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You have to rely on the name of the owner registered on the strata roll. In a case where the person registered on the strata roll is deceased, then the question is whether a person is authorised to act on behalf of the estate. If the name of the owner has not changed to reflect that they are deceased, you would also need to see evidence that they are, such as a certified copy of the death certificate. For a start, the relative can’t just submit a proxy from “The Estate of…” unless she has documentary evidence of a) the death and b) that she is authorised to act on behalf of the estate.
There is a difference between being authorised to act on behalf of an estate/exercising the rights attaching to the property of the estate and being able to deal with the assets of an estate. Dealing with property encompasses things such as selling it or mortgaging it. Voting or giving a proxy is not “dealing” with property, it is exercising certain rights attaching to the property.
You may be authorised to act on behalf of an estate (essentially standing in the shoes of the deceased person) before probate has been granted – this may be way of court order etc. This would allow the person to do things such as exercise the right to vote. In that scenario what you need to see is documentary evidence of that authorisation. Note that a statutory declaration from the person would not be sufficient, you would need to see something like a court order/evidence of appointment.
An analogy is where someone has a power of attorney, and in that case you would need to see the documents related to that, including evidence that the power of attorney had not been revoked. (a power of attorney lapses when the grantor dies, so it doesn’t apply here).
Re trusts – all that Schedule 2 para 10(7) means is that where a lot is held by a trustee on behalf of a trust, a beneficiary of the trust can’t vote. That is quite normal, and doesn’t deprive anyone – if it were any other way you could have a very confusing situation, with a number of beneficiaries wanting to vote. It is the trustee who is entitled to vote, because they are the one who hold the lot on trust for the beneficiaries. They have a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interests of the trust as a whole. Note that an executor of an estate is in a similar position, but trusts can take a number of forms.