Hello everyone,
I know there alot of knowledgeable and savy investors in this forum and would greatly appreciate your input.
I own an investment property its a 2 bedroom apartment. I recently received the minutes for the AGM and noted a couple who own one property each received a number of proxies which totalled 50% of all votes.
It is clear that they have driven their own agenda as they have had a number of resolutions to suit their individual desires potentially to the detriment of the other owners.
My question is what come be done as a qorum was formed and the decisions werent interim decisions. Can any action be taken to prevent the mentioned couple from undertaking their actions? What are my rights? What happens if a party uses proxies to their advantage are there any implications?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
KrisI don’t see how you could do anything, if they own one property each and are both entitled to a vote, just because they happen to be in a relationship together shouldn’t make their vote have any less impact than the other owners.
Hey Kris,
You didn’t mention which state you are in as legislation differs from state to state. In Victoria a OC needs 75% of the vote, on something that needs a special resolution and this must be voted on at the AGM or by ballot etc. An Ordinary resolution only requires 50% and can be passed by the committee. You didn ’t go into detail about what they have changed but im sure even with a quorum they wouldn’t have changed anything significant and if they have I suggest you see if they actually have the power to do so and if not lodge a complaint with VCAT. If you give more details we may be able to help you furtherThanks for your response.
Sophieh – I dont have an issue with the couple essentially having 20% of votes as thats the fair entitlement. My question relates to the implications of using proxies in a manner that is not in the best interest of OC.
Thanks for the information provided saka888. I am in Victoria. The major change was that one of the owners will be leasing common land in order to build a balcony (the details of the lease eg rent, terms etc were not included in the minutes). The minutes indicated that this development would be going ahead. Is there anything I could do to prevent this from taking place?
Can you please explain what constitutes an ordinary resolution and what constitutes to a special resolution?
Thank you kindly
Krisi live in a body corporate am on the committee and openly admit i drive my own agenda.when absent owners want to attend meetings put up with tennants parking anywhere and having no consideration for others,the trouble we have just to get tennants names (from absent owners ) so we can take them to counselling and then vcat would make anyone drive their own agenda.if you want to contact other owners and obtain their proxy thats your right but dont try and run or try to run a body corporate from 1000 miles away or however far you are
Hey Kris,Great news, in my opinion you can defiantly stop this going ahead, for two reasons one being that they need a special resolution (75% of ALL lot owners) to lease common property ( S14 OC ACT 2006) or to make a significant alteration to common property (S52OC ACT 2006), so that means they will need to raise this motion, usually at an AGM and it needs to be passed by 75% of all the lot owners. (Not at committee level)And secondly I’m sure you could convince the other members not to support the motion because if someone was to fall from this balcony and break their leg then the OC will be liable as they have fallen from common property onto common property, not to mention this balcony will probably raise the costs of your annual insurance. The only way around this would be for the OC to alter the subdivision, making the balcony property of the owner rather than the OC. This would require a unanimous resolution (100% of all votes so you can stop that from happening)A special resolution of an OC is a resolution passed by- (a) if a ballot or poll is taken, 75% of the total lot entitlements of all the lots affected by the OC; or(b) in any other case, 75% of the total votes for all lots affected by the OC ExampleA special resolution is required to make, amend or revoke the rules of the OC and in your case leasing of common property.
hope this helps,
plz let me know what happens
Will they be passing a bylaw (properly documented) granting exclusive use or will they be getting exclusive use & leasing? Will it be registered on title? What is the term of the lease? Some states will require a subdivision if it exceeds 10 years etc.
Thanks for the responses everyone
Saka88 – I really appreciate your input as its equipped me with useful information. I will certainly keep you posted
Scott No Mates – Im not entirely sure what the terms of the lease will be as they were not indicated in the minutes. There’s very little information surrounding this issue..it wasn’t even included as an agenda item!! I’m sure the owners that gave there proxies werent aware of what was to come. I would have thought that a change that is materially impacting the nature of the building would have to appear as an agenda item??
I have arranged to have a dicussion with the owners corporation manager on Monday as I suspect that there might be some colluding going on….will keep everyone posted
Cheers!
Kris
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