› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Strata Committees › Decisions decided upon by 3 out of 8 › Current Page
Is a quorum present?
Under the New South Wales legislation (the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996) “the quorum for considering and voting on a motion submitted at a meeting of an executive committee that has 2 or more members is at least one-half of the members.” Therefore 4 the 8 unit owners entitled to vote will form a quorum.
Is the motion passed?
The Strata Schemes Management Act goes on to say that:
“Subject to this Act, the decision on any matter, where there is only one member of the executive committee, of that member or, if there are 2 or more members of an executive committee, of the majority of the members voting on that matter is the decision of the executive committee at any meeting of an executive committee at which a quorum is present.”
A 3 to 1 vote is a majority vote. Therefore the motion will have been passed.
Can the EC make large financial decisions i.e. $40,000.00?
This may depend on the powers which the EC have been delegated. If you look at the minutes of your last AGM you will probably find a motion which states the extent of the decisions which the EC can make (this may say that there are no restrictions to what the EC can make decisions on).
There are also a number of provisions of the Strata Schemes Management Act which may have application to your situation depending on factors such as the purpose of the spending. Section 80 for instance, limits the amount of money which an EC can spend if it has not first been approved at general meeting, while under the new provisions implemented under the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2010 an EC cannot spend more than $12,500 (or $1000 per lot, whichever is the lower) on legal services without approval by resolution at general meeting.
Whether the decision is valid is a question which would require further details before it could be properly considered, but as Jimmy has said above the best option may be to call an EGM and pass a motion against the proposed spending.
Regards,
Daniel
TEYS Lawyers