austlii:qld/QCATA/2025/61
General information, not legal advice.
QCATA
2025-06-27
Original judgment source is linked above.
This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to s 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld)
The [appellants] seek an order that the opposition to motion 2 at the EGM for Grenache on 17.05.2023 be deemed unreasonable, motion 2 be declared as passed and lots 4 and 5 be granted exclusive use of these car parks. The amended CMS plan of exclusive use (Attachment G) be recorded as the new plan.
(1) This section applies if -
(a) an application is made under this chapter; and
(b) an adjudicator makes an order for the application (other than a consent order); and
(c) a person (the aggrieved person) is aggrieved by the order; and
(d) the aggrieved person is -
(i) for an order that is a decision mentioned in section 288A, definition order - an applicant; or
(ii) for another order -
(A) an applicant; or
(B) a respondent to the application; or
(C) the body corporate for the community titles scheme; or
(D) a person who, on an invitation under section 243 or 271(1)(c), made a submission about the application; or
(E) an affected person for an application mentioned in section 243A; or
(F) a person not otherwise mentioned in this subparagraph against whom the order is made.
(2) The aggrieved person may appeal to the appeal tribunal, but only on a question of law.
(1) This section applies if -
(a) an application for an order of an adjudicator is made under this chapter; and
(b) an adjudicator makes an order for the application (other than an order made with the consent of all parties to the application); and
(c) a person (the "aggrieved person") is aggrieved by the order; and
(d) the aggrieved person is -
(i) the applicant; or
(ii) the body corporate for the community titles scheme concerned; or
(iii) a person against whom the order is made; or
(iv) a person who made a written submission to the adjudicator on the application in response to the adjudicator's invitation.
(2) The aggrieved person may appeal to a District Court, but only on a question of law.
(1) In deciding an appeal, a District Court may -
(a) confirm or amend the order under appeal; or
(b) set aside the order and substitute another order or decision; or
(c) through the commissioner, refer the order back to the adjudicator with appropriate direction having regard to the question of law the subject of the appeal.
(2) The court may amend or substitute an order only if the adjudicator would have had jurisdiction to make the amended or substituted order or decision.
Clause 236 sets out the right of appeal to the District Court and allows an aggrieved person to appeal to a District Court on a question of law only.
In deciding an appeal, in addition to the jurisdiction and powers of the appeal tribunal under the QCAT Act, the tribunal may also exercise all the jurisdiction and powers of an adjudicator under this Act.
In deciding an appeal against a decision on a question of law only, the appeal tribunal may -
(a) confirm or amend the decision; or
(b) set aside the decision and substitute its own decision; or
(c) set aside the decision and return the matter to the tribunal or other entity who made the decision for reconsideration -
(i) with or without the hearing of additional evidence as directed by the appeal tribunal; and
(ii) with the other directions the appeal tribunal considers appropriate; or
(d) make any other order it considers appropriate, whether or not in combination with an order made under paragraph (a), (b) or (c).
[4] In my view s 150(3)(a) of the QCAT Act should be read as if "pure" or "only" does qualify "question of law". The meaning of that provision is influenced by contextual matters which had no counterpart in the statutes considered in Commissioner for Liquor and Gaming v Farquhar Corporation Pty Ltd or Haritos v Commissioner of Taxation. Section 150 is in Division 2 of Part 8 of the QCAT Act, which concerns appeals to the Court of Appeal. It is significant that s 150(3)(a) applies only to appeals against decisions of the QCAT appeal tribunal, which will have considered and refused either an application for leave to appeal (s 150(1)) or an appeal (s 150(2)). That an applicant for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal already has had one opportunity to challenge an adverse decision makes it seem more likely that the legislative intent was to narrowly confine the grounds of such an appeal.
[5] Furthermore:
...
The contrast between the expressions "a question of law" and "a question of fact, or question of mixed law and fact" makes clear the legislative policy to confine the ambit of an appeal for which the Court of Appeal may give leave under s 150 to an appeal on a question of law which does not involve any question of fact or of mixed law and fact of the kind described in ss 149(3)(b) and 142(3)(b). In a similar statutory context, Rothman J held in Bagumya v Kakwano that the expression "only on a question of law" must mean "on a question of law alone".
[6] That s 151(2)(a) of the QCAT Act provides that an application for leave to appeal or an appeal to the Court of Appeal must be made under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) ("UCPR") does not suggest any different view either of the ambit of the appeal or its nature as a strict appeal rather than an appeal by way of rehearing; as to the latter point, the provision in r 765(1) of the UCPR that an appeal to the Court of Appeal under Chapter 18 of the UCPR is an appeal by way of rehearing applies only to an appeal from the Supreme Court constituted by a single judge: UCPR r 745(2).
