There’s a question in the Forum this week that touches on a nerve for me – and it’s about rules and regulations for committees.
Now there are plenty of those to be had, from who can stand for election to who can and can’t vote at a committee meeting.
Did you know, for instance, that in NSW if committee members haven’t paid their levies, they can’t vote until the levies are paid. In fact, if they were nominated for election by someone who has since failed to pay their levies, then they can’t vote until the debt is cleared.
Check out Schedule 2, Section 9(4) of the Act if you don’t believe me.
Or how about this? A decision of the committee is invalid if more than one-third of the owners (by unit entitlement) object to the motion before the vote is taken.
That’s in the same section of the Act. All of which is very arcane and amusing but there’s nothing in the Act about how to conduct meetings or behave in them.
What do you do if someone keeps interrupting or refuses to let others speak? What do you do if an item has been discussed and voted on but a committee member wants to keep arguing the point?
Back in 2017 I suggested standing orders that could be adopted by schemes to help committee members know what was good behaviour and correct procedure.
I even suggested they might be included as an optional by-law in the Act. That idea was duly ignored but the standing orders are still there, if anyone is interested. Feel free to use them as you will but remember they won’t carry much weight until you approve them via a by-law.
Meanwhile you can help a Flatchatter with the strata committee rules and regs that do exist HERE.
Elsewhere in the Forum
- Can I put a storage box in my car space? That’s HERE.
- Strata manager paying unauthorised invoices. That’s HERE.
- Rooftop terrace repairs will turn my home into a building site. That’s HERE.
- Part owner wants to nominate a committee proxy – even in the middle of meetings. That’s HERE.
- Can the strata manager charge us for attending to by-law breaches? That’s HERE.
- Neighbour unhappy with exclusive use benefits I received years ago is now agitating and effectively blocking sale of my unit. That’s HERE.
- Can we be asked to pay another special levy because some owners haven’t paid theirs? That’s HERE.
How to ask and answer questions
Anyone can read our posts at any time, but you have to be registered to ask or answer questions. However, there are so many easy ways you can search, access, ask questions and reply to others’ queries once you have registered using the green “register and sign in …” box on this page.
The best way may be to click on “Forum: Your Qs & A’s” on the top menu bar or on the drop-down menu (three lines) on the screen on phones and tablets, under the Strata Choice ad. Then click on the topic title that interests you, and off you go.
Alternatively, you can click on the new “Latest Qs and As” Forum button on the top right of a computer screen or the link on the “hamburger” menu on a phone.
Or look at the list of “Your latest questions and answers” under the ads on the right of the page on a computer screen. Or at the bottom, after the ads and stories, on a tablet or phone.
finally, you can go “old school” and go to the Forum Home Page and work your way through the topics there.
Whichever route you take to get there, the best way to keep up to speed with what’s happening is to register (if you haven’t already done so), then login and subscribe for free to the topics that interest you most.
That way you’ll get an alert whenever the discussion moves forward, and you can also chip in with your own comments and questions. Have a look HERE at our instant guide to getting online.
