{"id":951949,"date":"2026-11-04T05:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951949\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:54:09","slug":"war-and-peace-brisbane-woman-ordered-to-repaint-red-roof-after-neighbour-feud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/951949\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018War and peace\u2019: Brisbane woman ordered to repaint red roof after neighbour feud"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201coffensive\u201d, \u201cdiscordant\u201d and a threat to their investments.<\/p>\n

Maria Gourley\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The drama began in March 2023 when Ms Gourley painted her roof \u201cheritage red\u201d, a decision that quickly triggered backlash inside the Fernbrook townhouse complex.<\/p>\n

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According to court documents cited by the ABC<\/a>, one neighbour blasted the colour as \u201coffensive\u201d and claimed it showed the committee was failing to enforce the rules.<\/p>\n

Another accused Ms Gourley of what they described as a \u201cblatant act of defiance\u201d, claiming the red roof signalled a disregard for the complex and posed \u201ca threat to others\u2019 investment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

A Brisbane woman has been ordered to repaint her roof after enraged neighbours declared the colour \u201coffensive\u201d, \u201cdisturbing\u201d and even a \u201cthreat\u201d to their property values. Source: 9News<\/p>\n

A third said she had \u201cflouted the bylaws\u201d and appeared determined to upset residents forced to stare at the \u201cjarringly coloured roof each and every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

An adjudicator had already found the body corporate acted reasonably in ordering the roof to be repainted, saying the colour was \u201cglaringly\u201d different from the surrounding homes.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Maria Gourley had the roof of her townhouse in Brisbane\u2019s The Gap painted in 2023 at her own expense in \u201cheritage red\u201d. Source: 9News<\/p>\n

Ms Gourley appealed, but on Monday tribunal senior member Richard Oliver shut that bid down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question of reasonableness is a little tricky. It\u2019s not what I think is reasonable or what you think is reasonable,\u201d Mr Oliver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adjudicator\u2019s job is to determine whether or not the body corporate\u2019s decision is reasonable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Body corporate committee member Jill Elsworth told the tribunal the roof had wrecked the visual harmony of the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaria\u2019s was a totally contrasting, discordant colour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

However, some neighbours aren\u2019t a fan of her colour choice. Source: 9News<\/p>\n

The tribunal ultimately tossed out Ms Gourley\u2019s appeal and ordered her to repaint the roof in \u201cNutech coral\u201d within three months, at her own expense.<\/p>\n

But Ms Gourley says the whole mess could have been avoided.<\/p>\n

Speaking to 9News<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

She said if the committee had named a specific colour from the beginning, she would have followed it.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201cNutech coral\u201d was only nominated later, in October 2023, after complaints flooded in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now turned into this war and peace \u2026 and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m totally at fault, I think it\u2019s 50-50,\u201d Ms Gourley said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Gourley\u2019s red roof is too red, according to some, and instead should be repainted in \u201cNutech coral\u201d. Source: 9News<\/p>\n

She also questioned how she was supposed to accurately match the ageing roofs in the complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I colour match?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe roofs are dirty, as you can see.<\/p>\n

\u201cA colour on a painting chart \u2026 when you apply it to a big area like this, you know, it\u2019s a different colour again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another twist, Ms Gourley said not one of the neighbours ever knocked on her door to complain directly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bright red roof has sparked an all-out neighbour war in suburban Brisbane, ending with a tribunal ordering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-951949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}