A bright red roof has sparked an all-out neighbour war in suburban Brisbane, ending with a tribunal ordering a woman to repaint her home after residents fumed the colour was “offensive”, “discordant” and a threat to their investments.
Maria Gourley’s seemingly innocent paint choice turned her townhouse in The Gap into the centre of a bitter body corporate feud, with angry neighbours launching complaints, tribunal action and a years-long campaign to force her to change it.
The drama began in March 2023 when Ms Gourley painted her roof “heritage red”, a decision that quickly triggered backlash inside the Fernbrook townhouse complex.
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According to court documents cited by the ABC, one neighbour blasted the colour as “offensive” and claimed it showed the committee was failing to enforce the rules.
Another accused Ms Gourley of what they described as a “blatant act of defiance”, claiming the red roof signalled a disregard for the complex and posed “a threat to others’ investment”.
A Brisbane woman has been ordered to repaint her roof after enraged neighbours declared the colour “offensive”, “disturbing” and even a “threat” to their property values. Source: 9News
A third said she had “flouted the bylaws” and appeared determined to upset residents forced to stare at the “jarringly coloured roof each and every day”.
What followed was a drawn-out legal battle that ran through the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management before escalating to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
An adjudicator had already found the body corporate acted reasonably in ordering the roof to be repainted, saying the colour was “glaringly” different from the surrounding homes.
Maria Gourley had the roof of her townhouse in Brisbane’s The Gap painted in 2023 at her own expense in “heritage red”. Source: 9News
Ms Gourley appealed, but on Monday tribunal senior member Richard Oliver shut that bid down.
“The question of reasonableness is a little tricky. It’s not what I think is reasonable or what you think is reasonable,” Mr Oliver said.
“The adjudicator’s job is to determine whether or not the body corporate’s decision is reasonable.
“It’s fairly clear this conclusion, about it being quite different to the remainder of the roofs in the complex, is a reasonable conclusion of fact to come to, because it’s obvious.”
Body corporate committee member Jill Elsworth told the tribunal the roof had wrecked the visual harmony of the neighbourhood.
“Maria’s was a totally contrasting, discordant colour,” she said.
However, some neighbours aren’t a fan of her colour choice. Source: 9News
The tribunal ultimately tossed out Ms Gourley’s appeal and ordered her to repaint the roof in “Nutech coral” within three months, at her own expense.
But Ms Gourley says the whole mess could have been avoided.
Speaking to 9News after the ruling, she said she had asked the body corporate what colour to use and was simply told to pick something similar to the other roofs.
She said if the committee had named a specific colour from the beginning, she would have followed it.
Instead, “Nutech coral” was only nominated later, in October 2023, after complaints flooded in.
“It’s now turned into this war and peace … and I don’t think I’m totally at fault, I think it’s 50-50,” Ms Gourley said.
Gourley’s red roof is too red, according to some, and instead should be repainted in “Nutech coral”. Source: 9News
She also questioned how she was supposed to accurately match the ageing roofs in the complex.
“How do I colour match?” she said.
“The roofs are dirty, as you can see.
“A colour on a painting chart … when you apply it to a big area like this, you know, it’s a different colour again.”
In another twist, Ms Gourley said not one of the neighbours ever knocked on her door to complain directly.