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22/12/2012 at 5:15 am #8611Anonymous
We have vacant positions on our EC, and our 2-member EC is closely-aligned and are arrogant control-freaks – they are not having/publicising their meetings, and they are not releasing information about costings and quotes for work they are undertaking.
Some owners have had-enough and are expressing interest to fill the vacancies.
Can an owner nominate another owner to fill an EC vacancy at any time, or are we required to wait until an AGM or EGM?
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22/12/2012 at 1:47 pm #17444
There is only a vacancy on the EC if the owners at the last AGM agreed that the EC must have a certain number of members (this is an obligatory item on the agenda) and there were not enough nominations, or if one member resigned or their unit was sold.
If there are vacancies, all an owner has to do is nominate someone to take the vacancy – if there are more nominations than seats, then there is a ballot by EC members. Otherwise, valid nominees can just take the vacant seat.
If there are no vacancies and you want to change the EC, you need 25 percent of owners to sign a letter calling for an Extraordinary General Meeting and then put forward a motion to vacate all the seats on the EC and elect a new one. Obviously you wouldn’t do that unless you had people prepared to serve on the EC.
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.
23/12/2012 at 5:46 am #17450AnonymousYes, there are two current vacancies on the EC. Confirmed as recently as 13/10/12 at an EGM – nominations were called for, and no nominations were received.
I just need some assurance we can go ahead and fill these positions right now, without a meeting. We have two owners wanting in, and many happy to nominate them.
Thanks.
@JimmyT said:
If there are vacancies, all an owner has to do is nominate someone to take the vacancy – if there are more nominations than seats, then there is a ballot by EC members. Otherwise, valid nominees can just take the vacant seat.
23/12/2012 at 11:36 am #17451I don’t know if you can fill these positions without a meeting. This is what the Act says:
(2) When a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of an executive committee … the owners corporation must appoint a person eligible for election as a member to fill the vacancy. Any person so appointed holds office, subject to this clause, for the balance of his or her predecessor’s term of office.
Although the Act says the new members should be appointed by the Owners Corporation, this is usually taken to mean the EC acting in their capacity as the OC’s executive. Normally, this would mean that the EC would, at their next meeting, confirm appointments or elect someone by ballot.
So, if your EC refuses to meet or to call a general meeting, they are in contravention of the Act that says new members ‘must’ be appointed. I would pressure them to hold a meeting to confirm the new appointments or face action at the CTTT who could be asked to issue an order forcing the EC to meet.
Alternatively, you could garner the signatures to force an EGM. This might be safer, in case they try to elect their own nominees to consolidate their position.
Interestingly, they should not be making any more decisions without electing new members because, if the new members names have been forwarded to them, any meeting they have is required to consider nominees for election.
Forward the names to your strata manager and whoever is the secretary and remind them they are required to call a meeting at the earliest opportunity to consider the new members to fill the vacant seats, otherwise they are in contravention of the Act.
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.
23/12/2012 at 7:31 pm #17455So what if a member of the EC resigns and no one wants to be on it in their place? We have had an EC member resign. No meeting was called. And no one filled the position. It wouldn’t matter if a meeting was called. No one would have put their hand up. And if someone was nominated they would have refused. Our complex is so dysfunctional it just isn’t funny anymore.
If you have enough people left on the EC what does it matter anyway? I could understand if the was only one on the committee, which had happened here, and they resigned of course a meeting should be held. But no one here cares about anything much. So if they all resigned tomorrow, no difference here. Nothing would get done with no EC members. And nothing here gets done with them.
Merry Christmas to all.
24/12/2012 at 12:02 pm #17457I think it does matter, because the number of members of the EC is set at the AGM. So if someone steps down/resigns, the number stays the same but you are one member short. So if you need to have a quorum, the number of members you need is determined by the number of members set at the AGM, e.g. 5 members, three for a quorum. This can create problems, e.g. if you have a meeting and only two people turn up.
I have raised the issue before re how an EC member is appointed if someone drops out, I think the legislation is defective, as it doesn’t make sense to have to call a general meeting to appoint someone to a casual vacancy, which is what the legislation suggests.
24/12/2012 at 7:05 pm #17462@scotlandx said:
… it doesn’t make sense to have to call a general meeting to appoint someone to a casual vacancy, which is what the legislation suggests.It may suggest that but standard practise is for the EC acting on behalf of the Owners Corp to elect the new member. This is what the Act says:
(2) When a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of an executive committee … the owners corporation must appoint a person eligible for election as a member to fill the vacancy. Any person so appointed holds office, subject to this clause, for the balance of his or her predecessor’s term of office.
The key missing phrase is “at a general meeting”. And the word that interests me is ‘must” – there is very little compulsion in the Act so we should take it seriously when the legislation stamps its little foot.
