A lot owner from NSW has a question about dealing with proxies and the quorum requirements for annual general meeting. Leanne Habib, Premium Strata provides the following response.
Question: Leading up to our AGM, our Strata Manager was holding too many proxies, so divvied them up to lot owners. Can this be done? Can you also explain the quorum requirements for annual general meeting?
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We have a complex comprising of 36 units in NSW.
At our recent AGM, we had proxy votes allocated to our Strata Manager.
With new Strata law directives for NSW, our Strata manager is only allowed a certain amount of proxies that they can represent.
The Strata Manager then proceeded to give (divvy up) these allocated (to her) proxy votes to other Lots to act as proxy on behalf of these owners.
- Is our Strata Manager legally allowed to do this. Or should these proxy votes have become void and not included to make up a Quorum.
- what are the quorum requirements for annual general meeting? How many lots in a 36 unit complex are needed to make up a quorum.
Answer: For the quorum in your scheme – at least ¼ of persons present or ¼ of unit entitlements.
Clause 26 of the SSMA 2015 deals with the appointment of proxies and subsection (7) states:
Limit on the number of proxies that may be held – The total number of proxies that may be held by a person (other than proxies held by the person as the co-owner of a lot) voting on a resolution are as follows:
- if the strata scheme has 20 lots or less, one,
- if the strata scheme has more than 20 lots, a number that is equal to not more than 5% of the total number of lots.
The Strata Manager then proceeded to give (divvy up) these allocated (to her) proxy votes to other Lots to act as proxy on behalf of these owners.
Is our Strata Manager legally allowed to do this, or should these proxy votes have become void and not included to make up a Quorum?
In a large scheme, this would not be possible under any circumstances as proxies must be given to the secretary 24 hours before the meeting. In a non-large scheme such as yours, we also believe this is not possible in the absence of the person appointing the proxy having specifically nominated substitute/alternate proxies in case their originally appointed proxy had exceeded the legal limit.
Quorum Requirements for Annual General Meeting
How many lots in a 36 unit complex are needed to make up a quorum?
For your scheme at least ¼ of persons present or ¼ of unit entitlements:
The requirements for a quorum are set out in Sch 1 of the SSMA 2015, Clause 17 as set out below:
17 Quorum
(1) Quorum required for motion or election A motion submitted at a meeting must not be considered, and an election must not be held at a meeting, unless there is a quorum present to consider and vote on the motion or on the election.
(2) When quorum exists A quorum is present at a meeting only in the following circumstances:
(a) if not less than one-quarter of the persons entitled to vote on the motion or election are present either personally or by duly appointed proxy,
(b) if not less than one-quarter of the aggregate unit entitlement of the strata scheme is represented by the persons who are present either personally or by duly appointed proxy and who are entitled to vote on the motion or election,
(c) if there are 2 persons who are present either personally or by duly appointed proxy and who are entitled to vote on the motion or election, in a case where there is more than one owner in the strata scheme and the quorum otherwise calculated under this subclause would be less than 2 persons.
This post appears in Strata News #193.
Read Next:
- NSW: Do you have vacancies in your strata committee? Here’s what to do
- NSW: Executive Committee (Strata Committee): Powers, Functions and Meetings
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
P: 02 9281 6440
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
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This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.
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In a villa complex of 7 . 3 of the top villas have requested to build a 2nd level of 3 rooms & a bathroom on top of villas making them town houses instead of villas This is very concerning to the other villa owners especially the villa next door to the high rise building proposed. Which will cutbout all sunshine in the afternoon & destroy the “facade” of the villas , as well as so many associated problems too numerous to mention; Please advise what if anything the villa owners can do, to stop this proposal going ahead.