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At a recent AGM a motion to add a new By-Law was put to the 8 owners present and was unanimously carried. I voted in favour although had reservations about the legalese manner of the wording which made it hard to understand. The minutes of the meeting (written by the Strata Manager) now show the names of those owners at the meeting who voted in favour. However, the list of names does not include mine, although it does show my wife’s name (but with the wrong first name initial). Question: is this just a technicality? or does this raise the question of whether the By-Law has indeed been carried unanimously? Finally can you suggest a legal mind that would look at the wording of the By-Law to advise whether owners may have unwittingly done themselves a disadvantage. Thank you
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Since having your wife’s name with an error instead of your name would not have changed the outcome of the vote, you can correct the record at the next general meeting when the minutes of this meeting are accepted. You propose an amendment to the motion to accept the minutes to say that they are accepted with the correction to record your name rather than your wife’s.
As for the wording of the by-law, changing that would be an amendment that you could put to a meeting any time in the future. There are a variety of strata lawyers who would look at the present by-law and could convert it to plainer english. They should be able to give you a quick opinion about whether it should be reworded and quote for their fee to redraft it.
Is it just legalese that is a bit obscure or are do you suspect the by-law might actually have an effect different from what you thought it meant. If the latter, you could include questions about the meaning and effect of the by-law. The lawyer should also be able to answer a question along the lines of “So, if I were to do X, would that be a breach of the by-law or would it be permitted.” You could ask such questions both for things you think the by-law should address and things you think it might inadvertently and unintentionally cover.