Question: As an owner, I put up a motion to review the Strata Manager’s contract. The Strata Manager deleted my motion and said this was more of a committee issue. Is this correct?
Prior to the AGM, I put up a motion to review the Strata Manager’s contract, due for renewal in 3-4 months. The Strata Manager deleted my motion and said this was more of a committee issue.
Is this the case? While not currently a committee member, I have shortly held the position of treasurer previously. In this position, I had the opportunity to approach a number of Body Corporate Managers and the information I received indicated to me that this is an AGM matter.
Answer: If an owner requests that a motion be included on the next meeting notice, that motion has to be included and considered by the Body Corporate.
If an owner requests that a motion be included on the next meeting notice, that motion has to be included and considered by the Body Corporate. The Body Corporate Manager, who in this case is a delegate of the Secretary, has no right to make unilateral decisions over what is included.
From your end, you need to make sure that the motion submitted was valid in terms of the timelines for a submission and the content of the motion.
If the AGM has already been held and your motion wasn’t included, you may consider making a formal complaint about this – start with the Committee but the Commissioner’s office could be the next port of call.
If you wanted a more definite outcome than just a review, you might look at putting forward an alternative management company for consideration – that is certainly a matter for a general meeting. However, maybe you are not at that stage yet and all you really want is some discussion about where things stand. There are limited forums for this kind of thing and the AGM may be the best one for your site. Bear in mind that motions to review or discuss something are fine, but they don’t have a definite endpoint. It’s hard to really say what constitutes a review or discussion. Sometimes they can be productive and other times not so much.
Any response you get from owners may depend on your scheme. If most owners show up to the AGM in person or online it seems like a pretty good place to have a discussion. If most just send in an advance vote, the discussion might not go very far. For these reasons, I can understand the idea that the matter may be best left for a Committee Meeting, but it depends on the circumstances and the Body Corporate Manager doesn’t have the authority to deny your request.
As a next step, you might advise the manager of the requirement to list your motion. You could also communicate with the Committee over the matter and see what support there is for your proposal. If you are correct about the manager misadvising you, it is an obvious point of concern if the Manager is not following due process.
For more on submitting motions see the BCCM website: Submitting motions
William Marquand
Tower Body Corporate
E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au
P: 07 5609 4924
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