[7] The legislative policy is reinforced by the statement in s 153(1) of the QCAT Act that s 153 (which confers powers upon the Court of Appeal in deciding appeals) "applies to an appeal before the Court of Appeal against a decision of the tribunal on a question of law only". In that provision the word "only" qualifies "a question of law", whereas s 150(3)(a) allows an appeal to be made "only on a question of law". The latter expression, if considered in isolation from its context, is open to the construction that the only kind of appeal that may be made is an appeal "on a question of law", rather than a construction that the appeal is confined to "a question of law only" (which is a pure question of law). Because s 153 is plainly designed to comprehend an appeal under s 150, the implication is that, consistently with the statutory context already discussed and Rothman J's conclusion in Bagumya v Kakwano, an appeal under s 150 is confined to one made on a question of law only.
[8] The absence of any factual component in such an appeal is consistent with the contrast between the powers conferred on the Court by s 153 in an appeal on a question of law only and the powers given to the Court by s 154 in an appeal on a question of fact or mixed law and fact. As to the former, s 153(2) provides that in deciding the appeal the Court of Appeal may confirm or amend the decision, set aside the decision and substitute its own decision, set aside the decision and return the matter to QCAT for reconsideration (with or without the hearing of additional evidence and with other directions the Court considers appropriate), or make any other order it considers appropriate. The powers conferred by s 153 upon the Court in an appeal on a question of law only do not include any analogue of the power conferred by s 154(2) in relation to an appeal on a question of fact or a question of mixed law and fact that the appeal proceeds "with or without the hearing of additional evidence as decided by the Court of Appeal". The absence of such a power in an appeal under s 153 is consistent with a legislative intent to confine appeals to the Court of Appeal to pure questions of law.
The distinction between an appeal only on a question of law, on the one hand, and an appeal on a question of fact or on a mixed question of fact and law, on the other hand, is absolutely fundamental in the present context. It goes to the jurisdiction of this Court to entertain an appeal from the Appeal Tribunal. An appeal which must be "only on a question of law" is of a narrower ambit than an appeal in which a question of law is merely "involved". In order to be an appeal which this Court has jurisdiction to hear, the very subject matter of the appeal must be a question of law.
(citation omitted)
(a) an appeal under s 289 of the BCCMA must be on a question of law only (or, in other words, on a 'pure' question of law);
(b) the very subject matter of the appeal must be a question of law; and
(c) the powers exercisable by the Appeal Tribunal on such an appeal are those set out in s 146 of the QCAT Act.
(a) concluded that Areas J and K were unallocated areas of common property in the Scheme;[10]
(b) was not satisfied that the CMS mistakenly omitted an allocation of areas of basement common property for the exclusive use of Lots 4 and 5;[11] and
(c) was not satisfied that Motion 2 failed to pass because of opposition that in the circumstances was unreasonable.[12]
[70] I now turn to the grounds of opposition raised by dissenting voters. Examining those reasons and applying the principles articulated by the High Court in Ainsworth, I find as follows.
[71] Some of the stated reasons for the dissenting vote were objectively unreasonable in the circumstances. For example, where Areas J and K have been used for parking for many years, including by the owners of Lot 6 for parking their own vehicles and boats, basing a decision to vote "No" on the grounds it would remove two turn around points is unreasonable.
[72] The owners of Lot 6 also say a grant of exclusive use for Area K would adversely affect access to their exclusive use storage cage. I am inclined to the view that this is also objectively unreasonable. I am satisfied Lot 6 could continue to access its storage space even when vehicles are parked in Area K. Moreover, Motion 2 specifically included a condition providing for access to the storage space.
[73] However, I am satisfied some of the reasons given by the owners of Lot 6 for voting "No" were not objectively unreasonable in the circumstances.
[74] The owners of Lot 6 also say they voted against Motion 2 because they have a right to use and enjoy common property. It is not necessarily unreasonable for a lot owner to vote to conserve their property interest. The owners of Lot 6 are also entitled to vote in their own self-interest especially where the exclusive use is reasonably viewed as adverse to their interest.
[75] In the present case, owners of Lot 6 thought they had a right to use the common property for visitor parking and wanted to continue to exercise that right. They now understand Areas J and K are areas of unallocated common property and that, technically, no-one is permitted to park on them. In my view, although it may seem unfair to the applicants, it is not objectively unreasonable for the owners of Lot 6 to vote "No" because they prefer that Areas J and K be allocated to visitor parking rather than exclusively for Lots 4 and 5.
[76] For the above reasons I am not satisfied Motion 2 failed to pass because of opposition that in the circumstances was unreasonable.
It may be accepted that a denial of procedural fairness by an inferior tribunal will generally involve an error of law. But as was explained at [19] above, an appeal which must be "only on a question of law" is of a narrower ambit than an appeal in which a question of law is merely "involved". The very subject matter of the appeal must be only on a question of law. The subject matter of the present appeal ground could not be so regarded. To the contrary, it is a ground by which the applicants invite this Court to analyse the facts of the proceeding; the entirety of the procedural record of the conduct of the proceeding before the Appeal Tribunal; then to apply the legal standards required by the statutory prescriptions concerning proper process in the conduct of proceeding; and to reach an evaluative judgment contrary to that reached below. The questions being agitated would at least be mixed question of fact and law.
