Tabling correspondence at body corporate meetings

AccomNews Sunday, November 18, 2012

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The BCCM Office Information Service has recently received a number of enquiries about tabling incoming and outgoing correspondence at committee meetings.

The following information includes references to relevant adjudicators’ decisions and the specific legislative provisions.

Adjudicators have pointed out that the requirements of the legislation concerning correspondence, meeting procedures and minutes, and access to body corporate records help to maintain transparency and accountability in the management of community titles schemes.

In Palermo Lane [2007] QBCCMCmr 292, concerning committee decision making, the adjudicator said: “The processes required by the legislation do not need to be cumbersome or difficult but they ensure transparency and participation in decision making.”

Similarly in Pinnacle [2003] QBCCMCmr 165 the adjudicator made the following comment: “The procedures under which the committee are to operate are intended to bring transparency and accountability to the operations of the committee.”

Section 55 of the Body Corporate and Community Management (Standard Module) Regulation 2008 deals with minutes and other records of committee meetings and provides for full and accurate minutes to be taken of committee meetings. “Full and accurate minutes” is defined to include “details of correspondence, reports, notices or other documents tabled”. There is no specific definition of ‘details’ and so the appropriate level of detail is, therefore, left for the body corporate committee to determine. Guidance can be found in a number of adjudicators’ orders.

In Parkwood Villas [2010] QBCCMCmr 521 the applicants sought an order that all correspondence received by or sent from the body corporate is tabled at the next body corporate meeting. The adjudicator said that the minutes are only required to reference the documents that are tabled so the question for determination was what correspondence or other documents must be tabled at a committee meeting.

The adjudicator found:

there is no requirement in the legislation for correspondence to be considered or tabled at meetings
documents should be tabled if they are the subject of discussion at the meeting. It is arguable that the mere discussion of a document amounts to its tabling and the discussion should be minuted
subject to issues of privilege, it may be preferable for all significant correspondence to be tabled at committee meetings, primarily so all committee members are alerted to it
there is no legislative obligation on a committee to table each and every item of correspondence regardless of whether it is considered at a meeting. Such a requirement may be highly impractical
If an owner considers that all correspondence should be tabled at committee meetings they could submit a motion to that effect to a general meeting. If such a motion was passed the committee would be bound by it
An interested person can access body corporate records through the process in section 205 of the BCCM Act

Full order and statement of reasons can be viewed at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/qld/QBCCMCmr/2010/521.html

The second element that generally follows this query is whether the body corporate committee is required to provide copies of any documents tabled at the committee meeting to owners as part of the minutes. There is no legislative obligation to do so. As noted earlier an interested person may access records, including correspondence, under section 205 of the BCCM Act. More information on access to records is detailed in the Body corporate records fact sheet available on the BCCM Office website at www.justice.qld.gov.au/bccm

Any decisions made concerning issues raised in tabled correspondence must be minuted and the minutes must include any motion put to a vote and the details of the outcome of the vote (see section 55(5)(d) of the Standard Module).

An owner seeking to have the committee vote on an issue may include in correspondence to the committee a motion for the committee to vote on at a meeting. For further information on this issue please refer to the Submitting motions to body corporate meeting fact sheet available on the BCCM Office website.