Reply To: Stalemate as equal numbers keep new members off committee

peanuts23 wrote:

I understood that a tied vote meant a motion was defeated?

An unresolved tied vote is a failed vote, so the status quo would prevail – i.e. no change.
Your best bet might be to apply to Fair Trading for mediation under section 232 (below) seeking orders that the scheme be required to overturn the decision of only half of the owners to exclude the other half.

Or you could take a fine-tooth comb to Section 5 of Schedule 1.2 and see where the committee did not comply with requirements, then invoke Section 24 of the Act, and ask for the decision to be overturned on that basis. Again you would need mediation and a Tribunal hearing.

Or you could sit down with the other three and explain that if they don’t allow more members on to the committee you will,

1. Seek orders at NCAT (as above)
2. Call an EGM every month to review, discuss and, if necessary, overturn decisions of the committee. Under Section 19 (4), a qualified request for an EGM only requires 25 per cent (two owners in your case) to make the request.
3. Make sure that the blocking of new members, and your objections to it, are recorded in the strata minutes and strata manager correspondence for potential future owners to see.

In other words, either they rethink their position and behave more reasonably, or they are entering a world of hassles and disputes that no one wants.

Offer a compromise.  Maybe five instead of six, then work the election to your advantage by strictly following the rules.

Regarding suggestion 2, it is unlikely that all three committee members would be unanimous on every decision, so the threat of decisions being rescinded at an EGM would be very real to owners who had only prevailed by a majority of two to one.

(1) Orders relating to complaints and disputes

The Tribunal may, on application by an interested person, original owner or building manager, make an order to settle a complaint or dispute about any of the following—

(a)  the operation, administration or management of a strata scheme under this Act,

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