B C Committee

B C Committee

Body Corporate Committee’s are formed by owners to handle the administration and control of the complex.

The Committee’s Role

The Committee must implement the lawful decisions of the Body Corporate and except for restricted matters, a decision of the Committee is a decision of the Body Corporate.

Sometimes there are not enough members prepared to make themselves available to be on the committee and in these circumstances the body corporate may engage a body corporate manager to carry out some or all of the body corporate committee’s functions.

Committee Members

The Body Corporate Committee can consists of up to 7 positions:

Chairperson
Secretary
Treasurer
plus, up to 4 ordinary Committee positions
The same Committee member can occupy 1, 2 or all 3 of the executive committee positions at the one time.
The committee must have at least 3 but not more than 7 Committee members.

At the Annual General Meeting or AGM each Committee member’s position becomes vacant and must be reviewed.

A Committee member’s position can also becomes vacant if they:
- — dies,
- — sells their unit
- — resigns in writing
- — misses two consecutive committee meetings without leave
- — is convicted of an indictable offence
- — is removed by the body corporate.

The Body Corporate Manager and the Onsite Manager (as individual contractors to the Body Corporate) are automatically committee members with no voting rights and are additional to the 7 committee member limit. They may not hold a proxy for a committee member and they do not count for a quorum.

Elections

Election of Committee members are normally at the annual general meeting or AGM when all Committee positions become vacant.Prior to the AGM nominations for Committee membership must be sent to all owners.
New Committee members are appointed from the nominations received or from the owners at the AGM if there are Committee positions still to fill.

If 1 nomination is received for each of the 7 positions those nominated will be accepted as the new members for the next year.
Otherwise, they are decided by secret ballot unless the body corporate has resolved by ordinary resolution (in a prior meeting) to have an open ballot.
A person is eligible to be a committee member if:

the person is an individual
a body corporate member
is nominated by a member of the body corporate
is nominated by the person’s spouse, child over 18 years, parent, step parent, a brother or sister
is a corporate member in which the person is a director, secretary or nominee.

A member of the body corporate is not eligible to be a voting committee member if the member owes a body corporate debt when committee members are chosen.

Co-owners

Only one co-owner of a lot can be a member of the committee except when, due to a shortfall in committee nominations, it is necessary to bring the total number of voting committee members to three.

Committee Meetings

Calling a Meeting

A Committee meeting can be called by the Secretary or by the Chairperson if the Secretary is absent.
If both are absent, the meeting can be called by another member if at least 50% of the voting committee members agree.

Meeting Notice

Generally at least 7 days notice must be given to all committee members.
Owners must be advised when and where the meeting is to be held and must get a copy of the meeting agenda.
Advice of the meeting must also be placed on the complex noticeboard,if there is one.

Meeting Agenda

An agenda must be included with the meeting notice.
The agenda must set out the substance of issues which are to be considered at the meeting.

At the Meeting

Chairing the Meeting

If present, the Chairperson must chair all committee meetings.
If the Chairperson is absent a member is chosen by voting Committee members present to chair the meeting.

Quorum

To form a quorum at least 50% of the voting Committee members must be present at the meeting.
The number must be a whole number and is rounded to the next highest number – eg 3 if there are 5 members.
The count only allows one proxy vote per Committee member irrespective of the number held.
A non-voting member present (eg. building manager) at the committee meeting is not counted in the quorum.

Presence of Non-Members

Non-committee members or persons invited by the majority of committee may attend a committee meeting.
A lot owner who wishes to attend a committee meeting must give the secretary notice of their intention to attend no later than 24 hours before the meeting.
The non-Committee member can:

only act as an observer
speak to the meeting only if invited
can be asked to leave at any time.

Voting

A motion is passed by a majority of the voters present,either in person or by proxy,voting in favour of the motion.
If the votes are equal the motion is lost.
The chairperson has no casting vote.
An executive member who is a voter has only one vote even if the person holds more than one of the positions of chairperson, secretary or treasurer.
If a member has a conflict of interest about a proposed motion they must not vote.