And you are right, ScotlandX, having two vacancies on an EC of only four seats means you are sailing too close to the wind of quorum every time a meeting is called (although these bods don’t seem to bother with such niceties as calling meetings).
Personally, I would write into the Act that if there are not enough nominations to fill the number of seats determined at an AGM, the meeting should continue until such times as enough members are found to fill the seats or the number of seats is reduced.
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.
27/12/2012 at 8:50 pm #17481So what happens when you have an EC of 5 and one of those members resigns. No one else wants to be on the EC. Owners are asked if they want to fill the position but no takers. This is what happened in our complex. So what do you do when no one wants to be on the committee?
The following year we had a totals of one member on the EC. There is zero interest in being in the EC in this complex, nor for anything else to do with its running and maintenance. However, 100% of owners complain at the AGM every year about nothing being done regarding the running and maintenance of the complex. It is because of the attitude of owners that the committee member resigned. And by no one wants to be on the committee.
28/12/2012 at 9:39 am #17482Devolve all decision making to your strata manager, pay them handsomely for all the crap they will have to put up with and whenever anyone even looks like complaining just say “well, there is a vacancy on the EC …”
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.
30/12/2012 at 7:39 am #17494The residents here still believe that having a strata manager means that they arrange and do all the work. They agreed to sack the last strata manager because nothing was being done. Now they are waiting for the new strata manager to get things done. They just don’t get it.
With the old strata manager things did get done when the old EC told them to go ahead. Then the new EC came inboard. Nothing h been done since. Now the new SM has been inboard for over 4 months. Nothing. But still I have heard the residents say they are waiting for the SM to get the outstanding maintenance works done.
I would like the strata manager to be paid to run the place. It would be fantastic to advise them of a problem, and know that it will be attended to. But these residents do not want to pay for anything in this complex. They want their levies low, but want the OC to cover everything and anything, want someone else to do everything, arrange everything and believe that any problem in the complex is for someone else to notice, report and fix.
I truly believe that they are all sitting around waiting for me to do something. When I was on the EC that is what I did. I arranged the quotes, tradespeople, meetings, did the odd jobs, got onto the SM. And I believe that the EC is waiting for me to do something. But they can wait all they want.
30/12/2012 at 11:47 am #17497Struggs – I’ve picked-up the frustration in your words on this post and elsewhere on FlatChat about how your Plan operates.
It’s in your best interests, for the value of your investment, and for your own personal satisfaction for someone to take on the official responsibility of liaising with the new Strata Manager so that things that are the responsibility of the Owners Corporation simply get done!
To be clear, I’m not talking about “arranging quotes, tradespeople, meetings, and doing the odd jobs”, but about someone on the E/C who’s willing and able to work with the new Strata Manager so that they have someone to talk to, to bounce quotes / ideas off along the way, so that they can get on with it in a logical and cost-effective way – to the benefit of all Owners who probably won’t even notice; but what the …..
I think I know who that has to be in 2013, and I think that you do too; right?
(remember that you have an army of people here to bounce ideas off)
31/12/2012 at 2:46 pm #17504Whale. First of all 400 not out! Congrats on your 400th post!
I do not like to say never but I will y I will never help those who do not help themselves. Yes, I could get this place into ship shape. It was when I was on the EC previously. Of course I did most of the work whilst others sat back. And residents do not speak to me because they knew I did most of the work and therefore blame me for being told what to do, but still speak to other on the EC. Those others are now on the EC, doing nothing and getting good mornings from the residents.
I will not be solely responsible for getting others homes maintained whilst they sit back sipping chardonnay and wondering what else they will whine about for someone else to take care of. I am taking care of my place. I have had time off work. I have been working around the place sprucing it up. I have the tradesmen coming in a couple of weeks to do some work. Hell, I am even going to get quotes for floorboards. Not giving any notice, don’t care about the noise rating. As I only have one neighbour, if it only bothers them and no o me else cares is it really a breach? If my neighbour goes to the EC, it would take them I would estimate 6 months to even answer if they even bother. But knowing what residents in this complex are like my neighbour will sit back and wait for the AGM to complain that the EC should realized that he had increased noise despite not advising them so.
Normally I would be loathe to even think about breaching a by law as a matter of principle. But I feel this belief is not worth the effort any more. I am even going to change/repair common property outside my place without permission. Who is going to stop me? They don’t bother about any other by laws. They turn a blind eye. So if they bother with me I will take that as discriminiation. If it is ok for one to break a by law, and in this complex ok for most, them it is definitely ok for me.
I want out. If the residents here want to sit around waiting for someone to blame then let them. If they want to keep passing by broken and run down features without telling anyone good on them. I am not going to do any work to benefit them. Just for myself.
On that joyous rant, I would like to wish all a happy new year! I will have a glass of champers for you all! I know thats a lot of alcohol, but I need that much to live in this place.
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