Northern Territory Strata Legislation

Unit Title Schemes Act 2009

An Act to provide for unit title schemes, and for related purposes

Unit Titles (Management Modules) Regulations

Unit Titles Regulations

Unit Titles Schemes (General Provisions and Transitional Matters) Regulations

Department of Justice

Strata regulators for Northern Territory.

Strata Community Association (NT)

The leading professional body for the strata and community title sector in the Northern Territory.

NT: Members of the Northern Territory Parliament

If you believe there is a strata issue that needs to be brought to the government’s attention.

Useful Strata Forms for Northern Territory

Department of Attorney General and Justice

A range of scheme forms. The forms are listed and can be downloaded HERE.

Complaint handling in your body corporate

Resolving disputes without going to court

• What mediation involves
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• Types of disputes
• Mediation with the Community Justice Centre

How to complain

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Question: Our Caretaker is a committee member by proxy. Is this a conflict of interest?

We have a contract with a caretaker who is paid a substantial amount of money. That same caretaker is a member of the Body Corporate committee by proxy of an owner. I have a concern this is potentially a conflict of interest. Are you able to comment on / inform me about this.

Answer: A person who has the right to vote at a general meeting may appoint a proxy to vote on the person’s behalf at the meeting

There are two issues here:

• Allocation of a proxy
• Conflict of Interest

There are two Acts in the Northern Territory:

• The Unit Titles Act (pre 2009)
• The Unit Titles Schemes Act (post 2009)

Both Act are clear as to the appointment of proxies with the Unit Titles Act in section 40 stating

40 Appointment of proxy
(1) A person who has the right to vote at a general meeting may appoint a proxy to vote on the person’s behalf at the meeting.
(2) If 2 or more persons have the right to exercise 1 vote jointly, the persons may jointly appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf.
(3) The appointment of a proxy must:
(a) be in writing in the form approved by the committee; and
(b) include the period of appointment; and
(c) if 2 or more persons are jointly appointing a proxy under subclause (2) – be signed by each of the persons.

And the Unit Titles Schemes Act stating in section 42

42 Appointment of proxy
(1) A person with a right to vote at a general meeting may appoint a proxy to vote on the person’s behalf at the meeting.

(2) If 2 or more persons have the right to exercise 1 vote jointly, the persons may jointly appoint a proxy to exercise the right.

(3) The appointment of a proxy must:
(a) be in writing in the form approved by the committee; and
(b) include the period of appointment; and
(c) if 2 or more persons are jointly appointing a proxy under subclause (2) – be signed by each of the persons.

In other words, a proxy is no different to any other State or Territory insofar as the person holding the proxy can act 100% for the person that gave it to him/her, therefore, I see nothing wrong with the caretaker holding the proxy of an owner and serving on the committee.

Regarding a potential conflict of interest, both Acts are silent on this issue.

In summary there is no legal impediment to the appointment of the caretaker as a committee member by proxy; however if enough owners see this as an issue they simply need to gather enough support to challenge the appointment of the owner who has delegated his proxy at the next Annual General Meeting – if the owner is not on the committee they can’t appoint a proxy, can they!

Ah democracy…

This post appears in Strata News #109

Rob Harris,
Director
NT Property Management
T/a Ace Body Corporate Management Darwin (NT)
P: 08 8981 8025
E: [email protected]

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.