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I am a member of the Executive Committee of our block of 20 units, my relationship with the strata manger is tenuous to say the least as I have exposed their shortcomings on a number of occasions. I am actively working to get them replaced but that is another issue.
My problem is that I am planning a holiday next year around the time when our AGM is due. For the reasons alluded to above I do not want to miss the AGM and a proxy is not an alternative. I have written twice to the strata manger requesting a date of the AGM if it was scheduled or alternatively the options available?
As yet I have not received a response, my question is can I as an owner nominate a date or alternatively can the Executive Committee nominate a date?
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I wish you luck, but bear in mind some practical considerations. Three people have to be available — the Chairman, the Secretary and the Strata Manager — if the meeting is to function properly. Then factor in things like major religious holidays (depending on local demographics) and you may find the options narrowing. Suggest you offer a range of dates when you can be available and hope you are not in too small a minority if the most preferred time doesn’t suit.
In response to your questions:
- Annual General Meetings (AGM) are required to be held annually, and on a date that’s within one month either side of the date when the first (ever) AGM was held.
- The Secretary of your Executive Committee can convene, and therefore set the date of an AGM
Even though the responsibility for convening Meetings of the Owners Corporation (O/C) has likely been delegated to the Strata Manager, it’s important in your circumstances to note that any such delegation is granted by the O/C, and that under the provisions of governing Legislation (the Strata Schemes Management Act in NSW) the O/C remains the “Principal Manager” whose decisions override any taken by a delegate.
With regard to your intention to replace the Strata Manager, if that involves terminating your O/C’s current Agency Agreement, then the O/C will almost certainly be required to provide that Agent with three (3) months prior written notice of that intention, relative to the expiry date as shown in that Agreement.
Also remember the Strata Manager is probably managing up to 100 Strata Plans and is therefore juggling the constraints of the Act and the whims of maybe a thousand owners for when they would like to have the meeting. There are only so many hours in the day.
If you are looking to terminate you should be identifying a replacement as soon as possible and formally requesting that an appropriate motion be added to the AGM agenda. You can’t terminate until it has been put to all owners at a meeting with the requisite notice.
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