Divided E/C

You need to write to all owners explaining the situation and how this is damaging the value of their property as well as costing them money they don’t need to spend. You should also include a proxy form (which your strata manager will supply) so that you can get their votes at the EGM.

Having said that, do not overstate your case and make it personal.  Keep it businesslike and professional.  E.g, he owner wanted his friend to be paid $5000 for gardening and this was rejected.  

Tell them the owner’s tenant has since then been damaging the garden and other common property and the landlord is blocking attempts to issue Notices To Comply to deal with the issue.

Explain that if this is not dealt with at the EGM, the scheme faces long and expensive legal battles just to make sure the scheme is run properly (as it has been in the past).

Stress that this is a very important issue for the future well-being of the scheme and your property values and their attendance at the meeting – or, at the very least, their proxy votes are required.

If you can, follow up with cahtas and phone calls to the other owners – but again, avoid making it too personal.

Finally, when it comes to the EGM, keep a close eye on whether the troublemaking owner and his cronies have  paid their levies.  If they are in arrears, they can’t vote (and you’d be surprised how many troublemakers in buildings think they can hurt the EC by not paying their levies).  If they are in arrears, the payment has to be in the bank the day before the meeting. Writing a cheque at the meeting isn’t acceptable as it could be (and often is) cancelled if the vote doesn’t go their way. Some strata managers won’t even accept cash as the levies have to be in the owners corp accounts to clear the debt. Obviously, you would keep quiet about this until the meeting – it’s a tactic to keep in your back pocket.

This is nonsense. The Owners Corp (and therefore the Strata Manager) has to keep an up-to-date roll of lot owners. As an owner and member of the OC, you are entitled to see all documents, including the strata roll and addresses on it (but not email addresses unless prior permission has been given). This will cost about $30 plus any photocopying charges.

You can raise the validity of a vote with the chair before or during a meeting – and every General meeting should be prefaced by a register of whpo is thereand entitled to vote, including any proxies they may hold.

Off the top of my head, you have 28 days to challenge the validity of a vote via NCAT but even then you would have to show that the outcome of the vote would have been different if correct procedures had been followed.  

In short, you could have a meeting that failed to meet any of the basic criteria for conduct of a general meeting but if the outcome of the votes would not have been altered had all the conditions been met, then a challenge would probably fail.