A committee can make decisions in two ways: by voting at a meeting, or by voting outside of a meeting.
If a committee wants to hold a meeting, then 7 days’ notice must be given to all committee members and lot owners (and placed on the notice board, if the body corporate has one). The notice must state when and where the meeting is to be held, along with the agenda of the meeting.
Otherwise, a committee can vote without holding a meeting. Notice of the motion must be sent out by the secretary (or another committee member authorised by the majority of voting committee members), and it must be sent to all committee members and lot owners. The main difference here is that the vote only passes if it is passed by a majority of committee members who
For example, if there are 7 committee members, and only 3 people reply ‘YES’, the motion is not passed. It requires 4 people to vote ‘YES’, even if there is no reply by others. Any vote made outside of a meeting must be confirmed at the next meeting of the committee.
Whether or not the committee votes at a meeting or outside of a meeting, full and accurate minutes of the meeting, or a full and accurate record of the vote outside of a committee meeting, must be kept. The secretary must give a copy of the minutes or record to every committee member and lot owner. This must be done within 21 days of the meeting or vote outside of the meeting.
The only exception is for people who have given the secretary written notice that they do not want to have notice of meetings, votes outside of meetings, or minutes/records of meetings/votes. It is important to note that an owner can decide to not receive any combination of the above. For example, an owner may give written notice to the secretary that they don’t want to receive notice of meetings or votes outside of meetings. In that case, the lot owner will still need to be given minutes/records, because they only gave written notice that they didn’t want notice of meetings and votes outside of meetings.
Regardless of how a committee makes its decisions, full records must be kept and given to everyone. This ensures transparency in the running of the body corporate.
This article is intended as general information only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. For specific legal advice please contact us here.