Percentages for Dummies please

This is what the Act says in Schedule 2, Section 26 (7):

Limit on number of proxies that may be held

The total number of proxies that may be held by a person (other than proxies held by the person as the co-owner of a lot) voting on a resolution are as follows: 

(a) if the strata scheme has 20 lots or less, one,
(b) if the strata scheme has more than 20 lots, a number that is equal to not more than 5% of the total number of lots.

Note that the Act refers to the number of proxies that may be held by “a person”.

To me, that means an individual and not necessarily a lot owner, is the proxy holder. So people can’t say they are holding X number of proxies as the owner of their residential lot and also holding Y number of proxies as owners of their parking space (even though it is an individual lot).

Now, when it comes to counting parking spaces that are separate lots as separate votes, that’s fine – but you should insist on a poll vote being taken, which you can do at any time, and which is compulsory for special resolutions and committee elections.

So if you have 165 separate lots (including parking spaces), as you say, then individual proxy holders are entitled to hold up to 5 percent of the number as proxies, which is eight proxies per person.

But are those parking spaces really separate lots that get separate levies bills? In my building, some parking spaces are counted as part of the overall residential lot and others are separate and listed on the roll as such.

Then there is the issue of how many unit entitlements those separate lots carry (car spaces generally have 5 to 10 percent of the value of apartments), which is where a Poll vote comes in. A car space vote can equal a residential vote in a show of hands, but it would be nowhere near matching it in a Poll vote which counts Unit Entitlements.

This is what you need to do.

1) Get a copy of the strata roll and see which parking spaces are actually separate lots.

2) Take a note of the unit entitlements, especially of the parking lots.

3) Make sure the proxy “cap” is based on the actual number of lots recorded on the strata roll and not an assumption that all parking spaces are separate lots.

4) Insist on a poll vote for every issue at general meetings so that the  true voting value of car spaces is properly reflected.

Let me give you an example:

Say you have 100 residential units, some of which have car spaces included as part of their lot,  with an average unit entitlement (UE) of 50.

But you also have 20 car spaces that are individual lots with an average UE of 5 .

For the sake of proxy calculations, you would have 120 lots, meaning individuals can carry a maximum of six votes.

So lets say that the proxy holders, for the sake of argument, have three residential lots and three separate car spaces’ votes.

In a show of hands, they would have six votes out of 120 or 5 per cent.  However, in this example, in a poll vote they would have 165 UEs out of a total of 5100, which is only 3.2 percent.

Now these figures are hypothetical and there are a number of variables in real life but you can see how getting the figures right in the first place then insisting on poll votes can reduce the voting power of people counting on parking spots to inflate their numbers.

Be absolutely rigid on this.  It’s only the lots listed on the strata roll that have separate voting power and owners can have car spaces in an entirely different part of the building that are still listed as part of their residential lot.

Go to the strata roll – it is your Bible in these matters.