Poll: What would it take to get you to an AGM?

Are you an AGM tragic – turning up for every general meeting like a strata stalker- or would you have to be sedated and abducted by your strata committee to attend even one?

If you are in the latter category, you are far from alone. Attendance at strata AGMs is so notoriously poor that most states’ strata laws have been tweaked to allow for people not turning up in sufficient numbers to form a quorum.

In fact, viewing strata legislation across the nation, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the powers that be have given up on the whole notion of minimum attendance altogether.

In NSW, for instance, if the requisite 25 percent of owners aren’t there at the designated start time, either in person or by registered proxy, but at least two owners are, the chair can postpone the meeting for half an hour, then declare that those in attendance constitute a quorum and proceed.

Or they can postpone it for seven days, but that presents such significant logistical issues, with no guarantee of a better turnout, that hardly anyone would do that.

In Victoria, the law demands 50 percent of owners attend AGMs to make up the quorum – dream on, we think – but if there is no quorum the meeting can make interim decisions which become active after 29 days if there isn’t a petition by half the owners to reject them.  Easy-peasy, huh?

In Queensland, like NSW, you also need 25 per cent but the Body Corporate can reduce that to 10 per cent through a special resolution (provided they can get 25 per cent of voters to a meeting to make that decision).

Now, all of the above figures are counted subject to technicalities such as unit entitlements and ability to vote – you can’t in some states if you’re not up to date with your levies or fees.

And factor in Zoom meetings which seem to be hanging around like another symptom of “long Covid” and there’s even less incentive for turning up in person.

So this week’s poll is about what it would take to get you to turn up at your AGM or any other general meeting. Click on as many options as you wish and don’t forget to check back to see what others are thinking.

 Loading ...