Who can vote at a body corporate meeting?

Only lot owners who do not hold a body corporate debt can vote at a general meeting, unless it is a vote for a motion that must be decided by resolution without dissent or for choosing a member of the committee.

A financial lot owner can appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf; however, restrictions are in place to prevent ‘proxy farming’.

Under the Accommodation and Standard modules:

• a person must not hold more than 1 proxy if there are fewer than 20 lots in the scheme
• a person must not hold proxies for more than 5% of the total number of lots for a scheme with 20 or more lots
• a body corporate manager or an associate of a body corporate manager cannot be appointed as a proxy
• a proxy cannot vote
  • on a motion to engage a person as a body corporate manager or a service contractor, or to authorise a person as a letting agent
  • on electing or appointing a member of the committee
  • on a motion where the owner has submitted a written vote on that motion
  • at a general meeting if the member who gave the proxy is personally present unless the member consents at the meeting.

The restrictions on the use of proxies may vary for schemes registered under the Commercial Module and the Small Schemes Module.

Lot owners may also vote by written or electronic voting paper.

A lot owner who owes a body corporate debt cannot be counted as a voter for the purposes of establishing a quorum at the meeting.

More details about conducting meetings can be found here.

Can the chairperson break a voting deadlock with a casting vote?

Casting votes do not exist under the BCCM Act.

At both general and committee meetings, if a motion has the same number of votes both for and against (for example, 10-10) then the motion is not passed on the basis that there is not a majority in favour.

Can a resolution be overturned?

Resolutions can be revoked using the same process by which they were originally passed.

General meeting resolutions require a general meeting to be overturned, and they must match the original form of resolution.

Revocation can only occur before action, such as entering a binding contract with a third party, is taken.

Further reading

• Body corporate proxies and powers of attorney – where and when
• What is a quorum?
• How do body corporate meetings run?
• Is it possible to remove a body corporate committee member before the Annual General Meeting?
• What meetings must a body corporate hold each year?
• 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