Bodies’ Corporate Terminology

Accessory Unit: A unit that is designed for use with any principal unit (including, without limitation, a garden, garage, car parking space, storage space, swimming pool, laundry, stairway, or passage) and that is shown on a unit plan as an accessory unit

 Annual General Meeting (AGM): A meeting of all of the members of the Body Corporate. There must be at least one meeting every year referred to as the Annual General Meeting.

 Annual Levy: Also called 'Body Corporate levy' or 'Body Corporate fees' - the annual contribution each unit owner must pay in respect of their unit.

 Budget:  An estimate of the costs your Body Corporate will incur in the coming financial year. Must be approved by all owners and is the basis of the levies you pay.

 Common Property:  Areas owned by all the owners as tenants in common.

 Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM): Any general meeting of the Body Corporate other than the Annual General Meeting.

 Financial / fiscal year:  Means a period of 12 months ending on the date that is 12 months from the date the body corporate is established

 Long Term Maintenance Plan (LTMP): A Body Corporate must have a Long Term Maintenance Plan which covers a period of at least 10 years from the date the plan was developed or reviewed. The purpose of the plan is to identify future maintenance requirements and an estimation of the projected costs. This assists the body corporate make its annual maintenance decisions and manage the funds set aside to support the plan.

 Owner: The registered owner of a unit who’s name appears on the Unit Title.

 Owners’ Committee: Owners elected at a general meeting to govern the Body Corporate in accordance with the Unit Titles Act 2010. The committee elects its own Chairperson at their first meeting after being elected.

 Ownership Interest Percentage: This determines what proportion of the budgeted costs will be paid by the owner of a unit, and the voting power of that unit. This is calculated by a registered valuer, and is based on the relative value of your unit when compared to others in your body corporate.

 Principal Unit: A unit that is designed for use (whether in conjunction with any accessory unit or not) as a place of residence or business or for any other use of any nature, and that is shown on a unit plan as a principal unit (refer Section 7 UTA 2010).

 Private Property: Property which belongs to an individual unit and is not shown as common property on the unit plan.

 Proxy: Written authority given by an owner or owners to someone else to allow them to attend and vote on the owner's behalf at a General Meeting.

 Quorum: The number of owners that must be present or represented at a Body Corporate meeting before it can conduct business (25% of ownership represented).

 Rules: Specific things that can or cannot be done by your Body Corporate. The rules are registered with Land Information NZI and any changes that may be required have to be approved by the body corporate and then re-registered.  It’s important to read and understand the rules of a Body Corporate before you buy into a complex. It is also important to keep a copy of the rules if you have a tenant in your unit as you are responsible to make sure tenants have a copy of the rules.

 Section 147: Pre-Settlement Disclosure Statement which is requested by an owner when selling their unit. It certifies the balance owing to the Body Corporate in respect of that unit.

 Special Levy: When Bodies Corporate need to raise money for a special purpose they refer to that levy on members as a "special levy".

 Unit Plan: The plan of the whole development - filed at Land Information New Zealand - determines what is common property (the bodies’ corporate responsibility) and what is private property (the unit owner’s responsibility).

 Unit Titles Act 2010 and Unit Titles Regulations 2011:  The laws governing all Bodies Corporate.