……..and as Clause 5.7 of the standard form of Strata Management Agency Agreement states:
If the agreement is terminated the agent must, within 7 days after payment by the owners corporation to the agent of all outstanding amounts, make available at the agent’s office for collection by the owners corporation records, keys and other property of the owners corporation in the possession of the agent ;
then you should also contact Strata Community Australia (SCA) – the phone number for their NSW Chapter is 02 9492 8200. They’re the peak industry body, so ascertain whether your Strata Manager is a Member (most are), and if so lodge this form with them.
If your Strata Manager is not a Member and SCA’s complaints process can’t therefore be used, then rattle Fair Trading’s cage once again because they can (and should) take disciplinary action against him under Sect 192 of the NSW Property, Stock and Business Agents Act (2002) as he’s very definitely in breach of that Act on any number of these grounds.
With regard to the validity of the Proxies, paragraph 3 on the prescribed Form is intended overcome situations where a number of absent owners have routinely given their proxies to the Strata Manager, who cannot then exercise those on a vote for which he/she would “derive a pecuniary or other material benefit” unless a voting instruction is given at that paragraph – such as where that vote is to appoint them or to extend their Agency Agreement.
Clearly that’s not the case where the vote is to remove the Strata Manager (no benefit there!), so in my opinion any lack of instruction by absent Owners at paragraph 3 would not invalidate their Proxies in your circumstance; although it matters not as a simple majority vote is all that’s required to terminate the Agency Agreement.