How should a tied vote for chairperson be resolved in a 4 lot strata?

WA
Rules & Bylaws
Committee & Governance
question
Lookupstrata community member

In a 4-lot strata, how should a tied vote for chairperson be decided when all four owners are on the council?

We are a small strata of four units in WA, and all four lot owners are on the council of owners. All owners are financial. The current chairperson is also the treasurer and has held these positions for more than 10 years.

I would like to nominate for the chairperson role. In the past, when we have voted on office bearer positions, the chairperson/treasurer has retained the role on their own vote plus the secretary’s vote. The other two owners did not support that outcome, so it was a 2–2 split.

For example, when electing the chairperson, there might be 2 votes for person X and 2 votes for person Y. As a 4-lot scheme, what should happen when there is a 50/50 vote for an office bearer position? How should a tied vote for chairperson be resolved, and does the current chairperson have any greater say than the rest of us in a deadlock?

answer
Jamie Horner
Jamie Horner Empire Estate Agents

In a 4 unit scheme, if there is a 50/50 vote in a council of owners meeting, a simple majority has not been reached.

When the council of owners meet, a vote is decided as per the Schedule 1 Governance bylaws noted below as a simple majority vote:

8. Meetings of council

  1. At meetings of the council, all matters must be determined by a simple majority vote

For a motion to pass, it requires a simple majority voting in favour of the motion. This means that more than 50 per cent of eligible owners who are present in person or by proxy must cast their vote in favour of the motion. The chairperson cannot retain the position. The position must be filled after each Annual General Meeting at the first meeting of the council of owners, and they can only be elected if they have more than the majority (i.e., more than 50%). This means that unless 3 of the 4 owners agree, they cannot hold the position as they have not received a majority vote. In a 4 unit scheme, if there is a 50/50 vote in a council of owners meeting, a simple majority has not been reached.

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