voting for EC members at an AGM

No they don’t have to cast a vote for the maximum number, they can just vote for 5 if they want.  Their “non-votes” would be recorded as “abstain”.

You can nominate yourself to be on the Strata Committee.

Note that the owners have to vote on the number of members of the Committee first (refer below), so assuming there are more nominees than number of positions available, then you can vote in your own right and use the other owner’s proxy to vote as well in respect of that matter, subject to the proxy limitations set out in the Act:

– if the scheme has 20 lots or less, then in addition to your vote you can only hold and vote one proxy, and you can use the other owner’s proxy

– if the scheme has more than 20 lots, then you can only hold proxies that are not more than 5% of the total lots.  Note this is calculated by the number of lots, not entitlements.

For example – if there are 21 to 39 lots, you can hold one proxy 

40 -59, two proxies

60 – 79, three proxies

Office bearers is a separate matter and is determined by the members of the Committee once the Committee is determined.  The OC doesn’t vote on that, the Committee does.

So in order:

1. Owners vote on number of members of Committee – you can use the proxy then, if it is 5% or less.

2. Owners vote on persons to be on the Committee, assuming there are more nominees than positions – you can nominate yourself and vote both your entitlements and the proxy from the other owner.

3. Vote on appointment of office bearers of the Committee, which is a decision of the Strata Committee, refer section 41 (Schedule 1 is misleading here because it refers to voting for election of office bearers).  You can’t use a proxy at a Strata Committee meeting.

The unit entitlements of you and the other owner would only be relevant if you called for a poll.  If there is no poll then you would only have two votes.

Hi

Thanks for that.  So that would mean that I couldn’t vote for the other owner to have a position and she couldn’t vote for me?  

I was hoping to cap the positions on the committee to three, with myself and the other owner being two of these three.  We currently have six and we are both two of the six and I was only able to get us on previously by calling a poll vote.  The rest of the committee are rusted on members, with the Secretary being in their role for the last ten years.  I believe it is well overdue for a change.  

As outlined above, if you have the unit entitlements which will carry a poll vote your way, you can:

– set the number of Committee members at three

– each of you can nominate yourself as a candidate for the Committee (I am assuming you are not co-owners)

– if there are more nominations than the number of positions available, elect you and the other owner to the Committee.

If it worked out that the Committee had three members and you and the other owner were on the Committee, then you can determine who the office bearers are, because you have the majority of votes on the Committee (nothing to do with your unit entitlements).

If the other owner can’t be there then yes you can use a proxy, and vote at the AGM as outlined above.

The other owner will need to nominate themselves to be on the Strata Committee, just get them to put that in writing and give it to the Strata Manager before the meeting.  Also they should indicate whether they wish to stand as one of the office bearers which is the subject of a separate vote at the Strata Committee meeting.

The only problem you will have is that when it comes to the vote for office bearers on the Committee, you can’t use your proxy to vote for them at that meeting, so you may have an issue there.

Re voting for an absent member at a Committee meeting – yes that’s right, but it doesn’t apply in this case because neither person has been appointed a member of the Committee at the time.  That is, you can’t appoint someone to act in your place as a member of the Committee, where you aren’t a member of the Committee.  You can only do that once you have been appointed at the annual general meeting.

@supersleuth said:
… in relation to the absent owner & their proxy….does it have to be another owner or can it be anyone? 

Does who have to be another owner?  For what?

A non-owner can be an owner’s proxy at an AGM provided they are named on the appropriate form (and aren’t precluded for other reasons).  

A non-owner can also be nominated for and elected to the committee, whether or not they are a proxy holder.

I don’t think a non-owner proxy holder can nominate anyone for election to the committee.

However, any owner can nominate someone in writing at any point after the meeting is called and before the election is held so a non-owner proxy could carry the owner’s written nomination with them to the meeting

No – you can appoint anyone as a proxy to attend and vote at general meetings on your behalf, they don’t have to be an owner.

Nomination to be on the SC is a different matter.