Body corporate approval for renovations in QLD: what needs sign-off, who decides, and on what conditions

Owners renovate; bodies corporate worry about structure, waterproofing, noise and the look of the building. Queensland law reconciles the two with a short set of rules in the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (BCCM Act) and the scheme's regulation module (this guide uses the Standard Module, the BCCM (Standard Module) Regulation 2020). Whether approval is needed, and from whom, turns on three questions:

1. Is the work entirely within the lot?
2. Does a by-law regulate this kind of work?
3. Does it affect common property, or anything the body corporate is responsible for maintaining?

Body corporate approval is separate from council or building certification, and from the licensing rules of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. A renovation can need all three.

Work entirely within the lot

The BCCM Act itself does not require approval for work inside a lot. Repainting, a new kitchen, replacing internal fixtures, or re-tiling a bathroom are the owner's business, subject to two constraints. First, the owner must not cause a nuisance or interfere unreasonably with other occupiers (BCCM Act s 167), which covers the dust, noise and tradespeople's access during the works as much as the result. Second, "inside the lot" means less than most owners assume on a building format plan: the boundary is the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling, and the body corporate is responsible for load-bearing walls, roofing membranes, and the doors and windows in a boundary wall with common property, even where they sit inside the lot. Cutting into a structural wall, moving a boundary-wall window, or replacing a balcony's waterproofing is not an internal renovation. The maintenance guide explains where that line sits.

Work regulated by a by-law

Many schemes have by-laws requiring approval for changes to the external appearance of a lot, hard floor coverings, air-conditioning and solar installations, window coverings visible from outside, or structural alterations. Those by-laws are enforceable so long as they are registered in the community management statement (CMS) and are not oppressive or unreasonable (s 180 of the Act). Where a by-law requires approval, the by-law usually names the decision-maker, and in practice it is the committee, deciding at a meeting or by a vote outside a committee meeting. Hard flooring is the most litigated example: a by-law that requires an acoustic rating for timber or tile floors over another lot is routinely upheld, and committees commonly condition approval on an acoustic report and a specified underlay.

Work that touches common property

An owner who wants to install something on, or alter, common property for their own lot's benefit (an awning on the building's exterior, a pergola over a common courtyard, an air-conditioning condenser on the roof, a security screen on a front door that is in a boundary wall) needs authorisation under Standard Module s 187. The threshold decides who gives it.

The improvement	Who authorises	Source
Minor improvement: installed value $3,000 or less, does not detract from the appearance of any lot or common property, and the body corporate is satisfied its use is not likely to promote a breach of the owner's occupier duties	Committee	s 187(2)
Any other owner improvement to common property	Ordinary resolution at a general meeting	s 187(2)
Improvement to an exclusive use area	Whatever the exclusive use by-law itself authorises; anything else needs the body corporate's authorisation, by ordinary resolution if the value is more than $3,000	s 193
Permanent appropriation of common property (enclosing a courtyard, a carport on common land)	A new exclusive use by-law, by resolution without dissent and a new CMS lodged with Titles Queensland	Act s 171

All three limbs of the minor-improvement test must be met before the committee can act; a $1,500 awning that clashes with the building's facade goes to a general meeting. The owner's motion for an ordinary resolution should attach plans, specifications and the contractor's details, and if the cost exceeds the scheme's major spending limit the two-quote rule for general-meeting motions applies.

Improvements by the body corporate itself

The body corporate's own improvements to common property (a new pool fence, a security system, a landscaping upgrade) are governed by Standard Module s 186 and scaled to the size of the scheme:

Project cost	Who authorises
Up to $300 × number of lots (the basic improvements limit)	Committee, within its ordinary spending limit
Above that, up to $2,000 × number of lots	Ordinary resolution, and only one such resolution per financial year
Above $2,000 × number of lots	Special resolution
Any amount, where an adjudicator decides it is reasonably necessary for health, safety or security	Adjudicator's order

Associated improvements forming a single project are costed together; splitting a project to keep each piece under a threshold does not work (s 186(3)). Replacing a failed item like for like is maintenance, not an improvement, and falls outside these limits altogether. The resolution types and voting thresholds are in the voting guide.