(citation omitted)
[10] In August 2023, after the application was referred to adjudication, the owners of Lot 6 - the only owners to vote in dissent against Motion 2 - wrote to the BCCM Office asserting they were not aware of this application and had not received an invitation to make a submission. They said they had instructed the body corporate manager to send all correspondence to them, except for levy notices, by mail. Although one of the owners of Lot 6 said she had not seen the email at the time because she was overseas, after checking her account she verbally confirmed to the BCCM Office she had received the email with the invitation.
[11] I investigated the dispute, including reviewing the application the survey plan, and the current and a former CMS for the scheme. As part of my investigation of the dispute, and in the interests of procedural fairness, I asked the owners of Lot 6 to provide me with their reasons for voting against Motion 2. I also asked them to provide a copy of their response to the applicants and to the body corporate.
[12] After receiving the information from the owners of Lot 6, I gave the applicants an opportunity to respond.
(a) required to observe natural justice;
(b) required to act as quickly, and with as little formality and technicality, as is consistent with a fair and proper consideration of the application;
(c) not bound by the rules of evidence.
(a) require a party to the application, an affected person, the body corporate or someone else the adjudicator considers may be able to help resolve issues raised by the application -
(i) to obtain, and give to the adjudicator, a report or other information; or
Example -
an engineering report
(ii) to be present to be interviewed, after reasonable notice is given of the time and place of interview; or
(iii) to give information in the form of a statutory declaration;
(b) require a body corporate manager, service contractor or letting agent who is a party to the application or an affected person to give to the adjudicator a record held by the person and relating to a dispute about a service provided by the person;
(c) invite persons the adjudicator considers may be able to help resolve issues raised by the application to make written submissions to the adjudicator within a stated time;
(d) inspect, or enter and inspect -
(i) a body corporate asset or record or other document of the body corporate; or
(ii) common property (including common property the subject of an exclusive use by-law); or
(iii) a lot included in the community titles scheme concerned.
(a) 'The applicants do not believe the adjudicator objectively assessed, and judged all provided information that was specifically related to this case informing their opinion that the NO vote by a lot owner against the motion was reasonable. Furthermore, the adjudicator did not make a "just and equitable" decision, while balancing interests in considering "fairness". In making the decision to dismiss the case the Adjudicator has failed to address the consequences of this decision which is inequitable to the applicant and endorses the continuation of bylaw breaches of lot 6 owner and his tenants.'[19]
(b) 'He [the male Lot 6 owner] has also acted for his own benefit and not with respect of living in a community with regards to numerous bylaw breaches and unauthorised installations and changes that were subject of an Adjudicator's order July, 2022 ...'[20]
(c) 'The applicants believe the submitted evidence for consideration and compelling in highlighting the material facts and that lot 6's objection was unreasonable and request as such the application is reviewed again.'[21]
The adjudicator stated it was a reasonable idea that the area proposed for exclusive use parking for lots 4 and 5 be left as common property due to the future potential to be visitor car parking and largely on this view dismiss the application.
(a) 'A person with a property interest may reasonably insist on conserving that interest even if it is not presently being employed to that person's material advantage. That is so, if for no other reason than that he or she may, reasonably expect to be offered something in return for agreement to part with it to another lot owner.'[27]
(b) 'Nothing in the BCCM Act suggests that an opponent to a proposal acts unreasonably in failing to act sympathetically or altruistically towards a proponent who seeks to diminish the property rights of the opponent. The BCCM Act does not contemplate that the rights of a lot owner genuinely opposed to the reduction of his or her rights to common property attached to his or her lot may be overridden where that might be thought by an adjudicator to be a reasonable course to adopt, having regard to some standard of sympathy or altruism applicable between lot owners.'[28]
[79] ... To the extent the owners of Lot 6 have not complied with an order of an adjudicator, the body corporate may take steps to enforce that order. Failure to comply with an adjudicator's order is an offence, and a penalty may be applied.
[80] In addition, where the CMS includes a by-law permitting parking on common property only if authorised in one of the ways described in the by-law, the applicants may seek such authorisation. In addition, if the body corporate reasonably believes an occupier is breaching the vehicle by-law, the body corporate may take steps to enforce that by-law. The body corporate must enforce the by-laws in the way provided under the Act.
[1] The Decision was received on 4 December 2023 and the Appeal Application was filed on 8 January 2024.
[2] The substantive provisions commenced on 13 July 1997.
[3] I consider that recourse can be had to this extrinsic material by virtue of s 14B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld).
[6] Ibid [4]-[8] (Boddice J (as his Honour then was) agreeing, [14]).
[7] [2024] QCA 24, [16]-[18].
[9] [2024] QCATA 131, [2] (Judicial Member DJ McGill SC).
[27] Ainsworth [62]. See also [55].
[34] See also appellant's submissions, pp 3-5.
[36] See also Appellant's submissions, p 3.
[38] And also take action in relation to a breach of a by-law.
Taubert & Ors
Body Corporate for Grenache [2025] QCATA 61
Ainsworth v Albrecht [2016] HCA 40; (2016) 261 CLR 167
Allen & Anor v Queensland Building and Construction Commission [2024] QCA 24
Deemal-Hall v Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions [2024] QCATA 131
Pivovarova v Michelsen [2019] QCA 256
(2016) 261 CLR 167