Queensland strata news, October 2026: card surcharges end and storm season starts

October brought money and weather to the top of the committee agenda in Queensland. From 1 October, card surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa are banned, which changes how many bodies corporate take levy payments. Get Ready Queensland Week opened storm season, and the federal cyclone reinsurance pool, which covers about 72,000 strata buildings, published new figures and asked for feedback on its premium rates. The BCCM Commissioner also says dispute applications are still rising. Now is the time to check your insurance, your gutters and your payment options before the summer storms arrive.

News

Card surcharges on levy payments have ended

Since 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge to payments on eftpos, Mastercard or Visa debit, prepaid and credit cards. The Reserve Bank's Payments System Board made the decision in March, and the RBA's announcement set 1 October as the start date, alongside lower interchange fee caps. The ban applies to those three card networks.

The BCCM Commissioner says her office has had many enquiries about bodies corporate accepting or refusing credit cards for levies. In the Commissioner's foreword to Common Ground issue 55, she notes that whether a body corporate accepts credit cards is a separate decision from whether its payment provider allows them or charges fees. If your committee decides not to accept credit cards, the office can tell owners whether that decision can be disputed through BCCM.

Storm season starts, and the cyclone pool reprices

Get Ready Queensland Week ran from 5 to 11 October. At its launch, the Queensland Government said the Bureau of Meteorology expects the coming severe weather season to play out against a strong El Niño and record high global average temperatures. October to April is the peak time for storms, cyclones and floods.

The federal cyclone reinsurance pool, run by the Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC), published three updates this month:

• Quarterly statistics to 30 June 2026 (6 October). The pool reinsures about 72,000 strata buildings. Its average yearly premium for strata risks is about $820, up from $801 in March. The pool has received 133,078 claims to date, worth about $1.65 billion. Mitigation discounts now apply to strata properties too, and ARPC will report take-up once insurers start collecting the data.
• Draft premium rates for 1 July 2027 (1 October). Total pool premium would rise by $22 million, or 2.9%, to $770 million a year. Average pool premiums would fall for medium and high risk properties and rise modestly for minimal and low risk ones. Submissions close on Friday 6 November 2026.
• Premium assessment (20 October). Since October 2022, average home premiums in the highest-risk wind bands have fallen 37%, while premiums in the lowest-risk bands have risen 42%.

ARPC points out that its premiums are reinsurance premiums paid by insurers, and only one part of what a body corporate pays. Your insurer still sets your premium.

More disputes are reaching the BCCM Commissioner

In Common Ground issue 55, published on 30 September, Commissioner Jane Wilson said her office is still seeing more dispute resolution applications. She encouraged owners to call the Information and Community Education Unit on 1800 060 119 or send an online enquiry before applying, because many issues can be resolved first. She also warned that applications prepared with AI tools may not reflect the law or the facts, and asked people to check AI output against trusted sources. The same issue explains what each committee role does and the codes of conduct for committee members, body corporate managers, caretakers and letting agents.

The Commissioner's open data for July 2025 to June 2026 shows what those applications are about. Maintenance is the most common subject, followed by by-laws.

Court of Appeal: adjudicators and the Human Rights Act

In Huang v Body Corporate for the Dorchester CTS 10749 [2026] QCA 147 (7 August), a Surfers Paradise lot owner had built a bathroom on his exclusive use area on the roof. The body corporate approved it in 2000. Engineers later linked corroded ventilation ducting beneath it to water getting into the building, and the 2022 AGM revoked the approval. The owner argued the body corporate had not acted reasonably under section 94(2) of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997. The adjudicator disagreed: the information sent to owners was not misleading, the owner had time to get his own reports, and there was no less intrusive way to keep access to the pipes and ducts.

On appeal, he argued the adjudicator should have considered his right to property under section 24 of the Human Rights Act 2019. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. It held that an adjudicator deciding a dispute acts as a tribunal exercising judicial power, so is not a "public entity" bound by section 58. Because neither party had raised the right to property, the adjudicator did not have to apply it directly.

For committees, the case shows that a body corporate can withdraw an earlier approval for an improvement when it blocks access to building services. It has to act reasonably, though: give owners accurate information and give the affected owner a fair chance to respond.

Owners group calls for limits on caretaking contract extensions

On 15 October the Unit Owners Association of Queensland (UOAQ) compared body corporate caretaking contracts with how the Queensland Government buys facilities management for its own buildings. UOAQ says government contracts use fixed terms and a limited number of extensions, while repeated extensions of caretaking and letting agreements can push back the end date again and again. It wants the BCCM Act changed to add term limits, controlled extensions, competitive tendering and disclosure of what an extension is worth to the management rights holder. This is an advocacy call, not a change to the law.

Under the current rules, the maximum term is 10 years under the Standard Module and 25 years under the Accommodation Module and Commercial Module, and the term includes any options to extend.

Home warranty paid out $55.7 million last financial year

The QBCC reported that $55.7 million in Queensland Home Warranty Scheme claims were approved in 2025-26, and that it issued 1,374 directions to rectify defective work. The scheme covers new multiple-unit buildings of up to three storeys above a car park. According to the QBCC, later unit owners and the body corporate are covered for defects, and a common property claim is split between the units by lot entitlement. Taller buildings fall outside the scheme.

If you are on the committee of a townhouse or low-rise scheme with defects, check the home warranty time limits with the QBCC now. They are strict.

Smoke alarm deadline: 1 January 2027

The Queensland Government reminds owners that all existing homes, townhouses and units need interconnected photoelectric smoke alarms by 1 January 2027, under the Fire Services Act 1990. That is about ten weeks away.

The numbers

Queensland apartment approvals swing a lot from month to month. In the original series, approvals for apartments, townhouses and other non-house dwellings were highest in June 2026, at 2,810, and fell to 831 in August.

Most BCCM dispute applications come from the south-east. The Gold Coast alone accounts for 648 of the 1,604 applications in the Commissioner's data.

Accommodation Module schemes, which are often holiday and letting buildings, lodge almost as many disputes as Standard Module schemes.

Queensland has the third-largest strata sector in the country, with 539,154 lots, about half as many as NSW or Victoria.

At least 13% of Queenslanders live in a body corporate, a little under the national figure of 15%.

Offers

There are no sponsor offers for Queensland this month. If your committee is planning its AGM, budgets or storm season checks, the free UnitBuddy demo shows how a building can keep its committee records, levies, sinking fund forecast and documents in one place.

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