Governance

Self-Managed Body Corporate in Queensland: Committee Duties, Modules and What You Can't Do

A Queensland body corporate doesn't need a manager. The committee runs it, within limits set by the BCCM Act and its regulation module. This guide covers which module applies, what the committee can and can't decide, spending limits and quotes, the yearly cycle, and how small schemes work.

19 October 2026 · 12 min read

On this pageThe short answer

The short answer

No manager is required. A body corporate "may" engage a body corporate manager (s 135). Without one, the committee runs the scheme.
The committee must have a chair, secretary and treasurer, elected at each AGM (s 9, s 13). One person can hold all three roles.
The committee can't decide restricted issues. These include setting levies, changing owners' rights, and anything that needs a resolution of the body corporate (s 52).
Spending has limits. Above the committee spending limit, the body corporate must approve it at a general meeting. Above the major spending limit, owners must see at least 2 quotes (ss 172–174).
Small schemes of up to 6 lots usually run under the Small Schemes Module. That module has only a secretary and a treasurer, and simpler rules.

Which module applies?

Every scheme has exactly one regulation module. Its community management statement names it (Act s 21, s 66). If no other module applies, the Standard Module does.

Module	Applies to
Standard	Most residential schemes. It also applies when no other module does
Small Schemes	Basic schemes with no letting agent and no more than 6 lots
Accommodation	Schemes where the lots are mainly accommodation lots, such as holiday letting
Commercial	Schemes where the lots are mainly commercial
Specified Two-lot Schemes	Two residential lots, not layered, with no letting agent

Under the Specified Two-lot Schemes Module, there's no committee and no meetings. The two owners make decisions by written agreement (Act s 111G; module s 5).

The committee

Roles

"There must be a chairperson, secretary and treasurer" (s 9(2)). Owners elect them at each AGM, before the ordinary members (ss 35–36). One person can hold two or all three roles, but they still get only one vote (s 9(3), s 65(5)).

Chair. Chairs committee meetings and general meetings (s 59, s 97).
Secretary. Calls committee meetings, sends the nomination notice before the AGM, receives owners' motions, distributes minutes, and has the roll available at meetings (ss 16, 54, 71, 86, 113).
Treasurer. The module doesn't list the treasurer's functions in one place. If monthly reconciliations are required, the treasurer prepares them, within 21 days of month end (s 170).

The committee needs at least 3 voting members, unless it's a minor committee in a scheme of 1, 2 or 3 owners (s 9(4), s 13).

Code of conduct

Every committee voting member is taken to have agreed to the code of conduct in Schedule 1A of the Act (Act s 101B). It includes acting honestly and fairly, acting in the body corporate's best interests and disclosing conflicts of interest. A member who breaches it can be removed by the process in s 45.

Committee meetings

At least 7 days' notice to committee members, or 2 days if all voting members agree (s 55).
Owners must be told about the meeting and given the agenda (s 55(3)).
Minutes go to committee members and owners within 21 days (s 71).
A decision can be made outside a meeting by written vote. A majority of all voting members must agree within 21 days, and the decision is confirmed at the next meeting (ss 68–69).

What the committee can't do

Restricted issues

The committee can't decide a restricted issue. Only the body corporate can, at a general meeting (s 52; Act s 100). Restricted issues include:

fixing or changing contributions (levies)
changing owners' rights, privileges or obligations
anything the body corporate has reserved for itself by ordinary resolution
anything that needs a resolution of the body corporate
starting legal proceedings, except recovering levy debts from an owner and a few other exceptions
paying committee members, apart from small expense reimbursements

Spending limits

Two limits control spending. The body corporate can set its own amounts by ordinary resolution at a general meeting. Otherwise the defaults in Schedule 1 apply.

Limit	Default if not set	What it controls
Committee spending limit	$200 × number of lots	Above this, spending needs a body corporate resolution, not just the committee (s 172)
Major spending limit	The lesser of $1,100 × number of lots or $10,000	Above this, at least 2 quotes are needed (s 173, s 174)

A few points that trip committees up:

A budget line isn't approval to spend. An item in an adopted budget "is not, of itself, authority for the expenditure" (s 160(7)).
Splitting a job doesn't avoid the limit. Separate proposals that make up one project count as one (s 172(2)).
Some spending is exempt from the committee limit, such as insurance placement and work under a court, tribunal or adjudicator's order (s 172(1)).
Money can't move between funds. No transfers between the administrative fund and the sinking fund (s 167(7)).
Borrowing over $250 × number of lots needs a resolution without dissent (s 171).

