporate certificate, which discloses levies struck and arrears
• Inspect the body corporate records, which is where the real information is
• Read the minutes of recent general and committee meetings for any discussion of major works, defects, engineering reports or a proposed levy
• Check the sinking fund forecast against the age and condition of the building
• Ask directly, in writing, whether any special levy is proposed or under consideration

A sinking fund that is obviously too small for a building with visible concrete or waterproofing issues is a special levy waiting to happen, whether or not one has been resolved yet.

How large can a special levy be?

There is no cap. Levies for major structural or waterproofing rectification in Queensland schemes routinely run into tens of thousands of dollars per lot, and your share is set by your lot entitlement rather than divided equally.

That is why the body corporate search is not a formality on a unit purchase. It is the single highest value search you will order.

What should a buyer do if a special levy is announced mid contract?

Tell your solicitor immediately, before you go unconditional. Depending on the contract, the disclosure obligations and the timing, there may be a right to terminate or a basis to renegotiate. Once you are unconditional your options narrow to almost nothing.