Voting isn't compulsory in Qld but i am suggesting that voting be made compulsory in NSW and that one way to vote be in writing – like they do in Qld. People already compulsory vote at three level of government so it is nothing huge to add another level; especially if you do not even have to leave home to do it.
I am of the belief a person in Qld can, instead of sending a proxy, just fill in their yes or no vote for each motion and return their AGM notice so that their vote is counted — they do not have to appear in person.
I saw an AGM notice from a Qld managment firm sent to an owner in a NSW strata plan and it had the agree / disagree boxes for every motion if someone did not want to go to the AGM … it is not a valid method in NSW but it was getting used in NSW and i do not think any of the owners in the 6 unit block knew that voting at the AGM in writing was not allowed in NSW.
If voting is made compulsory and it can be done in writing then how does it shore up block voting? If people can vote in the privacy of their own home then it has a huge advantage of negating group think and crowd psychology which are both very detrimental to “compulsory thinking” at an AGM .
I agree not all EC's are corrupt and evil but if the legislation targets the corrupt and evil then what have the rest got to worry about?
It is not so much the evil geniuses i have a concern with, it is the “my way or the highway” types who impose themselves on an OC to the detriment of the OC.
My EC do know better and still do not care because CTTT do not “micro manage” SP's and CTTT are not the “strata police”. You can train my bunch all you want and CTTT are not going to do a thing if, owners do not get a detailed agenda, if my EC meetings are full of introduced matters, if the AGM notice is late and full of motions from ineligible people, if interest is not calculated correctly, if s62 obligations are neglected, if there is erosion of equity, i could write a list a mile long of things CTTT will not do orders for.
Why wait for fewer rules; anyone who wants fewer rules can come to my SP because we already have virtually no rules, you do not even have to pay your levies if you don't want to because the OC aren't coming after you if you don't — plenty of places for sale and at great prices. My SP is a lovely place that is run extremely poorly. Ignore the poor management (and the people behind it) and my SP is a fantastic place.
I think this forum is going to still be going strong after any reform. I do not know how many posts Jimmy T has read from the consultation website but it seems to me people want more accountability, more clarity, a simpler dispute resolution mechanism and more enforcement of the rules. If this can be done with fewer rules then well done to those behind the reform but if the whole consultation and reform is just about removing rules so things appear simpler and less thing can be classified as problems then things are only going to get worse for strata.