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NSW. A bunch of owners, about 30%, were concerned with lack of action by the Strata Committee concerning physical security matters in our complex. An EGM seeking better physical security matters was put to the Strata Manager and Strata Committee Secretary. Nothing more was heard until the EGM arrived in everyone’s email, but many of the voting points had been changed from PROs to CONs, and new PROs submitted. i.e. the polarity had been reversed from what was originally submitted to the SM and Sec. Matters of security were turned into matters of cost and discouraged. In the end, fewer than 50% of Owners voted. Two questions, if I may.
Can the original EGM be changed to this extent, i.e., to sway the voter in a different direction?
Is the EGM result acceptable if fewer than 50% vote?
As always, thanks to the experts in anticipation.
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Can the original EGM be changed to this extent, i.e., to sway the voter in a different direction?
My reading of the Act is that when you submit a motion for consideration, the secretary “must give effect” to that motion. They clearly didn’t do this so they are in breach of the Act.
I would get your 30 percent of owners to petition the committee to hold another EGM (you only need 25 per cent) at which your actual motions and not their manipulated motions are presented.
I would also include a motion of censure of the the secretary and chair for deliberately distorting the discussion by not following the terms of the Act (see below).
The Act says this (my emphasis):
Inclusion of matters on agenda
(1) Any owner, or any person entitled to vote at a general meeting of an owners corporation, may require a motion to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting of the owners corporation.
(2) The requirement is to be made by written notice given to the secretary of the owners corporation that:
(a) sets out the required motion, and
(b) states the name of the person making the requirement, and
(c) includes an explanation of the motion of not more than 300 words in length.
(3) The secretary must give effect to the requirement.
(4) However, if the requirement is made after notice has been given of the meeting, the secretary must include the motion in the agenda for the next subsequent meeting.
(5) An owner or a person may make a requirement even if the owner or person cannot vote because the owner is an unfinancial owner.The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Is the EGM result acceptable if fewer than 50% vote?
General meetings are decided on the percentage of people who actually voted rather than who attended and/or actively abstained.
I recall long and pointless discussions about whether an abstention was a vote or not because people would say that if 40 people voted yes and 40 voted no and 20 abstained, the motion had failed becasue fewer than half the voters voted in favour.
This is of course nonsense. In NSW, unless it’s a special resolution, 51 percent of people actually voting in person or by proxy carries the vote, and that could be 6 people out of 10 who’ve bothered to turn up out of in a block of 100.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Jimmy-T in your example, with 40 for, 40 against and 20 abstained, the motion would still fail though, right?
Jimmy-T in your example, with 40 for, 40 against and 20 abstained, the motion would still fail though, right?
Depending on the unit entitlements, yes. But in that situation, someone on the “losing” side would surely call for a poll vote in which UEs would be counted. And according to the Act (but not the chair of my building) you can call for a poll vote at any time during the meeting, whether the chair has declared the voting closed or not.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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