Question: Our resident manager lobbied lot owners and committee members to not vote for my nomination as a Committee Member, as I was a ‘troublemaker’. Is this appropriate behaviour in a QLD Body Corporate?
Leading up to our AGM, the Resident Manager spoke to and also called Lot Owners and advised/encouraged them to not vote for my motions or for my nomination as a Committee Member. The basis was that I was a trouble maker.
Over the past five years, as a Lot owner I was successful in forcing the Committee to replace missing street signs, raised motions to stop Committee Members from claiming up to $1,000 for attending meetings and I’m in the process of stopping payment of $8,400 annually to the Resident Manager for reading 168 water meters every six months.
Is the action of the Resident Manager and Committee member appropriate and /or legal? Does it comply with body corporate voting rules?
Answer: Lobbying is certainly not illegal.
What’s ‘appropriate’ is always in the eye of the beholder, but lobbying is certainly not illegal. Everyone is entitled to voice their opinion on matters relating to the scheme – including you. It is then that the democracy that is strata kicks in, and if people are inspired to vote, they will.
This post appears in Strata News #564.
Frank Higginson Hynes Legal E: frank.higginson@hyneslegal.com.au P: 07 3193 0500