I read through the advice from Jimmy-T and Scotlandx re nominations and proxies and understood that an absent owner would need to appoint a proxy to vote at an AGM and separately nominate the proxy holder for election to the committee, particularly as the notes in the AGM Agenda says to obtain a “Strata Committee Nomination Form” from the strata manager if you would like to nominate for the committee prior to the meeting. We had our AGM today and this is the scenario that unfolded:
I did my research and thought I was prepared for when a proxy holder nominated themselves again for the committee. They only held the NSW Fair Trading proxy appointment form (I noticed that the sections that instruct how the proxy was to vote was not completed at all but forgot to raise that as I was focused on other things). In response to my request to see the nomination form from the owner, the Strata Manager said the proxy is a person entitled to vote at a general meeting, therefore they may nominate themselves for election as a member of the strata committee. When I mentioned Schedule 1, Part 2, Section 5 of the Act, he said it’s open to interpretation and if I disagreed with his interpretation I could go to NCAT.
At the strata committee meeting directly after the AGM, nominations were called for Chairperson. Another committee member nominated the proxy holder for the position and as there were no other nominations, the proxy is now the Chairperson.
To further complicate things, I gleaned from the strata roll that the owner who appointed the proxy is financially managed by NSW Trustee & Guardian (TAG) and I have an email from TAG advising “that the owner does not have the capacity to appoint any other parties as their proxy or make any property related decisions”. When I brought this to the attention of the Strata Manager at the start of the meeting, he said he doesn’t know what that means and it has no relevance if it’s not in the Act. He accepted the proxy form when the proxy holder said they have been authorised by TAG to represent the owner, despite not being able to produce the written “authority”.
I intend to get clarification from TAG about this alleged “authority”. Any advice on how to challenge the Strata Manager’s position on the proxy and nomination forms? Looks like my options are NCAT, obtain legal advice or let the matter go.