Question: Our strata manager won’t conduct even a phone meeting. All voting is done via post. There is no forum to talk to other owners or discussion. How is this right?
Our strata manager won’t conduct even a phone meeting. According to them, the quorum is achieved by people sending in their voting forms prior to the date/time of the (non) AGM meeting.
I am very frustrated by this as there is no forum to talk to other owners at all. I feel the strata manager receives our fees but is not carrying out all their required duties including convening the AGM.
Answer: There are committees who are making the decision to conduct the business of the scheme in this manner.
Unfortunately there are committees who are making the decision to conduct the business of the scheme in this manner, particularly AGM’s for larger schemes. Many in our industry would say they are hiding behind the option to not face owners (for some reason) during Covid.
Some agents find it too challenging to manage an on-line meeting eg via zoom with many people (say a dozen or more people) participating via that option.
In larger scheme’s it is hard to gather people for a meeting and social distance per the Covid requirements by the Government. For example, a scheme where say 20 unit owners would attend for face to face, it would be difficult to get a room big enough, or if you did risk the weather by holding the meeting outside, it would be hard to hear each other if you are standing one or two arm lengths apart.
Hopefully now with the vaccine being rolled out in Australia, in around 6 months face to face meetings and greater interaction may be permissible by Government. For now, the Government is trying to manage the pandemic, allow schemes to function on a minimal level and just get through this time until it is safe to return to other options of gathering.
Some larger schemes have created chat forums for their scheme. Individuals who know each other have set this up and invited other lot owners into the group. Over time, a vast majority who are interested, active and make themselves available are then involved in discussions online as to the issues affecting their scheme. Hopefully, one or two committee members participate and can feedback the group’s consensus on issues before them.
Karina Heinz Progressive Strata Services E: manager@prostrata.com.au P: 02 9389 9599