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Hi
We are a small complex of 8 units over 3 storeys, with the 1 storey being the carpark. 2 owners live on site. The building was built in the 70s and is in Melbourne.
At the AGM I was elected (as chairman) – basically nobody else wanted to do it.
In the minutes I read:
IT WAS RESOLVED pursuant to Section 11 of the Owners Corporations Act
2006 to delegate to the Chairperson of the Owners Corporation all of the
powers and functions requiring an ordinary resolution other than those
under section 119 and those reserved by the operation of the Owners
Corporations Act 2006, the Owners Corporations Regulations 2007, the
rules of the Owners Corporation, a resolution of the Owners Corporation
pursuant to Section 82 of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 or powers
and functions which have been delegated to a member or the Manager.A. I have no idea what this means
B. I do not want to put in the amount of time that I have in the past year.
What happens if nobody wants to be on the Committee?
- This topic was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by .
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What happens if nobody wants to be on the Committee?
Section 100 of the Owners Corporation Act in Victoria says that a scheme of fewer than 13 “may” (as opposed to “must”) elect a committee.
Section 103 of the Act says a committee must have at least three members. You are on your own, which means there is no committee, so you can’t be a committee member, which means you are not the chair.
The item you quoted seems to delegate all the powers of the non-existent committee to the non-existent chair … except for the powers that have been delegated to the strata manager (assuming you have one).
I think you need to tell all the owners that they have created a dangerous situation in which no-one is steering the ship and you aren’t prepared to do so on your own in case you are held responsible for anything and everything that goes wrong.
And if they aren’t prepared to chip in, then they need to pay someone who will take up the slack.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
OptusJo mentions having a manager. I once asked our manager (who was very good) what would happen if we could not form a committee (a few of us were feeling a bit fed up at the time). Her response was that she would continue to run things but would call a general meeting every single time a decision was needed about anything. She said she would keep doing this till the OC got fed up with it and got its act together and formed a committee.
What happens if nobody wants to be on the Committee?
It’s quite common in VIC for small OCs not to have a Committee. All of the OC’s decisions (subject to s.11 limitations) get made by the Chair or the Manager. That works quite well for many small OCs.
If there’s no Manager or Committee and if no-one wants to be Chair, the OC risks becoming inactive or dysfunctional.
Inactive OCs are common in VIC but they are usually just 2 or 3 lots with little or no common property. Often the only common property is a driveway. Sometimes not even that. It can work quite well on a casual basis until it doesn’t.
Larger OCs without a Manager, Committee or Chair risk becoming dysfunctional. If that happens an Administrator can be appointed. That’s usually not a great result for anyone.
- This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by .
Section 103 of the Act says a committee must have at least three members. You are on your own, which means there is no committee, so you can’t be a committee member, which means you are not the chair.
Oops. Of course you can be chair – of the owners corporation. My mistake. The good news is that you can make decisions and not be held liable for them if they turn out wrong. If anyone objects, invite them to get on board.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
I am a committee of one . I am treasurer, secretary and chairman.
At AGM’s nobody ever turns up except myself.
Is it an issue?
For me the answer is no. I get to make all the decisions without referring to others input.
As owners would know, you have some real idiot owners and they would bring chaos to any committee they were on.
Is it a power trip? Anyone running a committee will tell you it’s more trouble than it’s worth and not worth it if it’s all about power.
The less input just make things more practical and streamlined to run and get things done.
I even put in my own time at no cost to fix minor things around the block to save on overpriced tradies that Strata would no doubt send out.
At AGM’s nobody ever turns up except myself. Is it an issue?
Your problem might arise if someone accused you of making decisions, especially ones they didn’t like, without proper authority. But I think as long as you have an agenda and the (non-)meetings are properly notified and constituted, you’d be OK.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
… I get to make all the decisions without referring to others input…
I would advise making sure that you communicate well with the other owners so they know what is going on or at least demonstrably could have known if they had paid attention. It would only take one noisy person to accuse you of poor behaviour and you might find yourself wanting some allies who know you have been doing good things responsibly altruistically etc.
You might want to think about succession planning too for when you get tired of doing it all. Perhaps a new owner can be recruited to the committee and trained up.
I was the chairman of a committee but i am going to resign because the committee is dysfunctional, members can barely be polite to each other. I suspect no one else will be willing to be on the committee at the AGM in a few weeks . Can we suggest being administered? is that a good option.
…I suspect no one else will be willing to be on the committee at the AGM in a few weeks . Can we suggest being administered? …
Perhaps the committee’s last act should be to call a general meeting with two items on the agenda: 1) to elect a new committee and 2) to appoint an administrator in the event that motion 1 has failed to elect a new committee.
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