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Hello
Could you kindly advise me, how big the percentage of the owners/entitlements needs to be, not to adopt some of the AGM minutes, if some of them are wrongly stated.
Also could you kindly advise me, if an owner, who moved in to the building 3 years ago is entitled to ask the OC for a structural engineer to examine his balcony of it safety, because e wants to have ” piece of mind”, if the balcony is safe. There is nothing wrong with the balcony, he admitted it himself, but he just wants to make sure and is asking the OC to pay for it. Is the OC required to do so?
He wants to put this motion on the AGM agenda. How many votes we need to dismiss this motion?
Thank you for your advice.Kind regards
Alinka
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Replies
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alinka – all that’s necessary not to accept or to amend the Minutes is a simple majority vote by those persons present both personally and by proxy at the AGM, and it doesn’t matter whether that vote is determined by a head-count or by units of entitlement; 51% wins!
With regard to the balcony, the Owners Corporation (O/C) has an absolute responsibility to properly maintain its Common Property, and an absolute ability to determine by a simple majority at an AGM what it considers, with advice as appropriate, is and is not necessary in order to fulfil that responsibility.
If the situation is as you describe and the balcony Owner just wants piece of mind, then perhaps suggest that the O/C engages a Structural Engineer and that the Owner pays their costs if, as you suggest, the Report shows that there are no issues.
Just ensure that if your O/C goes that way that the Engineer is made fully aware of the backround, and that the O/C wants their professional opinion on structural safety and not on a grab-bag of unrelated observations such as hair-line cracking of surfaces or mortar, brick-growth, moisture, and mould that are included by some to embellish their Report.
That would complicate the issue in my opinion, but in any event it’s the O/C that has the absolute responsibility to decide if there’s a maintenance problem with its property, and if there is a problem, how to best address it – it shouldn’t abrogate that!
In addition, it’s in fact easier for an O/C to add and collect an additional fee, that’s been agreed to and minuted at an AGM, as a separate line item on an Owner’s Levy Contributions Invoice than it is for that O/C to reimburse an Owner for a cost that they’ve incurred via a third-party.
It really comes back to how certain your O/C is that there’s no structural problem with the balcony – perhaps find out the costs of an opinion as opposed to a full-blown report and go from there; it may be cheaper than you think and at least then your O/C would have some basis for its decision.
Perhaps have a chat with Integrated Building Consultancy – they’re sponsors of FlatChat.
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