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I am in a small NSW strata scheme of 7. All 7 owners are on the Strata Committee. We had our AGM on May 31. When the minutes were circulated I disagreed with an item shown as being agreed. I queried the SM who said that if we got four of the seven to agree with me they would amend it, but couldn’t change it until the next General Meeting or AGM.
However, I have discovered that the SM wrote to the Chairman of the SC on the day after the meeting inviting him to peruse the SM draft minutes, and to advise any changes. He was three times given this opportunity and then the final minutes were circulated to the other six.
My question: is it proper/legal for the SM to communicate with only one member of the SC and to accept his comments about changing the draft minutes, without an equal opportunity for other SC members to do likewise.
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It should be the Secretary who checks the Minutes. The Chairperson does not have the authority to do this. SSMA [s43] states the following:
43 FUNCTIONS OF SECRETARY OF OWNERS CORPORATION
The functions of a secretary of an owners corporation include the following:
(a) to prepare and distribute minutes of meetings of the owners corporation and submit a motion for confirmation of the minutes of any meeting of the owners corporation at the next such meeting,
You might like to suggest that if the Chairperson wants to take on the role of the Secretary then he has the option to resign as Chairperson and apply for the position of Secretary.
Actually, in NSW individual committee members can hold all three offices – chair, secretary and treasurer – if the strata committee agrees.
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.
The Secretary prepares the minutes (whether that is the Committee member in that position or the strata manager), then they should be circulated to all those who attended the meeting for comment. The Secretary or Strata Manager may draft them, but they are not the arbiter of whether they are correct, nor is the Chairman.
The purpose of the motion at the next meeting is to confirm the minutes, and in some cases those who were at the meeting might raise objections to what is in them, and propose a resolution to amend them. The problem in the case of the AGM is that a lot of time has passed, and often no-one cares. The time to get the minutes right is directly after the meeting.
That is standard practice for minutes, although in strata world in most cases this probably doesn’t happen. More generally, the minutes are often “settled” by the Strata Manager, Secretary and Chair and then circulated.
Gwyn – I understand your concern but you seem to be mixing two things – you refer to the Strata Committee members but the minutes of the AGM. The attendees at the AGM are attending in their capacity as owners, not as Strata Committee members. You could propose a motion at your next annual general meeting that all owners be given the opportunity to comment on draft minutes.
In our Queensland complex we have a new community scheme Body Corporate Manager who has a virtual office and no physical address to make contact. They have refused to accept voting papers on email (even though an AGM 2 years ago approved electronic communication). They also refused to allow the Secretary to validate the voters for an EGM and gave the job to a solicitor who had no legislative authority to determine the validity of voters or voting papers. As a result, eligible voters from overseas were ruled invalid and the Secretary was voted out of the position by a lot owner who has ‘wooed’ the body corporate manager who is believed to have self interests in controlling the committee. The law for this body corporate is no longer adhered to and anarchy reigns. Concerned owners have lost ground and the power is in the hands of the service providers….once again! Off to the Body Corporate commission with yet another Adjudication Application and another 2 month wait. In the meantime, the rascals have got away with a string of misdemeanors.
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