How do body corporate meetings run?

What happens at the Annual General Meeting?

The Annual General Meeting will determine the scheme’s annual budget, what annual contributions members must pay, insurance coverage and the election of the body corporate committee.

The meeting is chaired by the body corporate chairperson. If the chairperson is unable to attend, members at the meeting who have a right to vote can choose another chair for that meeting.

Apart from running the meeting according to the agenda, the Chair must also rule whether motions are out of order and declare the result of voting on motions and the committee elections.

When declaring the outcome of motions, the Chair must state the number of votes for, votes against, and abstentions.

When declaring the result of the committee election, the chair must state the number of votes cast for each candidate.What happens at general meetings?

For body corporate general meetings, an agenda should be distributed to members at least 21 days prior to the meeting, listing every motion that is to be considered.

Motions are placed on the agenda by:

• an owner proposing and submitting it to the secretary before the required submission date;
• the committee proposing it at any stage; or
• they are statutory motions that must be on the agenda every time (for example, confirmation of the minutes of the previous meeting).

Once a motion is on the agenda, it must be considered or otherwise dealt with in accordance with the BCCM Act.

There is no legal scope for new motions to be put forward from the floor of a meeting. There is scope to amend a motion or a budget within certain parameters, or to overturn a chairperson’s decision to rule a motion out of order, but neither of these constitute new matters at the meeting.

This process is designed to allow all owners to participate equally in the body corporate decision-making process. It prevents owners who cannot attend a meeting from being disenfranchised.

What happens at committee meetings?

The body corporate secretary calls committee meetings and must distribute the agenda to members. In the absence of a committee directive, what is on that agenda is a secretarial decision.

The Module allows the committee to ‘consider other issues raised at the meeting’.

This includes any motions that committee members might want to put up to be voted on. There is no need for a seconder.

Committee members have significant constraints in terms of what they can decide which can bind the body corporate so there is a bit more flexibility in terms of their decision-making process.

Further reading

• What meetings must a body corporate hold each year?
• Who can vote at a body corporate meeting?
• Is it possible to remove a body corporate committee member before the Annual General Meeting?
• What is a quorum?
• Meeting procedures carry hefty legal consequences
• Owner motions must be included in general meeting where practicable
• Secret ballots can’t be used to dodge strata democracy