Question: The committee only holds one meeting per year. All other decisions are via VOCMs. What information should be provided to owners?
We are a large community titles scheme under the Accommodation Module in Queensland. We have a committee, body corporate manager (BCM)and a resident caretaker.
All VOCM, committee meeting and AGM agendas and minutes are issued to owners via email by the BCM.
The committee only holds one meeting per year – a budget meeting. All other committee decisions are via VOCMs.
The VOCM agendas and minutes never include any attached quotes. None of the emailed minutes include any attachments, not even the qualifying quote.
The BCM has a portal, however, less than 10% of owners access it.
Is it a requirement that owners must be presented with the relevant attachments (quote/s etc) referred to in the motion/s, and that these attachments accompany the emailed agenda and minutes in all instances for:
- Notice/agenda VOCM
- Minutes VOCM
- Notice/agenda committee meeting
- Committee meeting minutes
- Notice/agenda AGM
- Minutes AGM
Should the emailed minutes, at the very least, include the qualifying quote/s? Or are owners expected to access the portal to verify the authenticity of any proposed expenditure?
Answer: There is no express legislative provision mandating that committee meetings be held.
Firstly, some points of clarification. Qld strata legislation does not require a minimum number of committee meetings per year. Indeed, there is no express legislative provision mandating that a committee meeting be held at all.
I also know there are quite a few people opposed to the use of VOCs. I was very recently at an event where several owners said they thought VOCs should be banned. I cannot agree on that point: a VOC is a legitimate way of making decisions in a body corporate.
That said, there are requirements around the use of VOCs. Requirements around a VOC are contained in Part 4, Division 4 of the Accommodation Module (equivalent provisions of other Regulation Modules). Additionally, the legislative obligation remains that a body corporate (and, by extension, its committee) must ‘act reasonably’. Is it reasonable to make a decision on spending without reference to quotes, for example? Perhaps not.
In relation to the use of the portal, it is important to note – and this may surprise some – that the use of a portal is not mandated, and owners can opt for a different way of accessing records if they so choose. In other words, the committee and strata manager cannot simply say that you must use the portal, with no other possibility offered. There have been adjudication orders on this topic, and you may also like to look at Section 208 of the Accommodation Module, which talks about accessing documents from ‘an online file-sharing website’ (aka, portal) ‘if an agreement exists between the owner…and the body corporate’. Putting all that aside, if you want a copy of the quote or contract, you are entitled to request it, and I would suggest you are entitled to receive it.
Finally, to your comment about owners accessing the portal. I am not sure if that is because they don’t know how to use it, if they access material another way, or because they are simply not interested. If it is the latter (and I assume that is what you mean), then that is a much harder issue to resolve. Strata legislation can do many things, yet the one thing it has so far been able to do is address owner apathy. That might be something you have to try to encourage yourself.
This is general information only and not legal advice.
This post appears in Strata News #726.
Chris Irons Strata Solve E: chris@stratasolve.com.au P: 0419 805 898