Nominations and eligibility for body corporate committees

The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 sets out how you can nominate someone to be appointed to a body corporate committee, and who is eligible to be a voting member on the committee.

The following information applies to schemes under the:

• Standard Module
• Accommodation Module
• Commercial Module
• Small Schemes Module.

For schemes under the Specified Two-lot Schemes Module there is no committee.

Standard and Accommodation modules

Making a committee membership nomination

Before the annual general meeting each year, the secretary must send a written invitation to each lot, giving them the opportunity to make a nomination for committee membership. There is no form for this—the committee can choose how to write the invitation.

The invitation must be given to each lot owner at least 3 weeks before, but no more than 6 weeks before, the end of the financial year for the scheme.

If an owner wants to make a nomination, they must send it back to the secretary by the end of the body corporate’s financial year.

We do not produce a committee nomination form. Details of what needs to be included on a nomination form can be found in the regulation module that applies to your scheme. For more information contact your own body corporate.

When the secretary gets a completed nomination form, they must let the owner know they have received it. They must do this ‘as soon as practicable’ and they don’t have to say whether or not it is a valid nomination at this time.

Number of nominations owners can make

Each lot owner can only nominate 1 eligible person for committee membership. However, the 1 person nominated can be nominated for more than 1 position on the committee.

If there is more than 1 owner of a lot, only 1 nomination may be made by the owners of that lot.

If an owner owns more than 1 lot in the scheme, they may be able to nominate more than 1 person.

An owner who owns:

• 2 lots can nominate 2 people
• more than 2 lots can nominate
  • 2 people if there are less than 7 lots in the scheme
  • 3 people if there are more than 7 lots in the scheme.

For example, Ms Jones owns 3 lots in a scheme that includes 6 lots. Ms Jones may nominate 2 people for election.

Mr and Mrs Brown co-own 5 lots in a scheme that includes 12 lots. Mr and Mrs Brown may nominate 3 people for election.

A lot owner cannot nominate a person for committee membership if the lot owner owes the body corporate money when the secretary gets their nomination.

3 or fewer owners

In community titles schemes that have 3 or more lots and up to 3 owners the members of the committee can be:

• 1 person who owns all the lots
• 2 people who own all the lots between them
• 3 people who own all the lots between them.

Multiple owners should decide between themselves which executive positions they will each hold.

If the owners can’t decide who will hold the 3 executive positions, the owners will jointly hold the executive positions.

Who is eligible to be nominated

The following sets out who lot owners can nominate for committee membership.

Who an individual can nominate

A lot owner who is an individual can nominate any of the following individuals:

• themselves
• another lot owner
• a person they have appointed as their power of attorney
• a member of their family.

A family member means:

• the lot owner’s spouse, including ‘de facto’ spouse
• children of the lot owner or their spouse who are over 18 (including a step-child or adopted child)
• the lot owner’s parents or step-parents
• the lot owner’s brother or sister.

Usually only 1 co-owner of a lot can be appointed as a voting member of the committee, on the basis of the ownership of that lot, at a time. In some situations, if there are no other nominations, more than 1 co-owner can be appointed to the committee at the same time.

Co-owners

While people who own the same lot can both be nominated, a person who owns a lot cannot be a voting member of the committee at the same time as:

• a member of their family
• a person acting under authority of a power of attorney given by the owner of the lot
• a co-owner of the same lot.

This would be unless:

• the minimum required number of committee members (3) has not been reached

or

• they own more than one lot.

Who a corporation can nominate

A lot owner that is a company may nominate any of the following individuals:

• another lot owner
• a director of the corporation
• the secretary of the corporation
• another nominee of the corporation.

Who a subsidiary scheme can nominate

The body corporate for a subsidiary scheme may nominate a representative to sit on the committee of the principal scheme.

The representative must be a member of the committee for the subsidiary scheme.

If the committee has not appointed a representative, the chairperson automatically fills this role.

People who are not eligible to be voting members

A person is not eligible to be a voting member of the committee if they:

• are a body corporate manager
• are a service contractor
• are a letting agent
• conduct a letting business for multiple lots in the scheme
• are an associate of a body corporate manager, service contractor or letting agent
• are a lot owner who owes money to the body corporate at the time when the committee is chosen
• have been nominated by a lot owner who owes money to the body corporate at the time when the committee is chosen.

Small Schemes and Commercial modules

Nominations for committee membership

There is no requirement under the Small Schemes Module or the Commercial Module for the secretary to invite owners to make committee membership nominations.

Nominations may be given in writing before the meeting or orally at the meeting.

A lot owner cannot nominate a person for committee membership if they owe a body corporate debt when the secretary gets their nomination.

Eligibility for committee membership

Owners who are an individual are eligible to be voting members of the committee.

Under the Small Schemes Module, only 1 co-owner may be on the committee. This restriction does not apply under the Commercial Module.

Owners can also nominate other individuals for committee membership.

A person is not eligible to be a voting member of the committee if they are:

• a body corporate manager
• an associate of a body corporate manager
• a lot owner who owes money to the body corporate when the committee is chosen
• a person nominated by a lot owner who owes money to the body corporate when the committee is chosen.
• a service contractor or an associate service contractor (Small Schemes regulation only)

More information

Find information on the role of the committee.

For information on elections and the composition of the committee see:

• Committee structure
• Standard Module elections
• Accommodation Module elections
• Commercial Module elections
• Small Schemes Module elections.