@Kevin Hodge said:
At our AGM this year this member of the EC used his voting power to block the two special resolutions … because in his words “an email he recieved a couple of years ago hurt his feelings”
If this was a common property rights by-law, you can take the recalcitrant owner to Fair Trading for mediation, pursuant to seeking orders under Section 149 (below) of the Act. And you make it clear in the committee minutes that that the reason for this action is their unreasonable refusal to pass the by-law.
Their superior levels of unit entitlements will mean that they are also paying more for the privilege of being pursued through NCAT.
There are other provisions for resolving non-property rights issues through orders at NCAT. Owners who have a majority of unit entitlements also have a responsibility as well as rights
(1) The Tribunal may make an order prescribing a change to a by-law if the Tribunal finds:
(a) on application made by an owner of a lot in a strata scheme, that the owners corporation has unreasonably refused to make a common property rights by-law, or
(b) on application made by an owner or owners corporation, that an owner of a lot, or the lessor of a leasehold strata scheme, has unreasonably refused to consent to the terms of a proposed common property rights by-law, or to the proposed amendment or repeal of a common property rights by-law, or
(c) on application made by any interested person, that the conditions of a common property rights by-law relating to the maintenance or upkeep of any common property are unjust.
(2) In considering whether to make an order, the Tribunal must have regard to:
(a) the interests of all owners in the use and enjoyment of their lots and common property, and
(b) the rights and reasonable expectations of any owner deriving or anticipating a benefit under a common property rights by-law.
(3) The Tribunal must not determine an application by an owner on the ground that the owners corporation has unreasonably refused to make a common property rights by-law by an order prescribing the making of a by-law in terms to which the applicant or, in the case of a leasehold strata scheme, the lessor of the scheme is not prepared to consent.
(4) The Tribunal may determine that an owner has unreasonably refused consent even though the owner already has the exclusive use or privileges that are the subject of the proposed by-law.
(5) An order under this section, when recorded under section 246, has effect as if its terms were a by-law (but subject to any relevant order made by a superior court).
(6) An order under this section operates on and from the date on which it is so recorded or from an earlier date specified in the order.