Drafting motions

If you want your body corporate to make a decision about something, you may wish to write a motion to be considered.

You can draft a motion to be considered by the committee or the body corporate at a general meeting.

The legislation does not set out how to word a motion for a committee or general meeting decision, so the following is a guide only.

Be clear and concise

Keep these general ideas and questions in mind when you are drafting a motion.

• Concise—are you clearly and concisely explaining what should happen so the body corporate can adopt the proposal without any further decisions?
• Legal—does the proposal have to meet any special requirements under the body corporate legislation or any other legislation (e.g., building regulations)?
• Economic—can any action required by the motion be paid for? Are there funds in the budget or will a special levy have to be raised? Instead of submitting just 1 motion, should 2 quotes be submitted under a group of same-issue motions?
• Action-based—is there a clear action to be taken? Is a time frame set?
• Realistic—can the proposed action be achieved? Is it something that other owners are likely to support?

Good and bad examples

Motion with not enough detail

This is an example of an unsatisfactory motion submitted by a lot owner. It does not give a solution, such as how the roof will be fixed, or authorise spending on the repairs.

Leaking roof: that the committee fix the waterproofing membrane because it is leaking into units 4, 5 and 6.

Ideally the person submitting the motion will obtain a quote for proposed work. The person submitting the motion may choose to word the motion to seek authorisation to spend body corporate funds and engage a suitable contractor to complete the work.

If the work is above the major spending limit, the motion should include 2 quotes and be submitted as a group of same-issue motions.

Motions with good detail

These are good examples of possible motions.

Example 1:

Leaking roof: That the body corporate accepts the attached quote to engage ABC Engineering to replace the waterproofing membrane above units 4, 5 and 6 at a cost of $3,999.

The work is to be paid for out of the $4,000 available in the sinking fund for roof repairs. As stated in the quote, the work will be guaranteed for 3 years.

Example 2:

Shade sail: That the body corporate approves the installation of a shade sail on the exclusive use area of lot 1, according to the attached plans and specifications. The owner of lot 1 will meet all installation and maintenance costs.