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@SAM said:
Are there any circumstances when permission can be given by Executive Committees or Strata Managers for any part of Common Property to be used exclusively by an Owner or Occupier? Eg sections of Garden or Visitors’ car space.Basically, yes. You need a by-law (which has to be approved by 75 percent of those voting at a General Meeting) and the by-law has to state who has ongoing responsibility for the care of the common property. There should also be a consideration for payment of compensation to the owners corp on the basis of how much this adds to the value of the property minus the cost of creating the new garden or, in the case of a parking space, the legal fees. The cost of writing the by-law should be borne by the person who is benefitting from the exclusive use, although they can subtract that from the compensation they are paying the owners corp.
If the person benefitting from the exclusive use declines any of these elements: the by-law, the ongoing responsibility, the legal costs or the compensation, they should be told to take a hike. This should happen at zero cost to the owners corp with some compensation for the effective loss of common property, regardless of whether or not they use it in its present state.
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@Welly said:
Thanks. Could you please advise if matter can be raise in General Business or wether it needs to be on this notice of motion on the AGM.There is no such thing as “general business” at a General Meeting – you can only vote on things that are on the agenda and each agenda item has to be specified in a motion. So your Strata Manager is absolutely right.
However, this is something that could be handled in an EC meeting and doesn’t really require a general meeting to make a decision. If the EC is acting against the wishes of the majority of owners, an Extraordinary General Meeting can be called to instruct the strata manager to undertake the required action.
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If their vote had changed the outcome of the vote in any way, you would challenge it either at a reconvened General meeting or via the CTTT. You would also seriously look at the roles of your office-bearers and/or strata managers for allowing this to happen.
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@bette said:
If a financial owner gives their proxy vote to a non-financial owner, will that proxy vote count at the AGM? this is in NSW.I believe the critical factor in this is whether or not any proxy holder needs to be a permitted voter. In the case of proxy holders this is clearly not the case as non-owners are allowed to vote as proxies on behalf of owners. So yes, the non-financial owner can vote with the financial owner’s proxy.
In fact, I’ve heard it mooted that a non-financial owner’s vote can be counted if it is delivered by someone else as a proxy rather than a direct vote. Haven’t heard of any instances of that, though.
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@bette said:
If someone pays all their unpaid levies on the day of the AGM, can they cast a vote at the AGM? If they pay by bank transfer on the day, does the money have to be in the strata’s account before the meeting starts? This is in NSW. thanksI believe the current ruling is that the money isn’t paid until it’s in the bank so people paying cash or by cheque just before the meeting are too late. Technically they have to pay at least the day before.
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Just to reiterate and clarify, an audit is not required by schemes of under 100 lots but it can be agreed to commission one.
If an audit is commissioned, it has to be conducted by a certified auditor.
A small scheme like yours would only employ an auditor if there was some concern about financial mismanagement.
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scotlandx said
A non-financial owner can’t nominate themselves or anyone else to the EC. Making a nomination and being on the EC are two different things. Nomination is like voting, you have to be financial to do it.
Martyn said
Thank you. Can you point out where this is legislated or proscribed? I am happy with the answer if I can be pointed to such.
Here it is, hot from the Act – it doesn’t mention being financial but you can’t vote if you aren’t financial and it says the ability to nominate is restricted to those who can vote.
9 Restriction on moving motion or nominating candidate
(1) A person is not entitled to move a motion at a meeting or to nominate a candidate for election as a member of the executive committee unless the person is entitled to vote on the motion or at the election.
The issue of whether or not you are ‘financial’ is deal with here:
Persons entitled to vote at general meeting
(8) Voting rights may not be exercised if contributions not paid
A vote at a general meeting (other than a vote on a motion requiring a unanimous resolution) by an owner of a lot or a person with a priority vote in respect of the lot does not count unless payment has been made before the meeting of all contributions levied on the owner, and any other amounts recoverable from the owner, in relation to the lot that are owing at the date of the notice for the meeting.
