This article discusses whether a resident manager annual extension can be requested each year, and explains the owners’ right to approve or refuse agreement top-ups.
Question: Can a Resident Manager keep requesting new extensions each year?
Answer: Yes, your caretaker can put up a motion each financial year for an extension but it is the body corporates decision as to whether that top-up should be given.
My opinion is that there is the ability to seek a top-up every financial year, but it is the body corporates decision as to whether that top-up should be given to the caretaker or not. Now, Neil Hope and his respective authors in this research paper: Management Rights Agreements for Body Corporates in Queensland: Must They Expire, or May They Be “Topped Up” Indefinitely? say there should be a cap. I know there are other strata lawyers out there to take different opinions. My position is that yes, your caretaker can put up a motion each financial year for an extension, but it comes down to you as owners, you as committee members, making sure that owners are educated enough to know that this is an additional right being given and they do have the ability and the right to reasonably vote ‘No’ to that.
This post appears in Strata News #520.
Jessica Cannon Cannon + Co Law E: jessicacannon@cannonlaw.com.au P: 07 5554 8560