A Queensland townhouse or unit project is not just a building project. From the moment the plan is registered the owners hold a shared legal structure, a body corporate with defined powers, a set of by-laws and a schedule of lot entitlements that decides who pays what. All of those are created by you, at the start, and they stay with the asset after you have sold it.
Most developers think about the build and the sale. The fewer who think about the scheme they are creating are the ones whose projects sell and then quietly underperform.
Queensland runs its own system, with its own vocabulary
The first thing to get right is that this is not strata. The Queensland Government's body corporate and community management guidance sets out a framework built around community titles schemes and a body corporate, with its own legislation, its own regulator function through the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management, and its own set of documents. If you have developed in New South Wales, the concepts will feel familiar and the obligations will not be identical. Treat the vocabulary as a risk, not a convenience.
The guidance organises the obligations into recognisable pieces: the body corporate legislation and services, the role of the body corporate and its people, by-laws, maintenance, committees and meetings, records, finances and insurance, disputes, lot entitlements, and the termination of a basic community titles scheme. Each of those is a decision you make once and live with for the life of the asset.
Lot entitlements are the commercial heart of the scheme
Of all those pieces, lot entitlements most directly affect the value your buyers are receiving. The Queensland Government's lot entitlements page is blunt about it: lot entitlements set out an owner's rights and their share of costs in the body corporate. The same page notes that the principles used to set them depend on when the body corporate was developed, that they affect what costs you pay and how your vote is counted, and that they can be adjusted.
That last point matters both ways. A buyer who discovers after settlement that their share of the body corporate's costs is materially different from what they assumed has a real grievance, and a scheme with entitlements that do not reflect the actual cost drivers will spend its first years in argument. Getting the schedule right at creation is far cheaper than adjusting it later.
The by-laws and the documents you actually lodge
By-laws are how the scheme manages common property and conduct. The Queensland guidance groups by-laws into what applies, how they are made and changed, exclusive use by-laws, animal by-laws, enforcement, nuisances and hazards, entry to a lot or exclusive use area, and statutory easement rights. A developer's by-laws should be drafted for the building being delivered, not copied from a previous project, because a by-law that does not fit how the building works creates disputes the body corporate will have to fund.
The other document to understand early is the community management statement. The guidance records that a copy is obtained from, or a new one lodged with, Titles Queensland, and it gives the contact details for that. Who prepares it, who signs it and when it is lodged are questions for your lawyer, but they belong in the program rather than in the week before registration.
Administration, records and the first year
A scheme also has to be administered. The guidance covers the role of the body corporate and the committee, the body corporate manager and their engagement, the disclosure of commissions and other benefits, and service contractors and letting agents. Separately, the records page describes the rolls and registers a body corporate must keep, how long records must be kept, and how owners access them.
For a developer that means three practical decisions before completion: who administers the scheme in year one, what records exist from day one, and how buyers and their lenders will be able to verify the scheme's position during their due diligence.
A setup test to run before you lodge
- Confirm which regulation module will apply to your scheme and what that means for its administration.
- Have lot entitlements modelled against the real cost drivers, not assumed from unit size.
- Draft by-laws for this building and have them reviewed for enforceability.
- Decide who administers the scheme and how they are engaged and disclosed.
- Establish the records and registers that will exist at handover.
- Build the community management statement into the program with a named owner and a date.
- Check how a buyer's solicitor and lender will read all of it during due diligence, and fix anything that would look weak.
The trap
Treating the scheme documents as settlement paperwork. They are the legal description of the thing you are selling. A weak entitlement schedule, by-laws copied from elsewhere, or a records position nobody owns will be found by a competent buyer's solicitor, and it is usually cheaper to fix before registration than after.
You are not expected to solve this yourself. The practical next step is to brief a Queensland property lawyer who works with community titles schemes, alongside the licensed surveyor preparing the plan and the body corporate manager you intend to appoint, and ask them to confirm the module, the entitlements, the by-laws and the community management statement for your project. They carry out that work; the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management can give general information about the legislation but, as the guidance itself states, it cannot give legal advice or rulings.
Sources and boundaries
Sources checked 1 October 2026. Jurisdiction and limits: Queensland only. The framework described here comes from the Queensland Government's published body corporate and community management guidance and from the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld), which the guidance describes. The guidance states that the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management can give general information on body corporate legislation but cannot give legal advice or rulings. Compliance for a specific scheme, and the correct lot entitlement schedule, are outside this article.
- Queensland Government β Body corporate and community management. Used for: The framework's components: body corporate legislation and services, the role of the body corporate and its people, by-laws, maintenance, committees and meetings, records, finances and insurance, disputes, lot entitlements, and termination of a basic community titles scheme; and that a community management statement is obtained from or lodged with Titles Queensland (Checked 1 October 2026)
- Queensland Government β Lot entitlements. Used for: That lot entitlements set out an owner's rights and share of costs in the body corporate, that the principles used depend on when the body corporate was developed, that they affect what costs are paid and how a vote is counted, and that they can be adjusted (Checked 1 October 2026)
- Queensland Government β Role of the body corporate and its people. Used for: The body corporate's role, buying a body corporate property, the body corporate manager, disclosure of commissions and benefits, the committee's role, and service contractors and letting agents (Checked 1 October 2026)
- Queensland Government β Body corporate records. Used for: The rolls and registers a body corporate must keep, how long records must be kept, and how owners access the records (Checked 1 October 2026)
This article is general education, not personalised planning, legal, financial, tax or building advice. Requirements and outcomes vary by jurisdiction, site, contract, structure and circumstances. Check current information with the relevant authority and appropriately qualified advisers.
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Frequently asked questions
Is a Queensland community titles scheme the same as NSW strata?
No. They are different frameworks in different states, with different legislation, different terminology and different administrators. Queensland uses community titles schemes and a body corporate under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld). A NSW strata lawyer's advice on NSW obligations does not carry across, so brief someone who works in the Queensland framework.
What do lot entitlements actually determine?
The Queensland Government's guidance states that lot entitlements set out an owner's rights and their share of costs in the body corporate. The same page notes that the principles used to set them depend on when the body corporate was developed, that they affect what costs are paid and how a vote is counted, and that they can be adjusted.
Where is the community management statement lodged?
The Queensland Government guidance records that a community management statement is obtained from, or a new one lodged with, Titles Queensland, and gives the contact details for that office. Who prepares, signs and lodges it for your scheme is a question for your property lawyer, and it should be scheduled well before registration.
Can I reuse the by-laws from my last project?
The guidance treats by-laws as scheme-specific rules controlling common property, conduct, exclusive use, pets, entry to lots and statutory easement rights, and provides a process for enforcing them. By-laws that do not match how the building is actually used create disputes the body corporate must fund, so they are worth drafting for the project in front of you.
Can the state body corporate office advise me on my scheme?
The Queensland guidance states that the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management can give general information on body corporate legislation but cannot give legal advice or rulings. For decisions about your own scheme, you need a Queensland property lawyer.
Photo: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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