Exiting a body corporate-can it be done

[Dianem]

My body corporate has four members, -two are standalone and two share a common wall.Its layout is a bit like a C with a fullstop.My property is situated between the two who share a common wall but I am standalone.Out front is the street and we all have our own driveways etc
Our properties are zoned commercial and our services are independent of each other.

Two of us would like to exit the body corp as we see that it offers no financial advantage and in fact it costs more to be a part of it and the costs seem to spiral.the insurance premuims went up over 150% last year due to the insurance brokers citing the costs of one of our neighbours having a fire.
Naturallly our BC administrator seems to accept that and one wonders about why anyone would accept that rise-do BC Adminstrators get commisions for taking business to certain insurers.

What is the process for exiting the BC -subdivision seems to be one options but are there any others.

[eri]

assuming you are asking a ?

your 1st step would probably be to ask the bc admin for a copy of the bc rules

in there should be all the info you

if they ask why

tell them you would like a copy for your records

if they can't provide them right away

ask them why

[Dianem]

Yes I am asking a question and thanks for giving us some direction.

If anybody else has experience of doing this, we would appreciate your help.

As each of our properties already has established and there will be no disruption to physical aspects of our property, would we have to pay a reserve contribution.

[Tan]

Why don't you just run the body corp yourself?

[whitt]

Why don't you just run the body corp yourself?

Gang together with another owner and take control of BC yourself.

[Winston001]

Gang together with another owner and take control of BC yourself.

That's the only way I can see. When you buy a unit title you buy a share in the body corporate. Its part of the title rights and obligations. You can't hold a unit title without it.

[whitt]

Some investors on these forums have taken BC control by majority.
Then increased the BC fee for a couple of years to cover items they personally wanted done.

[Xav]

To answer your original question Dianem, you can cause the BC to cease to exist if everyone agrees by changing the titles for the properties from Unit Titles to Fee Simple titles (the two connected dwellings would have a party wall easement).

The problem is that requires the property to be surveyed (among other things) so the cost may be prohibitive. You could probably get a free quote from a surveyor though if you wanted to pursue it further.

[One]

Does everyone have to agree? Couldn't one owner just split their unit off from the unit title?

[eri]

don't think that would work

imagine 1 apartment in a building with 500 apartments wanting to opt out...

sounds absurd, but i think it's in the same legal position

[Aston]

Couldn't one owner just split their unit off from the unit title?

In a word, No.

[Ivan McIntosh]

Does everyone have to agree? Couldn't one owner just split their unit off from the unit title?

Basically yes, everyone has to agree, excepting possibly a court order applied for by the majority to get the recalcitrants to go along; rarely worth the time and trouble.

One owner could split off from a unit title....deposit a new unit title plan showing the remaining units, transfer the relevant common property comprising the split off unit to the person splitting off, form it into a new cert of title....all done simultaneously. Moderately complex but perfectly doable.

Again, however, it needs agreement of all owners, and to be physically possible....in other words, you can't remove your 5th floor apartment from the unit title regime as it cannot form a separate freehold certificate of title (hmm, that got me thinking for a second about forms of title to airspace but.....no).

Regards
Ivan