And finally, since the Strata Act finds it easier to say what CAN’T be done, here is the section that effectively allows people who are NOT financial to be nominated by those who are.
Constitution of executive committees for strata schemes with more than 2 lots.
(4) A person is not eligible for election as a member of an executive committee unless the person is:
(a) an individual who is an owner,
(b) a company nominee of a corporation that is an owner, or
(c) an individual who is not an owner but who is nominated for election by an owner who is not a candidate for election.
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There a re a lot of different issues here but they all seem to come back to an autocratic chairman and a compliant strata manager working in cahoots.
What you can do is either organise a coup at a general meeting – get the chairman voted off the EC, or you can persuade the EC to vote him off or, if he is holding a clutch of proxy votes that would make normal democratic procedures redundant, apply to the CTTT for the statutory appointment of a strata manager to take over the running of the building becasue it isn’t being run democratically or in the best interests of the majority of owners..
Assuming the latter option, I would first tell the members of your EC that if they don’t pull the chairman into line, you will apply to the CTTT for a statutory appointment.
But first we need to know if he holds power by virtue of a stack of proxies because that will make a big difference.
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@kiwipaul said:
Your starting point has to be the CTTT web site in NSW.Another useful source is Strata living document produced by NSW gov and their is a link to download it at the bottom of the CTTT web site.
How about the laboriously compiled document that tells readers of this website how to do it and provides links to all the forms they will need. You’ll find it HERE.
Where’s the love, fellas?
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They have compulsory voting in local elections (except in WA, SA and Tasmania) – why not in strata? It’s not like we are some big club with our own constitutions – strata voting is circumscribed by all sorts of regulations so why not include compulsory voting?
Or how about if you don’t turn up at an AGM you don’t get to make a complaint or raise an issue with the EC for the next year? Hmmm. I guess that would encourage even further disengagement.
So, embracing that idea, how about if you don’t turn up for two AGMs in a row, you are registered as non-involved so your vote isn’t counted in quorums or for special resolutions for the next year?
Nah! That wouldn’t work.
The problem is that there is no clear advantage in getting involved – just lots of disadvantages.
The more I think about it, the better I reckon the “let’s paint the building in rainbow colours” is the way to get those who give a teeny-weeny damn to be more involved.
Just don’t blame me if it passes.
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Hey, Roo, is that ‘own goals’ or own-goals?
Obviously the electronic voting thing would require a change in legislation and, bear in mind that the section of Queensland strata law relating to secret ballots is bigger than the whole of Victoria’s strata law, that could be a whole other long, drawn-out issue.
I live in a building which has a website; typically hard-to-read – style over substance – and boring as bat shit. Recently EC members’ email addresses have been removed but due to the prevailing view that other people’s ideas are dissent and good ideas are treason, the battle over the tiles on my balcony are there to be read by the world and his blogger.
Now I can’t find the email addresses of the new people on the committee – candidates’ identities are also kept secret “to save the embarrassment of those who fail” – to pass on the facts of the situation rather than the EC’s resident bush lawyer’s opinions.
I suggested at the last AGM that the minutes on the website should be locked by a password but the EC members, building managers and strata manager’s email addresses should be accessible to owners. Now the EC and AGM minutes are available to all and sundry but the EC email addresses are secret.
Seriously, though, I can understand why EC members wouldn’t want their personal addresses to be on the web to be trawled by spammers, but it would take about five minutes to set up generic email addresses like jeff@the stratawebsite.com which could then forward filtered mail to their own addresses.
This is what passes for communication in an autocratic system.
For all its faults, this website would be a great place for little polls to be run – like, what should we do first, buy new gym equipment or paint the lift lobbies (again)? But, like so many buildings in this state, we don’t need people to express their opinions because father knows best.
As was said by a prominent member of our EC only recently, “there is such a thing as too much democracy …”
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