Minutes

The body corporate must ensure full and accurate minutes are taken for each meeting.
Full and accurate record must be kept for each motion voted on “outside a meeting”.

Voting Outside a Meeting

Non urgent matters

For a non urgent matter written notice of the motion must be given to all committee members and the decision is made by a majority of all voting members agreeing in writing.

Emergencies

In an emergency the committee can make a decision on an issue if notice of the motion is given to as many committee members that can be contacted. A majority of all voting Committee members must agree to the resolution either orally or in some other appropriate way.

Advice to Owners

Advice of the motion decided outside of a committee meeting must be given to owners.

For a non urgent matter – when the notice of motion is given to the committee
In an emergency – as soon as practicable.

The motion must be confirmed at the next committee meeting.

Carrying out Decisions

Within 21 days of the passing of a resolution,at a meeting or outside a meeting, the Secretary must give a copy of the meeting minutes to each member of the committee and each lot owner who wishes to receive a copy.
The committee may only carry out a decision made by them, if:

no notice of opposition from owners has been received by the Secretary within seven days of the owners receiving the minutes
the resolution concerns an emergency
the amount is within the committee’s spending limit
an adjudicator authorizes the committee to carry out the resolution
the decision is ratified by Ordinary Resolution in general meeting

Committee Spending

The Body Corporate Committee has a spending limit and can spend up to $200 per lot without having to seek authorization from the owners of lots in the scheme as long as the expense involves a single purchase or project.
The Committee’s Spending Limit on any single project is limited to $200 x the number of lots in the scheme unless the Body Corporate Committee has:

been authorized by an Ordinary Resolution
the written consent of all the lot owners
in an emergency
an order from an adjudicator.

For way of example. If there are 40 lots in the scheme the Committee’s spending Limit is $8,000 (being $200×40 lots) for a single project or purchase.The Committee IS ALLOWED to spend up to $8,000 without having to seek authorization from the owners but if the cost exceeds $8,000 the Committee’s IS NOT ALLOWED to spend and they MUST go to the lot owners for authorization.

Higher spending is allowed to comply with a notice or order by a local or public authority or by an order from an adjudicator or to comply with a court order.

Higher spending on 1 major project per year is allowed after this expense has been accepted by voting owners at the AGM or an EGM.
The committee may reimburse a committee member expenses up to $50 a single meeting and $200 in a 12 months period.
An Ordinary Resolution is required to pay higher expenses.

If the committee propose to spend money in excess of the scheme’s major spending limit the committee must support the expenditure with two quotes or tenders.

Executive Committee’s Role

The Chairperson

The Chairperson’s main role is to chair general meetings of owners and the committee meetings.
The Chairperson does not have a casting vote at these meetings.

The Secretary

The Secretary is very much a key-stone in the running of the Body Corporate.
The BCCM Act sets out specific duties for the Secretary and these include:

accepting notices and other legal process
keeping the Roll
maintaining statutory registers
insurance records
making arrangements for an inspection of the records
issuing Body Corporate Information Certificates.

The Secretary maintains custody of the body corporate seal and may be required to affix the seal to documents.
They also attend to the calling of general meetings, committee meetings and prepares the paperwork for these meetings.
At the first AGM they accepts documentation from the original owner and keep copies of construction plans, certificates about the scheme and any service location diagrams.

The Treasurer

The Treasurer is generally responsible for the financial duties of the Body Corporate and Committee such as:

preparing the budgets for the administrative and sinking funds
calculating the contributions payable by owners
sending levy notices to owners
recovering unpaid contributions
banking the funds received
performs the bookkeeping role of maintaining the accounts, accounting records and preparing statements of accounts

Queensland Community Living Handbook

Steve Reynolds e: qldclh@gmail.com PO Box 394 Surfers Paradise.4217