Question: Our committee intends to hold an open forum to discuss motions and the associated costs of the motions they intend to put to our AGM. As non-owners may attend, should financials be discussed?
Our complex consists of 140 units under the Accommodation Module and the Building Format Plan.
Our committee intends to hold a forum, open to all residents, to discuss motions and the associated costs of the motions they intend to put to our AGM in June this year.
Should body corporate financial matters be discussed with non-owners who will be present?
Is the forum an informal meeting?
If the committee presents attendees with false or misleading information, can the committee be held accountable for negligence and if so, what action could be taken by owners to address this?
Answer: Depending on what the meeting is about and who is running it, it may be appropriate to hold some of the financial details back.
There is no issue with the committee holding an information session. Indeed, trying to engage the occupants of your scheme sounds like a good thing.
It is not necessarily bad if non-owners attend. In some states, it is a legislative right. Tenants contribute to the smooth running of a building, and it may be useful to give them direct information at a session like this or gain an understanding of what is and isn’t working at the building from them.
Still, as you indicate, this is an informal session, so no hard decisions can be made. It may be helpful to hear from tenants to some degree, but ultimately, they won’t be the ones making the decisions. Depending on what the meeting is about and who is running it, it may be appropriate to hold back some of the financial details. It would be up to the people running the meeting, the committee, to be judicious about this.
In terms of providing false or misleading information, do you have a reason to think this might happen? If committee members deliberately do this, there may be some repercussions, although most likely, it would depend on the information presented as a formal vote. However, the fact that you suggest this in advance implies you are expecting this to some degree. If so, there may be bigger issues that probably can’t be resolved within the context of this question.
Bear in mind that committee members aren’t held to an absolute standard. If someone makes a few errors of speech while presenting, that’s not the same as being deliberately misleading. And, if it is just a matter of other people seeing an issue differently from you, that is not the same as providing misleading information. Still, if you think there is another side of an issue to discuss and the committee won’t present it, perhaps you could ask for a few minutes at the meeting to address attendees and give a different opinion. Alternatively, you could arrange a meeting with owners to present your information.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924