High rise high jinx

[Original post deleted at request of poster]

Hmm.

We’re in a smaller block with only 18 units, but we sometimes have the same type of shenanegans happening.  The process should be the same though…

All proxies presented at the AGM should be held on file by the strata manager.  They are public documents and any owner has the right to view them.  However, if you aren’t on the EC, the SM may charge you a small admin fee to access them.

So… go look see, photocopy them and then take them home and tot up the numbers.  That should tell you the story around the voting on the motions pretty quickly.

Getting an AGM made invalid is probably quite tricky and you’re unlikely to achieve it particularly if it was hosted by the Strata Manager witha strata lawyer in attendance.

You should not have had your motions dismissed though…  Any owner has the right to have a motion heard and voted upon at an AGM.  It may fail at the vote, but that is different to having it dismissed.  That may be enough to have the meeting held as invalid?

You need to remember that everyone has an agenda (including SM’s and EC members).  indeed, that is why people often sit on the EC… to pursue their agenda.

Remember also that the OC “empowers the EC to act on their behalf”, and that any decisions of the EC are deemed to be decisions of the OC, as long as the EC followed proper process.  In other words… You (the owners) voted them onto the EC at the AGM, so as long as they follow the SMA rules, they can do what they want…

The SMA exists to safeguard everyone from everyone else, and the rules within it must be followed by the EC.  You are stuck with the EC that you have until the next AGM unless you can gather 75% of the owners behind you to have them removed from the EC (which is generally difficult).  Your best option is to make sure that the EC follows proper process and threaten to take action against them if they do not/have not.

But before you do that, get some other owners together, chip in $100 each and “lawyer up”, because that is probably the only way that you will be able to curb and “manage” the ec until the next AGM.  A visit to the Strata Managers offices by a known strata lawyer to look at the books will work wonders in reminding both the strata manager and the EC that they must follow the rules or face penalties.

And if everyone follows the rules… then that is the best that anyone can hope for.  Sometimes you’ll win, sometimes you’ll lose, but at least it’s done fairly and transparently.

The really important thing to do… is to perhaps write this year off, and focus on the next AGM.  THAT is your one and only real opprtunity to pursuade a majority of owners that change is needed and to between you, “manage” who is elected to the EC next year.

Good luck,