MEETINGS
There are various types of meetings:
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IGM-Inaugural Meeting (must be held immediately after registration of the strata plan)
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FAGM-First Annual General Meeting (must be held within 2 months of 1/3 of the total unit entitlement being sold)
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AGM-Annual General Meeting (must be held each year)
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EGM-Extraordinary General Meeting (all general meetings that are not annual general meetings)
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How are meetings conducted?
The chairperson of the Owners Corporation must preside at a meeting if present. If not present, the meeting must elect a person to chair that particular meeting.
Voting Rights
Below is a list of those eligible to vote:
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The owner, first mortgagee or covenant chargee of a lot recorded on the strata roll
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Only those owners whose levy payment are NOT in arrears
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A person who has been appointed, in writing, by a company as its company nominee
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A properly appointed proxy
Quorum
There must be 'quorum' at a meeting before any motion can be voted on. A quorum is when :
If a quorum is not present within 30 minutes of the scheduled time for commencement of the meeting, the meeting MUST be adjourned to a later date. It must be adjourned for at least 7 days.
The chairperson presiding at the meeting must state the time, date and place for the adjourned meeting and notice of the time, date and place must be served by the secretary on the owners at least 1 day prior to the rescheduled meeting.
Motions
A motion must:
Resolutions
Generally, resolutions are decided by a simple majority. This is either by numbers or, in the event of a poll, by unit entitlement. Such resolutions are known as ORDINARY resolutions.
There are certain matters that can only be decided by:
Proxies
For a proxy to be valid it must be:
Notes for Proxies:
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A proxy must state the period it is valid which cannot be for more than 12 months or for 2 consecutive annual general meetings, whichever is the greater
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If the person who gave the proxy attends the meeting and votes in person, the proxy has no effect
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If more than one proxy is available, the most recent proxy takes precedence
Special Note for Large Schemes:
A proxy must be in the hands of the secretary at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.
Special Note for Caretakers, Strata Managing Agents and Residential Property Managers:
A proxy cannot be used by a caretaker, a strata managing agent or an on-site residential property manager to obtain a financial or material benefit for the proxy holder.
Poll
Any owner present and eligible to vote can request a poll. A poll is when a vote is decided by the total value of the votes. The value is the unit entitlement of each lot. When a poll is taken, an owner with the greater unit entitlement has more voting 'power' than an owner with a lower unit entitlement.
Special Note: When the original owner owns half or more of the aggregate unit entitlements their vote is reduced to 1/3 of their aggregate unit entitlement.
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting (also known as the AGM) must be held each year on a date not earlier than one month before, nor later than one month after the anniversary date of the First Annual General Meeting.
What must the agenda of an Annual General Meeting contain?
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Copy of the last financial statement of the Owners Corporation
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Copy of minutes of last general meeting (if not already provided)
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Motion to confirm minutes of last general meeting
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Motion to accept last financial statement
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Information about each current insurance policy held by Owners Corporation
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Motion to consider appointing an auditor
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Motion to consider taking out insurances for office holders and misappropriation of funds
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Motion to decide on number of Executive Committee members
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Motion to decide if any restrictions are to be placed on the Executive Committee
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Motion to elect Executive Committee members
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Information about voting rights & quorum
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Proxy form
General Meetings
General meetings are held:
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when a special matter needs to be considered such as to authorise major works, raise a special levy, change by-laws, appoint a strata managing agent, etc
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when a requisition is received for an extraordinary general meeting signed by one or more persons entitled to vote in respect of one or more lots, the unit entitlement of which is at least a quarter of the total unit entitlement
How is a General Meeting convened?
General meetings are convened by:
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forwarding a notice to owners, first mortgagee and covenant chargee by the strata managing agent or the secretary of the Owners Corporation
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majority vote of the Executive Committee
Clear Days Notice
A general meeting requires 7 clear days notice plus time for postage while the First Annual General Meeting requires 14 clear days notice plus time for postage. Time for postage includes the date of posting PLUS 4 working days and excludes the date of the meeting.
How do I request something to be included in an agenda of a General Meeting?
If you are entitled to vote at a general meeting, you may give written notice to the secretary of the Owners Corporation keeping in mind the number of clear days notice required for the various meetings.
Executive Committee Meetings
The Act does not specify how often an Executive Committee must meet. A meeting may be called by at least 1/3 of the Executive Committee members requesting a meeting or by a previous resolution of the Executive Committee itself.
The secretary must put a notice about the meeting on the scheme's noticeboard(s) at least 72 hours before the meeting is scheduled to be held. The notice must state when and where the meeting is to be held and include a agenda detailed enough to inform owners as to what is proposed to be discussed and resolved by the committee.
Minutes of any Executive Committee meetings held must be placed on the noticeboard(s) within 7 days of the meeting and remain there for at least 14 days.
Other important points to note concerning Executive Committee meetings are:
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Owners may attend Executive Committee meetings but they cannot speak at the meeting unless the Executive Committee agrees by majority vote.
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A quorum at the meeting is at least HALF of the members.
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Each member has ONE vote but the chairperson does not have a casting vote.
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All decisions on any motions are made by a majority vote.
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Meetings may be adjourned if a motion is passed at the meeting for the adjournment. Notice of the adjournment must be placed on the scheme's noticeboard(s).
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If a member is unable to attend a meeting they may appoint another owner or company nominee to vote for them at the Executive Committe meeting, whether or not they are a member of the Executive Committee already. However, this must be approved by the Executive Committee.
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The Executive Committee can vote in writing even though the meeting was not held. A notice and agenda must be placed on the scheme's noticeboard(s) 72 hours before the meeting and a copy issued to each member. Any resolution approved by a majority of members is valid even though no meeting was held.
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Owners holding at least 1/3 of the unit entitlements may object to a motion on the agenda. Written notice of this objection must be received by the secretary before the motion is voted upon by the committee.
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Any decision of the Executive Committee is considered a decision of the Owners Corporation except for restricted matters such as raising levies. In the event of a dispute between the Owners Corporation and the Executive Committee, the decision of the Owners Corporation prevails.
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If there is no scheme noticeboard, then the notice, agenda and minutes must be SENT to all owners.
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There are special requirements for Executive Committees of large strata schemes so please refer to the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996(NSW)- Schedule 3 for more details.
ADDITIONAL DETAILED INFORMATION can be found by the reading the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996(NSW)-Schedule 2 which covers the A-Z on meetings and committees and proxies and anything else regarding meetings you may like or need to learn about. | 
