Online committee meetings

Online committee meetings By John Coleman, Solicitor

Q: We would like to immediately move to online committee meetings. Are we allowed and if so, what do we need to do?

In Queensland, the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld)(“BCCM”) is silent on this issue, there being no provisions one way or the other about the use of teleconferences for body corporate committee meetings.

TheBody Corporate and Community Management (Standard Module) Regulation2008(Qld)(“SM”), section 52(1), sets out the requirements for a motion to be decided at a committee meeting. It requires a majority of votes of the voting members present and entitled to vote on the motion to be in favour of the motion.

The key issue, is what constitutes being “present” at the meeting? Section 52(6) of the SM defines “present” as being present in person or by proxy. Therefore, strictly speaking the term “in person” would suggest an online committee meeting would not be valid under the SM (or Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2008 (Qld) (“AM”))

However, recent adjudication decisions provide some clarification. In Signature Waterfront Apartments [2017] QBCCMCmr 351, citing Apartments on the Lakes as authority, the Adjudicator said:

“There have been several orders about what “present at a meeting” means. The legislation is silent about telephone attendance but there is no reason why a person should not attend by telephone or other device if the body corporate is willing to set up the link or facility. There have been several orders made by this Office that such attendance is not unlawful, and is to be encouraged”. [1]

The need for a quorum does not change the position, because there is nothing which requires committee members to be present in the same room (see s49 SM, s49AM). To summarise, there is no legislative prohibition against the holding of committee meetings by video conference or using similar technologies. Recent adjudications recognise the modern trends of moving all things “online” and the Commissioner’s office has openly encouraged electronic committee meetings. An alternative is to conduct a vote outside committee using the procedure in section 54 of the SM (s54 AM).

Key Points o There is no legislative reason why committee meetings cannot be held remotely; for example, by telephone, video conference, skype and similar technologies.

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The need for a quorum at committee meetings does not mean that committee members have to be present in the same room. Recent adjudications and information from the Commissioner’s office have openly sanctioned the practice. As an alternative, a committee can also decide to vote outside committee meetings.

Case Example

Apartments on the Lakes[2010] QBCCMCmr 417

The Applicant was an owner within a Townsville strata scheme who wished to take part in the committee meeting by telephone. He lives in Darwin and is not able to attend meetings in Townsville very easily.

The adjudicator acknowledged that in this small scheme it appears that the majority of owners are not resident and there are few owners interested in being on the committee. In these circumstances, owners in this particular scheme should be encouraged to take part in meetings and body corporate business by any possible means. The adjudicator subsequently ordered that the Applicant, (and that goes for any other owner), may attend meetings by telephone or by telephone conference where practicable for the body corporate and provided that the cost if any, is met by the owner, and subject to the notice provisions of the legislation in respect of committee meetings. In respect of general meetings, the Applicant should give reasonable notice if she wishes the body corporate to arrange for her to attend by telephone/teleconference.

[1] Apartments on the Lakes [2010] QBCCMCmr 417.

Article supplied by Bugden Allen Lawyers For more information, John on 07 3905 9260 Email john@bugdenallenlawyers.com.au Website bugdenallenlawyers.com.au