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Every time I submit a motion to be placed on the agenda of meetings, they are completely edited and rewritten by either the SM or SC.
I recently spent hours writing a motion concerning illegal parking in my unit block. This included lots of advice for apathetic owners who, one, don’t live in the building and two, don’t know the rules.
Is this re-edit legal?
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If a motion includes “lots of advice”, then perhaps it was poorly drafted. A motion generally has to be in a form that clearly directs someone to do some thing. Eg. “That the Owners Corporation must do X when Y occurs”.
A chair could decline to put a motion to a meeting if it is not competent to unequivocally direct someone to do some thing. The chair could also rule that the motion should not be put because it would require something that would be inconsistent with the relevant strata act or other legislation. The reasonable thing to do would be to come back to you explaining the deficiencies in your motion, as they see them, and to suggest how you might reword them to be a motion that could be voted on.
Where detailed explanation is required, that can be in an explanatory statement.
Every time I submit a motion to be placed on the agenda of meetings, they are completely edited and rewritten by either the SM or SC. Is this re-edit legal?
Did the edit change the intent or emphasis of the motion?
Also, I think a firmly worded note to the strata manager or committee asking them to not edit the motions, or at least explain why they want to make changes, would be reasonable.
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.
Thanks very much Sir Humphrey but I did exactly as you suggested. I wrote a simple, clear, unambiguous Motion – That a Bylaw be drafted to prohibit illegal parking in Visitor Spaces at … – followed by a detailed explanation in an explanatory statement. I’ve had enough experience now not to poorly draft a motion for an agenda.
OK. In that case I can’t see any reason for redrafting. I agree with JT that your motion should be put as you drafted it or they should discuss their proposed rewording with you and you could agree to their suggestions or not.
It would be legitimate for the meeting to pass a motion to amend your motion but only if the amendment is within the scope of the original motion and does not alter its nature. Eg. An amendment to your motion might add a time frame if you had not specified that or authorise the committee to spend some amount to have the by-law drafted by a relevant expert.
Put a motion up that the strata manager cease and desist from editing owners’ motions and explanatory notes without a detailed and written explanation of why they have chosen to do so. You might even couch them in terms of creating work for themselves so they can charge more Schedule B fees.
Oh, and you ciuld try sending the accompanying notes as a PDF – that might baffle them
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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