Winston – You stated that the Agenda Motion includes the following:
“That the Owners Corporation review and accept one of the quotations received to carry out the necessary balcony works to all balconies on accordance with XXX Consulting’s amended report (attached)”.
I note particularly the word “necessary”. The sun shades would not be deemed to be necessary. Only the repair and maintenance of the actual balconies would be deemed to be “necessary”.
Incidentally, it is unclear from the Motion whether all balconies will need work or only those balconies that have been identified in the Consultant’s report. You may need to get this clarified at the meeting or in the amendment.
You are totally within your rights to raise the issue that either the wording of the Motion be changed (i.e. the Motion is amended) or that the Motion be ruled Out of Order.
From the OFT web site is this:
“Motions on the agenda may be amended at the meeting, except for:
- the subject matter of the motion
- motions determined wholly by pre-meeting electronic voting.
A person who may vote at the meeting may ask for a motion to be amended.”
In my opinion the Motion could be amended in the following way:
“That the Owners Corporation review and accept one of the quotations received to carry out the necessary balcony works to all the identified balconies in accordance with XXX Consulting’s amended report (attached) and that the shades/screens are to be removed from the scope of works of the accepted quotation as these items are a SSMA 2015 [s108] “improvement”.
NB: The subject matter of the Motion has not changed.
You will need to raise a Motion at the AGM to amend the existing Motion. A Motion to amend a Motion is the only time that Notice is not required at a General Meeting. (See SSMA 2015 [Schedule 1 Section 18]. With the support of the other disgruntled owners you should be able to have the Motion amended.
If not amended then the Motion should be ruled Out of Order. Schedule 1 Section 19 states:
Chairperson may rule certain motions out of order
The chairperson at a meeting may rule a motion out of order if:
(a) the chairperson considers that the motion, if carried, would conflict with this Act or the by-laws of the strata scheme or would otherwise be unlawful or unenforceable, or
(b) any requirement of this Act to include the form of the motion in the notice of the meeting has not been complied with.
The inclusion of the sunshades in the quotes Motion is unlawful as sunshades are not a SSMA 2015 and repair.
Sunshades are a improvement. As such a separate Special Resolution Motion should be passed that authorizes either (1) the owner’s corporation to make the improvement or (2) authorizes the owner to make the improvement and subsequently the owner makes a by-law providing for maintenance of the owner’s sun shades and the common property to which it is affixed.
Make it clear that unless the Motion is changed or ruled Out of Order that you and others will immediately seek an NCAT Interim Order to prevent any of the works from being carried out, or you will seek Mediation and Adjudication through NCAT.
Make sure that only those who are Financial (i.e. have no strata debt) are permitted to vote.
Can you get yourself elected to the Committee and remove those who are not fulfilling their responsibilities satisfactorily?