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I was told a person (not an owner) nominated by an owner during an AGM can also be elected on the executive committee without a written proxy by the owner. Correct?
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I’m not sure I understand.
Any non-owner (with a few specific exceptions) can be nominated in writing by an owner – or any person entitled to vote – who is not standing for office themselves.
Schedule 1, Section 5 of the NSW Act says nominations must be made in writing and may be made before or at the meeting.
This is not about proxies. It’s about written nominations.
5 Nomination of candidates for election prior to meeting
(1) The written notice of an annual general meeting is to include a call for nominations for members of the strata committee at least 7 days before the annual general meeting of an owners corporation.
(2) Any owner, or any person entitled to vote at a general meeting of an owners corporation, may nominate a person for election as a member of the strata committee.
(3) The nomination is to be made by written notice given to the secretary of the owners corporation or, in the case of the first annual general meeting, to the convenor of the meeting, that states the name of:
(a) the person nominated, and
(b) the person making the nomination and that the person nominated consents to the nomination.
(4) The secretary must include the nomination in the notice of the meeting at which the election is to take place. Notice of any subsequent nomination is to be given by the secretary at the meeting.
(5) A nomination may be made at any time before the election is held and may be made at the meeting.
(6) An owner or a person may make a nomination 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.
No, that’s not right.
A proxy gives a person the right to vote at a meeting. You do that on a proxy form. I am not sure from what you say whether there was a valid proxy.
A proxy does not give the holder the right to nominate for election to the Committee.
Nomination for the Committee is a separate matter and must be from an owner, either in person or in writing. (note it could also be from an appointed legal representative but let’s leave that) So it has to be the owner specifically saying, I nominate X for election to the Committee.
So from what you said the son was not validly nominated.
The son has to be nominated at each AGM, so at each AGM the owner would have to do the nomination.
Looks like my options are NCAT, obtain legal advice or let the matter go.
There is a mandatory step before going to NCAT and that is mediation at Fair Trading. This fourth option costs nothing and may give you a clearer sense of whether or not this is worth pursuing.
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.
I read through the advice from Jimmy-T and Scotlandx re nominations and proxies and understood that an absent owner would need to appoint a proxy to vote at an AGM and separately nominate the proxy holder for election to the committee, particularly as the notes in the AGM Agenda says to obtain a “Strata Committee Nomination Form” from the strata manager if you would like to nominate for the committee prior to the meeting. We had our AGM today and this is the scenario that unfolded:
I did my research and thought I was prepared for when a proxy holder nominated themselves again for the committee. They only held the NSW Fair Trading proxy appointment form (I noticed that the sections that instruct how the proxy was to vote was not completed at all but forgot to raise that as I was focused on other things). In response to my request to see the nomination form from the owner, the Strata Manager said the proxy is a person entitled to vote at a general meeting, therefore they may nominate themselves for election as a member of the strata committee. When I mentioned Schedule 1, Part 2, Section 5 of the Act, he said it’s open to interpretation and if I disagreed with his interpretation I could go to NCAT.
At the strata committee meeting directly after the AGM, nominations were called for Chairperson. Another committee member nominated the proxy holder for the position and as there were no other nominations, the proxy is now the Chairperson.
To further complicate things, I gleaned from the strata roll that the owner who appointed the proxy is financially managed by NSW Trustee & Guardian (TAG) and I have an email from TAG advising “that the owner does not have the capacity to appoint any other parties as their proxy or make any property related decisions”. When I brought this to the attention of the Strata Manager at the start of the meeting, he said he doesn’t know what that means and it has no relevance if it’s not in the Act. He accepted the proxy form when the proxy holder said they have been authorised by TAG to represent the owner, despite not being able to produce the written “authority”.
I intend to get clarification from TAG about this alleged “authority”. Any advice on how to challenge the Strata Manager’s position on the proxy and nomination forms? Looks like my options are NCAT, obtain legal advice or let the matter go.
Like the majority of issues around strata, the end result is always NCAT. This is lunacy. We need to have a Strata ombudsman/woman. Skip wasted time at Fair Trading and get some heavy duty dude to make a ruling.
I can’t tell you how many rules are broken every day by SC members and/or Strata Managers. Why bother even having rules?
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