OWNER MOTIONS EXPLAINED

How to write an owner’s motion

 The Queensland Body Corporate Commissioner has great resources on how to write an owners motion, designed to assist owners with some key aspects to manage expectations.  They must be actionable, legal, concise and provide an explanation of up to 300 words as to why the owner has requested the body corporate committee to vote on the request.

Submission of an owner’s motions

A member of the body corporate (not an occupier) can be submitted to the secretary.  On a rolling 12-month period each owner is limited to 6 owners motions, which can be decided at either General meeting level or committee level.  

• At a committee level, the committee must decide on the motion within 6 weeks or provide written notice to the owner that further 6 weeks are required.  The reason for the extension is that a committee meeting maybe being held within the next 12 months and it could be included in this agenda.  Where there is no committee meeting, the motion could be decided by a Vote Outside a Committee Meeting and then ratified thereafter. To assist the committee, the legislation provides for, where there is no response, the committee is taken to have resolved against the motion.  The exception is for pet requests, which are deemed approved if not formally refused.  The committee must act reasonably in deciding on any owners’ motion ensuring it is not a restricted issue or conflicts with legislation, the bylaws, unlawful or unenforceable.

• At a general meeting level, the owner’s motion is submitted after the body corporate’s financial year and it must be included on the agenda as received.  Outside of this annual process and where the owners motion requires approval at general meeting level, it is not required to requisition an extraordinary general meeting or for the Secretary to call an EGM immediately upon receipt of the applications’ motions.  Practically speaking, it may wait until there are other matters to discuss or until the next scheduled general meeting (as per Emerald Lakes – The Islands Apartments [2024] QBCCMCmr 159). 

How to determine it is an owner’s motion -v- a request

If the motion is submitted by an owner in the format of a motion.  Being a motion with an explanatory note.  If a simple request, such as a pet request, then it can be decided at committee level within 21 days.

Misuse of owners’ motions

The purpose of an owner’s motion is to ratify an actionable request to the committee in relation to shared facilities and common property or for changes which require committee approval in accordance with the by-laws.  It is not a vehicle for dispute resolution, enforcement of personal agendas or circulating defamatory material.  If the body corporate is experiencing a dispute, there are dispute resolution processes in the scheme’s by-laws and the Body Corporate Commissioner has a defined conciliation, adjudication and enforcement process that can be undertaken, should the participants be unable to resolve through an informal dispute resolution.

Ruling an owner’s motions out of order

owners can put motions to a general meeting (article link) and the Chair can rule them out of order if the motion, if the motion was carried, it would:

1. Conflict with the legislation or the bylaws
2. Conflict with another motion already voted on at the meeting
3. Be unlawful or unenforceable for another reasons
4. The substance of the motion was not included on the agenda for the meeting

For point 4 above, in Park Square [2019] QBCCMCmr 242 the Commissioner ruled that “… the primary difficulty with the applicant’s case is that the motion 28 itself is so vague as to render it invalid and unenforceable.  If the motion had passed, the Body Corporate would have had no knowing which of those alternatives it was expected to implement and how that was to be done.”

If the motion is ruled out of order at a general meeting, the chair must provide a reason and minute this.  Just to provide a complete understanding, at a general meeting, if the Chair does rule the motion out of order the chair must inform owners that they can vote to reverse the decision by ordinary resolution.

This article was contributed by Nicky Lonergan, Managing Director – Archers the Stata Professional