Question: Can a committee remove a fee comparison letter from an EGM meeting pack without a legislative basis?
I submitted a motion for the EGM to appoint a new body corporate manager and included a fee comparison letter that was sourced from a broker. It is based on our current insurance premium with our current body corporate manager, who took commissions. I wanted to show owners how much cheaper our insurance will be under the new body corporate manager I have proposed, and the committee had it removed from the EGM meeting pack, even though the committee could not provide me with a legislative basis for doing so.
Answer: A committee cannot remove material submitted as part of a motion. Only the chairperson can rule the motion out of order at the meeting itself.
If the owner submitted the letter to be a part of a motion to be considered at a general meeting, then it must be included in the form in which it was submitted and cannot be amended by the committee. Even if the motion is inconsistent with the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 or conflicts with other objectives of the committee, the committee is generally not entitled to refuse to include the motion. Rather, the chairperson may rule the motion as out of order at the general meeting and must provide reasons for doing so.
This post appears in Strata News #809.
Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: tgarsden@mahoneys.com.au
P: 07 3007 3753
Our body corporate committee is not allowing owners’ tradesperson to access the visitor parking or the loading zones when approved improvements or alterations are made. That make this a condition of their approval, even though we have by-laws which approved trades using these parking spots. They also stop trades entering the building from the ground floor. The committee is also charging a deposit before alterations/improvements happen. Is this allowed?