This article discusses unfinancial owners’ rights at an AGM, explaining that they may attend and speak but cannot vote, form a quorum, or stand for council unless specific resolution types apply.
Question: How do you “handle” owners who are not financial but are attending the AGM. We find they sometimes cause a disruption at meetings.
Answer: The chair would have the right to insist that any member disrupting the meeting, financial or non-financial, refrains from their behaviour. If the behaviour persists, ask the person to leave the meeting.
Under the Strata Titles Act 1985 and as amended in 2018 there is no probation on any unfinancial owner attending an AGM. If they do attend:
- they do not form part of the quorum of the meeting,
- they cannot nominate for the strata council of owners,
- they cannot vote on any Ordinary Resolution, nor any Special Resolutions.
However, they can vote on a Resolution without Dissent and an Unanimous Resolution.
Yes, they can participate in the discussion but on voting as mentioned above, cannot have a valid vote and that would be on most strata decisions as the majority would fall under the jurisdiction of an Ordinary Resolution.
Now if any member financial or non-financial are disrupting the meeting the chair would have the right to insist that the person refrains from their behaviour or if the behaviour persists ask for the person to leave the meeting.
An AGM is no different from any other organisational meeting and proper meeting protocols need to be adhered to.
This post appears in the March 2021 edition of The WA Strata Magazine.
Brian Rulyancich
StrataTAC
E: strata@stratatac.com.au
P: 0428 970 067
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