Lot Owner Motions for the Body Corporate Committee

In between Annual General Meetings, even if you are not on the Committee, the regulations enable lot owners to interact with their Body Corporate, through its elected Committee of owners.

When a lot owner wants to submit a proposal to the Body Corporate, or ask for its approval for something affecting the common property, often a lot owner’s first instinct is to send an email to the Committee via the body corporate manager.

That is pretty standard practice, but there is actually a set procedure in the regulations for lot owners to submit motions to their Committee.

Lot owners who follow this procedure demonstrate:

1. an understanding of the procedure;

2. a willingness to help the Body Corporate Committee (their fellow owners, and be respectful of their time, which is given voluntarily).

It also eliminates the common situation of emails going backward and forward between the owner and the Committee (and becoming, let’s be honest, a bit annoying for both parties…)

Procedure for lot owners to submit motions to their Body Corporate Committee

Each lot owner has the right to submit proposed motions to their Body Corporate Committee to decide on.

Presenting your motion to the Committee in one single, clear email with all of the necessary supporting material attached may increase the likelihood of your proposal being decided quicker.

What the Committee has to do…

Once it receives a proposed motion from a lot owner, the Committee must then:

Step 1: Check whether:

1. the proposed motion:

   1. is the type of decision the Committee is allowed to make decisions about;

   2. does not conflict with:

      1. the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997

      2. the applicable regulation module for the scheme

      3. the scheme’s by-laws

      4. another motion that has already been voted on at a meeting;

      5. would be unenforceable or unlawful for any other reason

   3. is about the same issue that the lot owner has already submitted a proposed motion about in the preceding 12-month period

2. the lot owner has not submitted 6 or more motions in the preceding 12-month period.

Step 2: if the motion is capable of being decided by the Committee because it does not contravene any of the requirements set out above, then the Committee must make its decision on the proposed motion as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 6-weeks of the day the lot owner submitted the proposed motion (the 6-week Decision Period); or

Step 3: If the Committee requires more than the 6-week Decision Period to decide the proposed motion, the Committee can give the lot owner a written notice stating that it requires more time to decide, the reasons why, and how much additional time (up to a maximum further 6 weeks after the Decision Period (the 12-week Decision Period). Keep in mind the overarching obligation of the Body Corporate (and its Committee) to not act unreasonably in making its decisions.

Step 4. If the Committee does not decide the proposed motion within the 6-week Decision Period (or the 12-week Decision period if the Committee has given notice it requires more time), then the proposed motion is deemed to have been not agreed to (e.g. Lost).

Here at The Nuu Co, we work with owners to ensure their motions are Committee-ready before the Committee is asked to consider making a decision. This saves everyone time and eliminates unnecessarily long email chains back and forth.

Note: the above blog relates to schemes regulated by the Accommodation Module and is intended to provide general advice only. Reference: Regulation 50 of the Accommodation Module