› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Living in strata › Paper EGM › Current Page
scotlandx said…
In the case of meetings of the owners corporation, technically there has to be a “meeting”. That is – you send a notice out saying that a general meeting of the owners corporation will be held at X time on Y date at Z venue.
However, in some cases the resolution will be approved by the owners submitting their proxy and not attending. I have seen “meetings” where forms have been sent out appointing the strata manager as proxy and providing for a vote either way on the resolution – in effect the meeting has been “held” on paper. In those instances the owners are told not to attend, but of course they can if they want to.
(they did that once in our scheme, and we upset the manager by turning up)
With the strata law changes I am not sure this will be possible. Maybe Whale or Jimmy can enlighten us further.
… and to clarify, an E.G.M. is a “Meeting of the Owners Corporation”, and under the current N.S.W. Legislation there must, as Scotty stated, be a physical Meeting at a Venue advised to all Owners a minimum 14 days in advance together with the Agenda, whereafter the normal requirements for determining a quorum apply (i.e. including proxies).
The proposed N.S.W. Legislation that’s forecast to apply from September 2016 specifically allows for so-called paper meetings, where the Regulation that will then apply states the following; which may be interesting if the current definition of a “matter” applies, whereby each Motion on an Agenda would require a prior-determination by the O/C on the permitted “other” means of voting for each:
14. Other means of voting—owners corporation and strata committee
(1) An owners corporation or strata committee may, by resolution, adopt any of the following means of voting on a matter to be determined by the corporation or committee:(a) voting by means of telephone, video-conferencing, email or other electronic means while participating in a meeting from a remote location,(b) voting by means of email or other electronic means before the meeting at which the matter (not being an election) is to be determined by the corporation or committee (pre-meeting electronic voting).(2) Without limiting subclause (1) (b), the other electronic means of voting may include requiring voters to access a voting website and to vote in accordance with directions contained on that website.(3) An owners corporation may, by resolution, adopt postal voting as a means of voting on matters (other than elections) to be determined by the corporation.