Back in the dark ages of NSW strata (pre-2016), owners could carry as many proxies as they could muster to the AGM.
Given that a large number strata owners don’t know what’s going on and almost as many don’t care, the office-bearers could send out requests for proxy votes to be filled out for the chair or secretary, thereby locking themselves into positions of power for as long as they wanted.
The standard reason was that if they didn’t get enough votes to fulfil the quorum, the AGM would have to be rescheduled, at horrendous costs, bills wouldn’t be paid and the sky would fall in.
I knew one building where the chair was an absolute proxy beast. Before every AGM they would go around meeting-averse or physically infirm owners that they suspected weren’t likely to attend the meeting and get their proxies.
Making it look more like a service than a power grab, they took the agenda – like it was a menu for takeaway food – and asked them how they would vote on each issue. They would then diligently cast those votes as requested, even if it was not their personal choice.
Thus, the absentees had their wishes expressed and the chair could claim this was truly democratic. To an extent, this was true. More people got to vote on the issues that concerned them than would otherwise have occurred.
But what about the issues about which the proxy providers didn’t give a sugary sherbert? Think about that. The agenda has, say, 15 items on it, and the non-attendees only demur from the chair on one or two.
So they have pocketed multiple votes on the other 13 issues, guaranteeing they would pass, regardless of any opposition.
I witnessed one fiercely contested vote prevail when it was explained to the main objector that even if every other person and every proxy at the meeting was against it, the chair had so many votes on their own that it was bound to pass.
Democratic, my Aunt Fanny! So imagine the chair’s horror when the law was changed to limit proxies to be held by any one person to a maximum of 5 per cent of the number of owners and the quorum rules were diluted into irrelevance.
Seems fair, but what about those people who would have to be sedated to get them to an AGM and whose connections in the block have already maxed out their proxy allocations?
Easily fixed. Many buildings send out both an electronic pre-voting link and, for the digitally challenged, a printed voting form that you can send in for use on the day.
All of which leads us to our main question this week. Is it valid if an owner submits a signed document that says they won’t be at the meeting but they want their vote on a certain issue to be cast in a specific way?
The answer is more complicated than you might think and you’ll find it HERE.
Hot Topics
Here are the most-read forum issues from the past week
- How does a single owner insure the building’s roof when they’ve taken responsibility in a by-law? That’s HERE.
- Insurers only offer six months cover – at same cost as a year – due to impending repairs. That’s HERE.
- What can you do if the committee refuses to repair damage to common property? That’s HERE.
- Who has to pay for the damage to a flat below from a leak in my lot? That’s HERE.
- What can I do about water pouring on to my balcony from upstairs? That’s HERE.
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