August 2021
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The Body Corporate Chair and Committee members are elected each year at your Annual General Meeting (AGM). If you’re interested in stepping up, here’s how the nomination process works.
Your first step is to wait for your Notice of Intention to arrive. One of the provisions of the Unit Titles Act 2010 (UTA 2010) and the Unit Titles Regulations is the requirement for a ‘Notice of Intention to hold an AGM’ to be issued to every unit owner at least three weeks before the date of the General Meeting. This notification will be sent by each owner's preferred method of contact.
The Notice of Intention will give the date, time and venue for the meeting, invite owners to propose matters for discussion at the meeting, and most importantly, invite unit owners to nominate candidates for election for the role of Chairman of the Body Corporate and for the Committee. The Notice of Intention will also state the date by which nominations for these positions and for matters for discussion must be received, and to whom they must be sent
As an owner you may nominate yourself for the Committee. You may also nominate another owner for the Committee, but they must consent to the nomination. You may only be elected to the Committee if you are an owner of a principal unit. If a company or trust owns a unit, you can elect any of the directors or trustees. The beneficiaries of Trusts, partners of owners and friends of owners who live in units are not eligible for election unless they are named on the title as owners. If a principal unit is owned by more than one person, any and all of those owners may be nominated to the BC Committee and thereafter be elected on to the Committee. However, this is not a recommended scenario because it may give one unit more influence than other units when it comes to the BC Committee making decisions on BC matters. Owners at an Annual General Meeting should consider this when they are considering whom they vote for as Committee members during the AGM.
For nominations to the role of Body Corporate Chairperson, candidates must be nominated by another principal unit owner and must consent to the nomination.
The people you elect will stay in their positions until the end of the next AGM. An eligible person can be re-elected as Chair or Committee member as many times as they like (or as often as they are willing to serve!).
The intention of the UTA 2010 is that all nominations must be received by the date determined on the Notice of Intention so that when the Agenda and postal voting form are sent out to owners they will contain the names of the nominated owners for both the Committee and the role of Body Corporate Chairperson.
Owners are then able to make an informed decision about whether or not to attend the meeting, or to appoint a proxy or to submit their postal voting form on the basis of the detail in the Agenda.
It is therefore crucial that owners send their nominations for the Committee and for the Body Corporate Chairperson by the date determined on the Notice of Intention otherwise their nominations will not be able to be considered by the Body Corporate for selection for these very important positions.
If you’re new to body corporate or community living it’s a good idea to find out how you should prepare for your AGM before you attend your first meeting. Crockers’ Top Tips for Committees contains lots of advice that is helpful for all Body Corporate members.
Call 0800 CROCKERS or Call 0800 2762 5377
