NSW: How should strata committee decisions by email be recorded?

This article discusses strata committee email voting transparency and how decisions should be properly recorded.

Question: When our strata manager emails for a decision, all committee members are not aware of who has voted and how. Should we be aware of the decision making process?

We have five members on the owners committee. An email by our Strata Manager is sent to all members to decide on something like approvals for maintenance on property or common area. Only one or two members vote by return email and CC the Strata Manager and the remaining members so everyone can see their vote & comments. 

When the Strata Manager then approves or disapproves a job we have no idea if the other three members have voted individually or as a group or what they have voted and when asked, the Strata Manager refuses to disclose the information. 

If some members vote no, is a reason required as to why they have voted no? Should the Strata Manager be upfront about who has actually voted and allow the other members to see all replies? 

If a member phones the Strata Manager and votes should this information be recorded in writing for other members to see? Also, I believe one of the members is voting from himself & for another person (who can’t be bothered to vote), so effectively he is putting in two votes.

What is the correct way of documenting this process?

Answer: Technically, if the strata manager has authorisation in their agreement, they do not need to have sought approval in the first place

A strata manager’s agency agreement would typically provide:

1. A list of services (such as arranging repair and maintenance); and
2. Whether they are authorised to undertake those services with or without instruction from the owners corporation.

If they are authorised to arrange the works without the need for approval, they may be informally checking in with the strata committee before arranging the works as a courtesy. However, if they are, then best practice would be to only act on the instructions of a majority of the strata committee, and to receive those instructions in writing so they can form part of the owners corporations records. However, technically if the strata manager has authorisation in their agreement, they technically do not need to have sought approval in the first place.

Suppose their agreement does not authorise them to arrange the works without approval from the owners corporation. In that case, the matter should be decided upon formally at a strata committee meeting so that the correct legal procedures are followed (such as the ability for owners to veto decisions of the strata committee in accordance with Schedule 2, clause 9(3) of the Strata Schemes Management Act) and to ensure transparency of voting as well.

This post appears in Strata News #485.

Tim Sara
Sara Strata
E: tim@sarastrata.com.au
P: 04 8500 7960