The Commercial Module and the Specified Two-lot Schemes Module don't have these spending limits.

The yearly cycle

When	What	Rule
3 to 6 weeks before the financial year ends	Secretary sends the notice calling for committee nominations and owner motions	s 16, s 86(8)
By the end of the financial year	Nominations and owners' AGM motions are due	s 16, s 86(6)
At least 21 days before the AGM	Notice of the AGM, with proposed budgets and insurance details	s 91, s 160(6), s 196
Within 3 months after the financial year ends	Hold the AGM	s 83
Within 21 days after the AGM	Distribute the minutes	s 117
At least 30 days before each levy is due	Send levy notices	s 163
At least every 5 years	Independent insurance valuation	s 200

At the AGM

Our Queensland AGM guide covers the notice, voting, proxies and the committee election in detail.

The agenda must include the statutory motions: the statement of accounts, the auditor (or, for a basic scheme, a special resolution not to audit), both budgets, the contributions, and the insurance review (s 93; Schedule 1; s 176).

Budgets and levies

The committee prepares the proposed administrative fund and sinking fund budgets (s 160(5)). The AGM adopts them by ordinary resolution and can adjust them by up to 10% (s 161).
The sinking fund budget must cover the year's spending and reserve for major expenditure "over at least the next 9 years" (s 160(3)).
Levies are fixed by ordinary resolution (s 162). The committee can set an interim levy before the AGM.
A discount for paying on time can't exceed 20% (s 164). Penalty interest can't exceed 2.5% a month (s 165).
If a levy has been unpaid for 2 years, the body corporate must start recovery proceedings within 2 months (s 166(2)).

Insurance

Common property and buildings must be insured for full replacement value (ss 197–199).
Public risk insurance must be at least $10 million (s 206).
Get an independent valuation at least every 5 years (s 200).

Audit

The accounts must be audited each year unless the scheme is a basic scheme and owners pass a special resolution not to audit that year (s 176). The auditor can't be a committee member or the body corporate manager.

Small schemes (up to 6 lots)

The Small Schemes Module applies to basic schemes with no letting agent and no more than 6 lots, if the community management statement adopts it (Small Schemes Module s 3).

The committee is just the secretary and the treasurer (s 10). One person can hold both. There's no chairperson role. Each general meeting elects someone to chair it (s 45).
Both are elected at each AGM (s 12).
The AGM is held within 3 months after the financial year ends (s 33), as under the Standard Module.
Restricted issues still apply (s 17).
The major spending default is $1,100 × number of lots, with no $10,000 cap.
Audits are optional for small schemes, according to the Queensland Government.

If a small scheme stops meeting the conditions, for example by adding lots, the Standard Module applies instead.

Getting help without giving up control

A body corporate can engage a manager in two very different ways.

Administrative services. The committee stays. The body corporate can authorise a body corporate manager to exercise some or all of the executive members' powers, but the executive members can still act themselves and direct the manager (Act s 119). A manager's decision is void if it conflicts with the committee's (Act s 100(3)). This is how most managed schemes work.

Replacing the committee. Under Chapter 3, Part 5 of the Standard Module, a manager can be engaged to do the committee's job, and "there is no committee" (s 7(2)). This needs a special resolution with no proxy votes, at a meeting where an executive position is unfilled or there are fewer than 3 voting members (s 74). The engagement ends at the next AGM or after 12 months (s 76).

Disputes

Start with internal dispute resolution, such as writing to the committee or putting a motion to a general meeting. The Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management can reject an application if you haven't tried (Act s 238, s 241). The Commissioner offers conciliation and adjudication. An adjudicator's order can be appealed to QCAT only on a question of law, within 6 weeks (Act ss 289–290).

Common questions

Do we need a professional sinking fund forecast?

The law doesn't require one. The sinking fund budget must reserve for the next 9 years of major spending (s 160(3)). The Queensland Government says the committee or an owner can do the estimate. A professional forecast makes the estimate easier to defend.

Can the committee spend money that's in the budget?

Only within its spending limit. Budget items aren't authority to spend (s 160(7)). Anything above the committee spending limit needs a body corporate resolution.

Can we pay a committee member to do the books?

Paying a committee member is a restricted issue (s 52). Only the body corporate can decide it, by resolution at a general meeting.

Where UnitBuddy fits

A self-managed committee needs the minutes, motions, quotes and levy history in one place, and they need to pass cleanly to the next committee. UnitBuddy keeps them in a workspace the body corporate owns. Notices go to the lots that need them, with read receipts.