Caretakers as members of executive committees

I am in a similar situation. In our case, the Building Manager owns some apartments in the complex and has a position on the Executive Committee on that basis. I now wonder about his/her position with regards to the new strata laws that will be coming into effect next year. Surely as an owner he/she has a right to be on the committee, and I see problems looming in terms of deciding what topic he/she may or may not vote on with respect to financial interest.

The problem becomes more complicated by the fact that the caretaker is an employee of the Building Manager, lives in a apartment owned by the Building Manager, and is on the Executive Committee as a representative of the Building Manager (who is also an owner). The caretaker clearly sees their intersts lying with the Builidng Manager, not with the Owners Corporation who has a contract with the Building Manager for the provision of caretaking services. I consider this to be an entirely unsatisfactory situation.

I won’t go on as the situation becomes even more complex and, in my view, dubious. Most owners are absentee investors and are completely unaware of the true state of affairs. I have felt for a long time time that there are diverse conflicts of interest, and I hope that the new strata laws will help put a stop to situations such as this arising.

We have a situation where the building manager is also an owner and is on the executive committee. The problem is, he is the only one with any working knowledge of building matters or strata matters (our managing agent is useless, and has given us bad/negligent advice). He does almost all the work on the executive committee, and always looks for consensus rather than take unilateral action. If the new law prevents him from being one or the other, we will be disadvantaged by either having to get another building manager (at higher cost) or not having enough knowledge and experience on the executive committee. There must be some way around this. I appreciate that in many cases our situation would result in abuses, but this does not apply to us, and things have been working smoothly for a number of years. A blanket ban would disadvantage us.

non-owners with a financial interest in a scheme, including managing agents, letting agents and building managers, will not be able to become committee members. – See more at: http://www.flatchat.com.au/forum/another-day-in-paradise/new-strata-laws-a-preview/#p10338

This quote is from Jimmy’s summary of legislation changes.

It sounds to me that this will not stop caretakers/building managers who are owners being on the committee so in John T’s situation you would not be disadvantaged. I would add that a good building manager should not need to be on the EC to give good advice. In fact you should expect them to attend your meetings regardless to assist you in making good decisions.

The other important changes mooted also means that if an owner caretaker is on the committee they must remove themselves from voting on motions that would give them a financial benefit.

A win win in my book.

In QLD we already have the situation where SM, caretakers, Building managers cannot be on the committee or control proxies but the SM still presides over the AGM (with no voting powers) and manages the spending (budget approved at AGM and non budget items voted when they occur by EC or OC) throughout the year and it works.