Running an annual general meeting
At an annual general meeting, your body corporate will decide matters such as:
- annual budgets
- annual contributions
- insurance
- the election of the committee.
Your body corporate must hold an annual general meeting each year.
Chairing the annual general meeting
The chairperson must chair all of the annual general meetings they attend.
If there is no chairperson or the chairperson is not at the meeting, people at the meeting who have a right to vote can choose another person to chair the meeting.
The body corporate manager may advise and help the chairperson. However, they must not chair the meeting unless:
- the people at the meeting who have a right to vote choose them
or
- they are the only person forming a quorum at the meeting.
Duties of the chairperson
Duties and powers of the person chairing the meeting include:
- ruling a motion out of order
- declaring the result of voting on motions and the committee elections.
Ruling motions out of order
A motion must be ruled out of order if:
- the motion, if carried, would
- conflict with the legislation or the body corporate by-laws
- conflict with another motion already voted on at the meeting
- be unlawful or unenforceable for another reason
- the substance of the motion was not included on the agenda for the meeting.
The person chairing the meeting must give reasons for ruling a motion out of order, which must be recorded in the minutes. Those who go to the meeting and are entitled to vote may, by ordinary resolution, reverse a ruling.
Declaring the result
When declaring the result of voting on motions at the annual general meeting, the person chairing the meeting must state the number of votes for, votes against and abstentions from the motion.
When declaring the result of an election for a committee position, the person chairing the meeting must state the number of votes cast for each candidate.
Amending motions
A motion can be amended at a general meeting by the people present and who have a right to vote.
A motion to amend a motion is a procedural motion.
Any motion once amended is referred to as the amended motion.
Counting the votes
When counting the votes for and against a motion to amend a motion, a person must:
- be counted as voting against the motion if they had cast a written or electronic vote
- not be counted as voting for or against the motion if they are not present (personally or by proxy) and have not cast a written or electronic vote.
An amendment cannot change the subject matter of the motion.
Duties of the secretary
The secretary or their delegate (e.g. the body corporate manager) must have with them:
- a copy of the body corporate roll
- a list of the people who have the right to vote at the meeting
- all proxy forms and voting papers.
Quorum at general meetings
A quorum is the minimum number of people who must be present at an annual general meeting before it can start.
To know if there is a quorum, you need to work out 25% of the number of voters (not the number of lots) for the body corporate.
Before the meeting can start there must be at least 25% of the voters present at the meeting. There are 3 ways a person will be counted as being present at a general meeting: in person, by proxy or by written or electronic voting paper.
Part of the 25% must include:
- at least 2 voters present in person when there are 3 or more voters for the body corporate
- at least 1 voter present in person when there are less than 3 voters for the body corporate.
Changing quorums
The body corporate can pass a motion by special resolution to change how a quorum is calculated for its general meetings.
The body corporate can decide to:
- reduce the number of voters required to be present in person from 2 to 1
- change the minimum percentage of voters required to vote to between 10% and 25%.
Only 1 person needs to be present in person if there are fewer than 3 voters in the body corporate.
The body corporate can decide by ordinary resolution that a voter is considered present personally at a meeting if they vote by electronic means, such as by video conferencing.
Voter for general meeting
A voter for a general meeting of the body corporate is an individual who:
- has their name recorded on the body corporate’s roll as the:
- owner of a lot
- representative of a lot owner
- is the nominee of a corporation that represents a lot owner
- represents a subsidiary body corporate.
Voters who owe a body corporate debt
If you owe a body corporate debt, you will still be counted as a voter for working out 25% of the total voters. You are still a voter for the general meeting as your name is listed on the body corporate roll.
However, if you owe a body corporate debt, you cannot be counted as a voter who is present at the meeting for the quorum. This is because you cannot cast a vote at the meeting unless it is a vote for a motion that must be decided by resolution without dissent.
Voters who own more than 1 lot
Voters who own or represent more than 1 lot are treated differently when:
- calculating a quorum
and
- counting votes on a motion.
If you own or represent more than 1 lot, you are counted as 1 voter when working out 25% of the total voters for the body corporate. However, you still have 1 vote for each lot you own when voting on a motion.
Representing under power of attorney
You can only represent 1 lot under a power of attorney, unless:
- the owner of each lot is the same person
- you are a family member of the lot owner
- the power of attorney is given by a buyer under section 211 or 219 of the Act.
Proxies
If you hold 1 or more proxies to vote for another lot, you will be counted as 1 voter when working out 25% of the total voters for the body corporate. The owner of the lot who gave the proxy is already listed on the body corporate roll as a voter and their lot cannot be counted twice.
However, if you hold 1 or more proxies, they are counted when calculating whether 25% of voters are present in person, by proxy or by written or electronic voting paper before the start of the meeting.
Once a quorum has been met, you can cast 1 vote for each lot that you own or hold a proxy for. A proxy cannot be exercised for some types of motions.
Adjourned meeting
If a quorum is not present after 30 minutes, the meeting must be postponed (adjourned) to be held at the same place, on the same day and time of the next week.
If at the adjourned meeting a quorum is not present after 30 minutes, the people who are there (whether in person or otherwise) can form a quorum if:
- the chairperson is present in person
or
- a body corporate manager (exercising the powers of the chairperson) is present in person—if the chairperson is not.
Minutes of the annual general meeting
Your body corporate must keep full and accurate minutes of every annual general meeting, including:
- date, time and place of the meeting
- names of people who attended the meeting and their capacity
- details of proxies tabled
- words of each motion voted on
- voting results on motions, including votes for, against and abstentions
- the number of votes cast for each candidate, if there is an election.
- time the meeting closed
- secretary's name and contact address.
The minutes of an annual general meeting must be given to each lot owner within 21 days of the meeting.
A motion to confirm the minutes of the last general meeting must be on the agenda of the next general meeting held.
First annual general meeting
Owner motions
Motions submitted by members of the body corporate before the first annual general meeting must be included on the agenda where possible.
Developer obligations
The original owner needs to give specific items to the body corporate, including a copy of:
- a development approval, if one was required
- the scheme’s community management statement
- documents relating to any claim made against an insurance policy taken out by the original owner for the body corporate
- any fire and evacuation plans required under the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1990
- any contracts or agreements for the supply of utility services to the body corporate
- any documents relating to warranties for
- buildings or improvements forming part of scheme land
- common property plant and equipment
- any other body corporate asset
- any proxy forms under which the original owner is the proxy for an owner of a lot
- any documents under which the original owner derives representative capacity for an owner of a lot.
Each of the documents needs to be provided as hard copy and electronically.
Second annual general meeting
Defect assessment report
The agenda of a body corporate’s second annual general meeting must include a motion proposing the engagement of an appropriately qualified person to prepare a defect assessment report.
The report must cover the property on scheme land (other than assets the body corporate must insure for full replacement value).
For community titles schemes developed progressively, a defect assessment notice motion must be put on the agenda for the first annual general meeting after:
- a new community management statement is lodged
- property that the body corporate must insure is included on scheme land.
The body corporate can set up a voluntary defect assessment plan for schemes registered under a standard format plan of subdivision with standalone buildings. Any owners who take part in the plan must pay part of the cost of the report.
A defect assessment report will need to:
- identify any defective building work
- if reasonable, identify the cause of any defective building work and the work required to rectify it.
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