This article discusses tenant proxy committee eligibility, confirming that tenants cannot use proxies to vote into or join a body corporate committee unless they meet strict eligibility rules.
Question: Can a tenant use proxies to represent owners at an AGM and become a committee member?
A tenant in our complex used proxy forms to represent a few lot owners at an AGM. The tenant has five proxies completed, three for one person who owns three separate lots in the same complex. They are trying to use the forms to become a member of the committee.
Answer: Tenants can usually only be appointed to the committee if they are family members or have power of attorney for a lot owner.
Owners can appoint an individual to act as their proxy at a meeting. As per the BCCM website, General meeting voting:
A proxy:
- can be given by anyone who has the right to vote at a general meeting
- must be a named individual
- cannot be transferred to a third person
- ends at the end of the body corporate’s financial year (unless a shorter period is listed on the proxy form).
However, there are restrictions on proxies:
- a person must not hold more than 1 proxy if there are less than 20 lots in the scheme
- a person must not hold proxies for more than 5% of the total number of lots for a scheme with 20 or more lots
- a body corporate manager or an associate of a body corporate manager cannot be appointed as a proxy
And a proxy cannot vote:
- on a motion to engage a person as a body corporate manager or a service contractor or to authorise a person as a letting agent
- on electing or appointing a member of the committee
- on a motion where the owner has submitted a written vote on that motion
- at a general meeting if the member who gave the proxy is personally present unless the member consents at the meeting.
As such, I think either the committee or your body corporate manager should review the documents received and check them against the above rules to see if they are valid.
Regarding becoming a committee member, tenants can usually only be appointed if they are family members or have power of attorney for a lot owner. Again, the BCCM website outlines who can nominate to a committee, Nominations and eligibility for body corporate committees, stating:
A lot owner who is an individual can nominate any of the following individuals:
- themselves
- another lot owner
- a person they have appointed as their power of attorney
- a member of their family.
A family member means:
- the lot owner’s spouse, including ‘de facto’ spouse
- children of the lot owner or their spouse who are over 18 (including a step-child or adopted child)
- the lot owner’s parents or step-parents
- the lot owner’s brother or sister.
The tenant can’t be on the committee if they don’t meet those conditions.
This post appears in Strata News #654.
William Marquand Tower Body Corporate E: willmarquand@towerbodycorporate.com.au P: 07 5609 4924