After my successful re-election campaign, I will return for a fourth term as the Member for Southport. Along with this important role I have been appointed as the new Minister of Tourism and Fair Trading. This position also includes the Racing and Liquor Licensing portfolios.

During my time as Minister I will be visiting tourism icons all over Queensland and this page will keep track of my work. I encourage everyone to follow my travels as the Minister by reading below my entries into the Minister's Diary where I will write about my latest experiences.

Peter Lawlor.

Body Corporate Lot Entitlements
Posted by editor (editor) on Feb 24 2010
Ministerial Diary >>

I am very pleased to say that the State Government will this year change the way body corporate fees are decided for Queensland's more than 350,000 unit owners. I announced the proposed changes on the Gold Coast on Friday (19 February 2010) after many years campaigning for this to happen and it was great to see so many residents there in support.

The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 will be changed so there is a better and fairer system for working out shared costs associated with living in an apartment complex or other community titles scheme. The Act has had a loophole which unfairly allowed some unit owners to get away with paying less than their fair share of body corporate fees at the expense of others. Penthouse owners, for example, can effectively slash their own body corporate fees, but these costs are merely passed on to others in the complex instead.

 So a ground floor studio owned by a retiree or pensioner would be left paying much more than they had budgeted for when buying the unit - in some cases double and this has forced many unit owners out of their homes. This situation needs to be fixed if affordable housing options are to continue to be available to a wide range of Queenslanders.

 For more information click here

Last changed: Feb 24 2010 at 9:50 AM