A townhouse courtyard is often the one outdoor space you have, and a roof over it turns it into somewhere to eat in summer and sit out of the rain. But a townhouse or unit sits in a body corporate, and that adds a step before the usual building approval. Get it in the right order and it is routine. Get it wrong and you can end up asked to take the patio down.
Why the body corporate is involved
Townhouses and units in Queensland are usually part of a community titles scheme under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997. Each scheme has by-laws, and the land outside your lot, or parts of it, is common property owned by all the owners together. A patio attached to a shared wall or roof, or built in a courtyard that is common property, affects everyone, so the body corporate has a say.
Step 1: find out what you own
Start with the survey plan for the scheme and the by-laws. They tell you:
- Whether your courtyard is part of your lot or common property;
- Whether you have an exclusive use area: common property that only you may use, under an exclusive use by-law;
- What the by-laws say about structures, appearance, colours and alterations;
- Whether there is an architectural or building guideline for the complex.
Your body corporate manager or secretary can give you copies, and a body corporate search shows the registered by-laws.
Step 2: ask for approval in writing
Write to the committee, through the body corporate manager, with drawings of what you want: the size, height, posts, roof, colours and how it fixes to the building. Depending on the scheme, its by-laws and the size of the work, the committee may be able to approve it, or it may need a vote at a general meeting. Your body corporate manager can tell you which applies.
Ask for the approval in writing, and note any conditions, such as who maintains the patio and who pays for any damage to common property.
What committees usually look at
- Appearance: matching colours and a roof that suits the building, often to the existing roof or gutters.
- Attachment to shared walls, roofs or gutters, and who is responsible if they leak.
- Drainage: where the new roof water goes, because it cannot be dumped on a neighbour’s courtyard.
- Fire separation between townhouses, which affects how close to a shared boundary a roof can go.
- Access to services such as shared sewer lines and meters.
A freestanding patio that sits within your courtyard, with its own posts and gutter, is often easier for a committee to say yes to than one that fixes to a shared roof.
Step 3: the building approval
Body corporate approval is not a building approval. Once you have the committee’s yes, the patio still needs a building approval from a certifier if it is over the small exempt size, which almost every patio is. The certifier checks the engineering, the setbacks, site cover and fire separation. Some certifiers ask to see the body corporate approval before they approve.
Council rules on small lots
Townhouse lots are small, so site cover and setbacks bite early. Each council sets its own rules for small lots and may assess the whole complex as one site. Your certifier confirms which rules apply. If the patio misses a rule, council has to agree first, which adds time.
Sewer under the courtyard
Shared sewer lines often run through townhouse courtyards. Building near them follows the Queensland Development Code, with clearances from the pipe and from manholes, and the council or water authority may need to approve a closer footing. We find the lines on the plans before we place the posts.
Exclusive use areas
If your courtyard is an exclusive use area, you can use it, but it is still common property. Read the by-law closely: it may say you are responsible for maintaining anything you build there, and that it stays with the lot when you sell. Make sure the buyer’s searches will find the approvals.
The order we suggest
- Get the by-laws and survey plan, and send them to us.
- We measure up and design a patio that suits the building and the rules.
- You put the drawings to the body corporate and get approval in writing.
- We lodge the building approval and any council or water authority referral.
- We build, and you keep the body corporate approval with the Form 21.
Which roof?
In a small courtyard close to bedrooms and neighbours, an insulated roof is usually the better choice: it is quieter in rain and cooler, and gives a flat ceiling for a light and a fan. We bring samples of both roofs, and colour samples to match the complex, to the quote.