Question: Can a tenant attending the meeting as his unit owner proxy become a member of the committee if the majority voted No to having tenants involved?
Answer: A non-owner (eg a tenant) may be nominated for election to the strata committee by an owner who is not a committee member and is not seeking election as a member of the strata committee.
A non-owner (eg a tenant) may be nominated for election to the strata committee by an owner who is not a committee member and is not seeking election as a member of the strata committee.
Further, the tenant may vote at a general meeting as the holder of the landlord’s proxy, and, as the proxy holder may be present for all matters to be considered at a general meeting even though the proxy holder is a tenant.
This post appears in Strata News #624.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440
Should tenants be sent the Agenda and invited to Strata Committee Meetings and General Meetings?
It goes without saying they may only speak with permission and cannot vote.
Hi Mr Wong
This exceprt from NSW Fair Trading should assist:Tenants at meetings:
If you’re a tenant, you can attend meetings of the owners corporation. If you’re not receiving notice about meetings, contact your landlord or leasing agent.
A strata meeting is a private meeting. This is because members of the public are not entitled to attend a strata meeting. And normally the discussions which take place at a strata meeting are private conversations.
Mueller
https://www.lookupstrata.com.au/nsw-recording-strata-meetings/
In that case a tenant other than one covered by the Act (a tenant representative for example) would not be entitled to attend meetings.
35. It is clear that the nature of the communications which take place at the meetings are of a confidential nature and are private in the sense that they are “not public”.
ALLIANCE CRATON EXPLORER PTY LTD v QUASAR RESOURCES LTD [2010] SASC 266 (27 August 2010)
The other option is that an owner in the Strata can choose to appoint another person (including a tenant) to be their bona fide nominee. That nominee of an owner (including a tenant) is then eligible to stand for a committee position and exercise exactly the same rights and responsibilities as the owner, IAW their unit entitlement or share within the body corporate. Hence a tenant could be the chair, secretary, treasurer or ordinary member and have full access and authority within the defined role of their position. That would include full access to financial records, transactions and decisions.
Hi Phillip
We have received the following reply from Andrew Terrell:
Thanks.
Yes, that is true and has forever been the case.