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Removing committee members

Removing committee members
The legislation details the term of office of a committee member. It also outlines how a body
corporate can remove a committee member from office.

This information is relevant to schemes registered under the:

Standard Module

Accommodation Module
Commercial Module

Small Schemes Module

Schemes registered under the Specified Two-lot Schemes Module

(https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-corporate/legislation-and-
bccm/modules/two-lot) do not have a committee.

Term of office
The position of a voting member of the committee becomes vacant (known as a casual
vacancy) if the member:
resigns in writing to the chairperson or secretary
is not present personally or by proxy at 2 committee meetings in a row without the
committee's consent (this does not apply to the Small Schemes Module)

is convicted of an indictable offence (i.e. a more serious crime, whether or not a

conviction is recorded)
is removed by an ordinary resolution of the body corporate
is removed for breaching the code of conduct
(https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1997-028#sch.1A)
dies
becomes ineligible to hold the position.
A member can become ineligible to hold a committee position if they:
were a lot owner at the time they were elected, but have since stopped being a lot
owner
were not a lot owner but was nominated by a lot owner who has since stopped being a
lot owner
have been engaged as a body corporate manager or service contractor or authorised as
a letting agent.

Removal for breach of code of conduct

If it decides to by ordinary resolution, the body corporate can remove a voting member from
the committee for a breach of the code of conduct
(https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1997-028#sch.1A) for
voting members of the committee.

Before it can pass a resolution to remove a committee member for a breach of the code of
conduct, the body corporate must:

pass an ordinary resolution (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-

neighbours/body-corporate/committees-meetings/general-meetings/resolutions)
deciding to give the committee member a breach notice

give the committee member a breach notice that includes the things stated in
section 45 of the Standard Module

section 37 of the Accommodation Module

section 16 of the Small Schemes and Commercial Module

allow the committee member to make a written response to the notice

pay the committee members costs of sending out the response, if asked
attach the breach notice to the agenda of the general meeting considering a motion to
remove the member from the committee.

Remove for another reason

As an alternative to the code of conduct process, a body corporate may remove a member
from office by ordinary resolution (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-
neighbours/body-corporate/committees-meetings/general-meetings/resolutions) at a
general meeting.
 The person submitting the motion to a general meeting does not need to give the reason for
the removal.

If the submitter of the motion does give a reason that refers to the code of conduct, then the
process outlined above applies.

It is suggested there is a separate general meeting motion for each member being removed.

Find out more about:

filling casual vacancies (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-
corporate/committees-meetings/form-change-committee/casual-vacancies)

nominations and eligibility (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-

corporate/committees-meetings/form-change-committee/eligibility)

meetings (https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-
corporate/committees-meetings/general-meetings) .

Last updated: 7 February 2018 (//creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

 Further questions?
If you have further body corporate questions you can submit an enquiry
(https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-corporate/legislation-and-
bccm/services/enquire) or phone the information service on
1800 060 119 (freecall) (tel:1800060119) .

We cannot give legal advice or rulings—we can only give you general information on body corporate
legislation.
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