Here’s a scenario for you to get your teeth into. Your owners corporation has passed a number of items on the AGM agenda, requesting specific action, but the committee and/or strata manager do nothing.
It could be because they don’t think it’s a good idea, or because it impacts them personally in some way, or they never get round to it. Whatever the reason, nothing happens.
This week one Flatchatter has asked if the secretary can “unilaterally” go ahead and implement the decisions.
Which brings us to the basics of strata power structures. Many people think the strata manager tells the committee what to do and the committee tells the owners at a general meeting what they have to vote on.
In fact, it’s the other way round. The owners decide what they want at a general meeting, the committee must be aware of the decisions and they should tell the strata manager to get it done.
The strata manager really has to do it whether or not they think it’s a good idea, unless it would be a breach of the strata Act or any other law, for that matter.
They can and should argue the point, if they don’t think it’s a wise move. And the committee can take it back to the owners. But they shouldn’t just not do it
Which brings us to the question of the secretary acting “unilaterally” to enact decisions made by the owners at a general meeting.
Firstly, he or she would not be acting unilaterally since they have an instruction from the owners. Unless that action would be illegal, they really should get it done.
What about the chair? Don’t they have the power, so they should do it? Not especially. The way the chair’s role is defined in the NSW strata act, it’s just a hairsbreadth from being ceremonial. They are supposed to chair meetings and “make determinations as to quorums and procedural matters.”
The secretary, however, is empowered by the Act to “attend to matters of an administrative or secretarial nature in connection with the exercise of functions by the owners corporation or the strata committee of the owners corporation.”
So in my view, the secretary not only can go ahead and do what the owners want, but is pretty much obliged to. What do you think? Have your two cents worth HERE.
Updates on the forum
- Can unallocated funds just be allowed to accumulate. That’s HERE.
- The cracked induction stovetop has now split. What do to? That’s HERE.
- The unequal divide of common property requires some subtle diplomacy. That’s HERE.
- How to cancel a dubious caretaker agreement. Maybe the answer is passive resistance. That’s HERE.
- Moving money from the capital works fund to the admin fund – the law is about to be clarified.
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