#29217
Lady Penelope
Strataguru

    The amount of money reimbursed to the Committee member (who held the unauthorised meeting), by the Treasurer, falls within the limit that the Committee is permitted to approve. 

    “If legal services:

    • will not cost more than $3,000, or
    • are urgent and will not cost more than $15,000, or
    • relate to obtaining legal advice before taking legal action, or
    • concern the collection of overdue levies,

    the strata committee is able to approve those legal services: see section 103 Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and cl 26 Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016.”

    (https://www.lookupstrata.com.au/new-rules-legal-services-nsw/)

    The next question is: Did the Committee approve the reimbursement of the money via a Motion at a Committee Meeting, or did the Treasurer approve the re-reimbursement without seeking approval at a Committee meeting?

    If the Committee approved the reimbursement then the member who was to benefit from the reimbursement should not have voted on the Motion, as they have a direct Pecuniary interest in the outcome. Schedule 2 – Section 18 

    https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/sch2.html

    Check to see whether the Treasurer has been delegated the function of spending money by the OC. If he/she hasn’t been delegated this function then the Committee should retain this function – minus the voting input from the member with the pecuniary interest (as mentioned above).

    Depending upon the number of people on the Committee who are attending the Committee meeting, if you vote NO and the member with the pecuniary interest is not permitted to vote then this may cause the Motion to fail.

    Only the Committee or the OC are permitted to authorise the spending of money, unless this function has been delegated to a Committee member or a Strata Management Agent under SSMA 2015 [s13(1)(d)].