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31/10/2017 at 9:58 am #11430
Hello, I’m in NSW and on 2 harmonious Strata Committees (SC). Im active in both liasing and participating with owners, tenants, contractors etc to reassure some.
My question is at one property (18 lots) we elect SC and fill positions of chairman, secretary and treasurer but at the other (9 lots) we only elect SC members but not the positions. Should we be filling positions?
Thank you in advance. I’m addicted to this community (forum).
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31/10/2017 at 1:16 pm #28557
Lucky you. Yes, the Act requires the Committee to elect office bearers. Refer section 41.
https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/s41.html
04/11/2017 at 12:57 pm #28575I thought you didnt have to elect these positions. I know on some committees I have been on we have not elected any and just delegated the roles to the Stata Manager.
What happens in instances whereby no one volunteers for the role?
10/11/2017 at 11:33 pm #28628Please can someone answer “strats all” question about what happens if you cant get volunteers for the Strata Committee Roles? I would love to know too.
We have never voted for the secretary, chairman or treasurer as its usually a difficult enough matter to get someone to grudgingly agree to do the job. So I guess its a vote by default.
We do get volunteers for the committee but they are usually the few people who bothered to turn up to the Owners AGM, so there is no one else but them to vote. But they don’t seem to feel the need to actually participate in doing anything for the committee apart from voting on issues (or complaining).
What happens if I refuse to be secretary (and chairperson) next year and no one else will volunteer? Can we get the Strata Manager to do the job for us?
It has been suggested to me by friends that the apathy about the whole thing may partly be due to the fact that people trust me and don’t feel the need to get involved themselves – but personally I cant understand why so many of the 18 owners in our scheme seem to have no interest in something so important to the management of such a major personal asset as their house!
I agreed to be secretary because I felt I should take a turn with taking a role – the previous secretary had been doing the job for ever and was totally fed up – but I didn’t consider how hard it was going to be to give it up again……
11/11/2017 at 5:28 pm #28632I believe the legislation requires the committee to elect people to those positions (certainly in the ACT of which I am more familiar). Once you have those positions, responsibilities all interact. The committee is responsible to supervise the treasurer, for example. So, if something financial goes wrong, it is not just the treasurer’s fault.
The committee can delegate many functions to the manager but the buck still stops with the committee. So, for example, the manager might be delegated all the mechanical functions of the treasurer – such as keeping financial records, paying bills, reporting to the committee and the general meeting – but the treasurer and committee still have responsibility to oversee that treasurer function and satisfy themselves that the manager is performing that function adequately.
If no-one will put up their hand to be treasurer, then, in effect, the whole committee is treasurer with responsibility to oversee the manager’s exercising of the treasurer’s functions.
I once had a conversation with our strata manager about what would happen if nobody would put up their hand to be on the executive committee. Her answer was that she would keep running the mechanical things that her contract allowed her to do but every time a decision was required, she would be obliged to call a general meeting. In the absence of an executive committee, the only other way for a decision to be made by the owners corporation was by having a general meeting. She said that she would make sure that enough general meetings would be called that enough people would get sufficiently fed up that they would form a committee to restore normality.
13/11/2017 at 5:34 pm #28645I have queried why our strata manager took over the role of Chair at an SC meeting, despite the fact that we had all elected office bearers (secretary, Chair, and treasurer) at the AGM. Our elected Chair was present at the meeting.
I have now been told by the SM that she is responsible for all those roles. Can this happen?
13/11/2017 at 7:50 pm #28652Ziggy – Section 13(f) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 provides that the Strata Manager can be delegated functions including of ‘conduct of meetings of the Owners Corporation’.
Strata Management Agency Agreements often include a clause providing the Strata Manager with the delegation on behalf of the Owners Corporation to act as Chairperson of meetings. When the Agreement is approved by the OC then there is an agreement by the OC to this clause.
Effective management of the Meeting and the making of sound decisions on behalf of the OC should be the ultimate goal of any Committee.
It could be argued that a Strata Manager is more likely to be clinical, and more knowledgeable about the Act, when performing the role of Chairperson. The SM is also probably less likely than the Chairperson to be impacted by the ‘politics’ of the scheme.
The best option is always to have the Chairperson chair the Meeting as this is included as being one of the functions of the Chairperson under Section 42 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 but if the Chairperson is ineffective then the SM may be able to fulfill the role of Chair of a meeting if they have been delegated to do so.
To assist the OC the SM can be delegated any or all of the functions of the EC. This delegation can occur either by the OC, or by a Tribunal decision. See Sections 11, 12, and 13 of SSMA 2015.
13/11/2017 at 10:33 pm #28656Our srata manager always chairs the meetings, because our Chair doesn’t know how to.
14/11/2017 at 9:22 am #28659Just a by the way: Even if particular functions have been delegated to a strata manager, the committee can still exercise any of those functions at any time. So, for example, the manager might generally chair meetings but the committee chair might exercise that function while the committee or a general meeting is discussing appointment of a strata manager. The treasurer might take a more active role in the finances of a particular project even while the day to day stuff is left to the manager. And so on. Remember the manager takes directions from you, not the other way around.
14/11/2017 at 9:22 pm #28666Thanks guys. What if there is nothing in the SM agreement? What if the SM takes control and doesn’t allow the SC to discuss things they wish to? What if the SM makes decisions for the SC? What if the SM makes errors in the minutes etc etc etc
14/11/2017 at 10:15 pm #28671The secretary calls a meeting with a single motion that the strata manager has no longer to take the officers positions in the committee until requested to do so by a mojority of owner at a properly constituted meeting of the committee.
And if they still won’t play ball, you go to NCAT and ask that their contract be cancelled.
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.
14/11/2017 at 10:17 pm #28672The SC has to be a little more assertive. The SC can discuss anything it cares to and the chair should retake the reins if necessary. There is no reason why you can’t convene a meeting without the manager if it would be easier to discuss the matter that way.
Insist that errors in the minutes be corrected before they are accepted by the next meeting.
15/11/2017 at 6:17 pm #28678The Strata Manager isn’t God (or whatever higher power you may subscribe to). The SM is employed by the owners to provide a service. It is up to the owners, and the SC, to determine ho w that service is provided and powers are exercised.
If it were me I would be writing to the SM asking under what authority they are acting and reminding them that they could be personally liable.
16/11/2017 at 10:25 am #28681Done that Scottie and SM has refused to answer. Ditto the SC. What next? And please don’t mention the dreaded NCAT hahaha!
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