This article discusses whether participation in a letting pool creates eligibility or voting issues for owners under letting pool committee conflict rules.
Question: Does placing a unit in a letting pool create a conflict of interest for an owner seeking a body corporate committee position?
If a lot owner puts their unit in the letting pool to be managed by the management rights company, is there any conflict of interest for the owner to be elected as a member of the body corporate?
If the owner can be elected as a member or executive member of the body corporate committee, should they abstain from voting on any issues involving the management company?
Answer: Engaging the manager as a letting agent does not create any eligibility issues for the owner.
In short, no to the first query and maybe to the second.
The legislation specifically contemplates this when detailing the eligibility of a lot owner to be on the committee by relevantly making the following persons ineligible:
an associate of a body corporate manager, service contractor or letting agent, other than an owner of a lot who is the associate of a letting agent merely because the letting agent, in conducting the agent’s letting agent business, acts for the owner
Accordingly, engaging the manager as a letting agent does not create any eligibility issues for the owner.
Whether a committee member needs to then abstain on voting on a matter affecting the manager will depend precisely on what the motion relates to. There will be circumstances where it does amount to a conflict of interest and other times when it would not.
This post appears in the August 2024 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: tgarsden@mahoneys.com.au
P: 07 3007 3753
Leave a Reply