› Flat Chat Strata Forum › By-laws and outlaws › Committee members refuse to pay charges agreed in a by-law › Current Page
Have the committee members who voted against this declared their conflict of interest? If not they may have committed an offence under Section 18 of Schedule 2 of the strata Act (below) and be liable for a maximum fine of $1100 each.
If they have declared their conflict of interest, that should hae been recorded in a special book and they should not have voted
If the committee members choose not to remedy this, then you can pursue them under section 18 or, if you just want to recoup the unpaid money for the strata scheme, you can apply to Fair Trading for mediation leading to a section 232 application for orders against the strata committee or owners corporation to pursue the debt.
On the question of declaring a conflict of interest, the conflicted member shouldn’t be present or vote when the matter is discussed, unless the committee agrees to allow it.
Also, they should not be present or vote on whether or not the committee is going to allow them to be there for the vote on the issue.
You probably will be portrayed as a stirrer if you pursue this. But these people should be reminded that gaining material advantage by not paying money you have agreed to pay is called fraud in any other walk of life, and there is no reason why strata should be different.
In your shoes, I would characterise this as an oversight on their part (even though they may never have intended to pay the money) and, as such, would propose that the owners corp not pursue them under Section 18 and accept settlement of the debts with no historic interest charged.
Otherwise I would be on to Fair Trading immediately and I would tell these backsliders that you will also be seeking costs if it goes to the tribunal.
(1) If—
(a) a member of a strata committee has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter being considered or about to be considered at a meeting, and
(b) the interest appears to raise a conflict with the proper performance of the member’s duties in relation to the consideration of the matter,
the member must, as soon as possible after the relevant facts have come to the member’s knowledge, disclose the nature of the interest at a meeting of the strata committee.
Maximum penalty—10 penalty units.(2) [Not relevant to this issue]
(3) Particulars of any disclosure made under this clause must be recorded by the strata committee in a book kept for the purpose and that book must be open at all reasonable hours to inspection by any person on payment of the fee determined by the strata committee.
(4) After a member has disclosed the nature of an interest in any matter, the member must not, unless the strata committee otherwise determines—
(a) be present during any deliberation of the strata committee with respect to the matter, or
(b) take part in any decision of the strata committee with respect to the matter.
(5) For the purposes of the making of a determination by the strata committee under subclause (4), a member who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter to which the disclosure relates must not—
(a) be present during any deliberation of the strata committee for the purpose of making the determination, or
(b) take part in the making by the strata committee of the determination.
(6) A contravention of this clause does not invalidate any decision of the strata committee.
(7) Without limiting subclause (1), a person has an indirect pecuniary interest in a matter if a person connected with the person has a direct interest in the matter.