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(10 unit complex in Canberra)
Hi,What are the rules about including the wording of a motion in the notice (or agenda) of a General Meeting?
Does it need to contain the exact wording of the motion to charge 3 owners the total cost of the general meeting ($2586.09) as a section 31 cost? i.e. work necessary because of an owner’s “wilful or negligent act or omission or … a breach of its rules”
The background:
In 2023 three owners requested a general meeting to get an update on the financial operation of the OC especially recovery of about $40k due to the bankruptcy of an owner. The strata committee responded by inviting an interestate lawyer and distributed a meeting notice with an agenda containing the following item:
Consideration of cost recovery from [the strata scheme] members generating costs for [the strata scheme].After some shenanigans (e.g. multiple votes on different versions of motions), the May General Meeting passed a motion to charge the full cost of the general meeting to the 3 owners. No more was heard and 5 months later the 3 owners receive an invoice for $862.03 (total of $2586.09) due 1 day before the AGM. We suspect that the timing was a strategy to prevent us from voting in the AGM. We paid the cost, with annotation that “This payment should not be construed, in any way, as acceptance of a debt to The Owners … or diminish our capacity to seek a refund in future.” The AGM refused to accept the minutes of the May meeting due to errors in the minutes and the SM refusal to distribute the audio recording of the meeting as unanimously agreed by all owners.
The 3 owers are now about to put a motion to the OC to recind the motion and refund the $2586 paid to the OC in Dec 2023. We now have a much more sympathetic set of owners and (in our opinion) a much more professional strata manager.
Does anyone have any suggestions for strategies to get the motion rescinded and the money refunded.
Keep warm,
Woodwalker
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