Body Corporate for Parkside Bulimba CTS46539 v Queensland Building and Construction Commission and De Luca Corporation Pty Ltd

The applicant, Body Corporate for Parkside Bulimba CTS46539, sought to have the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (Commission) issue a direction to rectify defects in cladding at their residential unit complex in Bulimba, Brisbane. The Commission had concluded that the time to issue such a direction had expired and declined to issue one. The applicant sought an external review of the Commission's decision, which the Commission sought to have dismissed as lacking in substance and misconceived. The Tribunal considered whether it had jurisdiction to extend the time for the Commission to issue a direction to rectify, and whether the application to review should be dismissed. The Tribunal found that the statutory time for directing any rectification work expired, and that the Tribunal could not extend the time unless the Commission made an application for it to do so, which it had not. The Tribunal dismissed the application to review under s. 47 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (QCAT Act). The Tribunal noted that the statutory framework had produced a counterintuitive and unfortunate result for the applicant and suggested that Parliament revisit the legislation to correct this anomaly.

The issues before the Tribunal were whether the date of completion of the building work was properly determined, and whether the Tribunal could grant the substantive relief sought by the applicant. The Tribunal found that the building work was completed when the Certificate of Classification was issued, and that the statutory time for directing any rectification work had expired. The Tribunal held that it could not extend the time for the Commission to issue a direction to rectify unless the Commission made an application for it to do so, which it had not. The Tribunal found that the application to review should be dismissed as lacking in substance and misconceived, as there was no way for the matter to proceed without an extension of time that the Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to grant.