Question: One owner is demanding a unanimous vote on mandatory common property repairs, which they plan to vote against. Can they legally block the work?
Our common property driveway has reached the end of its life, with multiple trip hazards and subsidence. To maintain coverage, our insurance company has flagged that it needs to be repaired. It’s listed on both the maintenance and sinking fund plan for repair and replacement. The proposed remediation is a like-for-like replacement, not an upgrade, based on a structural engineer’s plan.
The Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 legally mandates that we repair and maintain common property and insure the buildings. One owner is demanding a unanimous vote at an AGM to proceed with the work, and they plan to vote against it. Can they block the repairs this way?
Answer: One owner cannot block mandatory common property repairs by demanding a unanimous vote, as the Act only requires an ordinary resolution for repair motions.
section 24 of the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 (ACT) (the Act) requires the owners corporation for a units plan to maintain the common property and any other property it owns. The Act contains no mechanism allowing an owners corporation to opt out of this obligation.
The Act does not provide any right for an individual owner to insist upon a unanimous resolution before maintenance or repair of common property can occur.
A motion to carry out repairs to common property requires an Ordinary Resolution (a simple majority). An individual unit owner cannot defeat such a motion simply by withholding agreement or voting in opposition to the motion.
In this case, the insurer has made renewal of insurance coverage conditional upon the repair of the driveway. If the owners corporation fails to carry out the repairs and insurance cannot be obtained, this would place the owners corporation in breach of section 102 of the Act, which requires the owners corporation to maintain appropriate insurance.
In short, an owner cannot insist upon a unanimous resolution.
There is no legislative basis for an owner to demand a unanimous resolution in relation to repairs to common property. The owners corporation is legally obliged to maintain the common property and to ensure insurance is in place, and it must act accordingly by passing the appropriate resolution required under the Act.
This post appears in Strata News #792.
Nina Cannell Signature Strata E: nina@signaturestrata.com.au P: 02 6185 0347