Conditions, and the duty to decide reasonably

An authorisation under s 187 may be given on conditions the body corporate considers appropriate (s 187(3)), and the owner must comply with them and must maintain the improvement in good condition unless the body corporate excuses them (s 187(4)). Conditions that adjudicators consistently accept include:

• work by licensed and insured contractors, with evidence supplied before work starts;
• compliance with building and plumbing approvals and the National Construction Code;
• working hours, protection of common property, and making good any damage;
• an acoustic rating or report for hard flooring;
• the owner bearing any increase in the body corporate's insurance premium attributable to the improvement; and
• the improvement being maintained, repaired and if necessary removed at the owner's cost.

Conditions that go beyond the work (an unrelated levy, a blanket indemnity for things the body corporate is responsible for) are open to challenge. The body corporate and the committee must act reasonably in making, or not making, a decision (BCCM Act ss 94 and 100), and an adjudicator can overturn an unreasonable refusal and authorise the work. Unlike a pet request, a renovation request has no deemed-approval period: silence is not consent, but prolonged silence is a decision the owner can take to conciliation.

Once approved, the improvement runs with the lot. The next owner inherits the obligation to maintain it, so the approval, its conditions and the plans should be kept with the scheme's records and disclosed when the lot is sold.

A workable approval process

1. Owner applies in writing with plans, specifications, materials and colours, the contractor's licence and insurance details, a timetable, and a statement of what common property, if any, is affected.
2. The committee classifies the request: internal only, by-law approval, s 187 minor improvement, or general-meeting matter. The classification decides who can say yes.
3. The committee decides within its authority at its next meeting or by a vote outside a committee meeting, and records the decision with the conditions. Anything above its authority goes on the agenda of the next general meeting with the owner's motion and supporting material.
4. The decision is notified in writing to the owner, including the conditions and the obligation to maintain.
5. Completion is recorded, with certificates and any as-built changes, against the lot.

Unapproved work

Work carried out without a required approval is a by-law contravention, an unauthorised improvement to common property, or both. The body corporate's tools are the contravention-notice process in the by-law enforcement guide, an adjudication application for an order that the work be removed or made good, and Standard Module s 212, under which the body corporate may do the required work itself and recover the reasonable cost from the owner once an order or by-law obligation is in place. Retrospective approval is possible, and is often the sensible outcome where the work would have been approved anyway, but it is the body corporate's choice to make, on conditions.

Common mistakes

1. Treating a committee "policy" as a by-law. A renovation policy is a useful checklist; it only binds owners to the extent the registered by-laws do.
2. The committee approving above its authority. A $4,000 improvement to common property, or anything that detracts from the building's appearance, needs a general meeting no matter how sensible it is.
3. Approving a structural change as "internal". On a building format plan, load-bearing walls and boundary-wall windows are the body corporate's responsibility and its decision.
4. Refusing without reasons. An unreasoned refusal is the easiest decision for an adjudicator to overturn.
5. Failing to record conditions. Years later, no one can prove the owner agreed to maintain the awning or bear the premium increase.
6. Letting the owner's contractor onto common property with no insurance evidence. The body corporate's insurer will ask.

How StrataPilot handles this

StrataPilot gives the scheme a formal requests workflow for lot improvements, by-law exemptions, common property changes and parking: the owner submits the request with plans and supporting documents attached, the committee reviews it, and the decision is recorded as approved or declined with its conditions. Every request stays linked to the lot and to the by-laws register it was assessed against, so the next committee, and the next owner, can see what was approved and on what terms. Where an approval needs a general-meeting resolution, the committee can take it straight to a poll with the owner's documents attached as supporting material.

---

This guide is general information about Queensland legislation, current as at the "last updated" date above — it is not legal advice. Dollar thresholds are those in the Standard Module as at the "last updated" date; the Accommodation, Commercial and Small Schemes Modules differ (the Commercial Module, for example, has no cost limit on committee approval of owner improvements). For decisions that matter, check the current legislation and your scheme's CMS, or ask the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management.