The Proprietors Cathedral Village BUP 106957 v Cathedral Place Community Body Corporate

The case between The Proprietors Cathedral Village BUP 106957 and Cathedral Place Community Body Corporate was heard in the Queensland Court of Appeal. The dispute centred around a mixed-use scheme governed by the Mixed Use Development Act 1993 (Qld), with the applicant being the community body corporate managing the scheme and the respondent representing the retail and commercial building within the scheme. The respondent had long contended that the applicant had levied contributions on all members that were intended solely for the benefit of the residential owners. The applicant initiated proceedings against the respondent for unpaid levies, which the respondent countered by asserting that upon proper accounting, they had overpaid and thus the applicant should compensate them.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the trial judge had correctly held that section 174(4)(c) of the Act precluded the respondent from disputing the correctness of the contribution levied against them in the applicant’s action to recover the levy as a debt. The court examined the statutory provisions, particularly section 177(1)(h), which requires the community body corporate to form an opinion about the amounts necessary to be raised by way of contributions by levy. The court further deliberated on whether the levying of contributions in the amounts determined could be challenged in a proceeding under section 174(4)(c).

The court found that once the community body corporate had determined the amounts necessary to be raised by way of contributions, as required by section 177(1)(h), it was bound to levy those contributions, and such levying could not be challenged in a proceeding under section 174(4)(c). The court held that the trial judge’s conclusion was correct, and thus the respondent’s challenge to the levy was not permissible. The court allowed the appeal, set aside the order made on 29 October 2019, and remitted the proceeding to the District Court for determination of the respondent’s claim and the relevant part of the applicant’s counter-claim. The parties were directed to provide written submissions on the costs of the appeal and the proceeding at first instance, within 14 days of the judgment delivery.