Can co-owners of a lot be on the same committee?
With people leading increasingly busier lives these days it is not uncommon for bodies corporate to find it difficult to fill committee positions.
Despite owners being reluctant to, or have the time to, be on their body corporate committee, the legislation has very specific rules when it comes to the minimum numbers required to serve on a body corporate committee.
Provided your scheme has three or more lots (and is not registered under the Small Schemes Module of the BCCM Act), the body corporate committee must contain a minimum of three people. An exception to this rule applies if there are only one or two owners of all lots in a scheme but in all other cases, a minimum of three people are required.
The legislation also requires that the body corporate must have a chairperson, secretary and treasurer, although one person can hold all three positions with the remaining two people holding ordinary member positions. If a scheme is struggling to fill the three positions there is the opportunity for a maximum of two co-owners of a lot to be elected onto the same committee. There is the obvious problem, however, if you have a committee of three and two of the positions are represented by the one lot, the impartialness of decisions could be questioned.
If your scheme is having problems finding the minimum three people then talk to your body corporate manager or other unit owners as early as possible and explain the ramifications should you not be able to find the minimum number required. Being on a committee isn’t an onerous task if your scheme has a professional body corporate manager and most schemes take out insurance to protect committee members against any decisions they make that may result in legal action by another owner.
Once lot owners understand that an active committee means a well run body corporate most will volunteer their time.
If that still doesn’t work, then beg!
AccomNews is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.
