A lot owner has the right to submit a motion for consideration at an AGM provided it is submitted before the end of the
financial year. Without lot owner consent, the Secretary must reproduce the motion and any explanatory note on the
notice of AGM without modification.
Committee options
We recommend that a committee should consider a lot owner’s motion before an AGM notice is finalised and issued.
Lot owners generally look to the committee for guidance about lot owner sponsored motions so a communication to lot
owners from the committee is a useful initiative.
- The committee may have no relevant view on the motion. Lot owners can be advised that the committee has no view. This can be separately communicated, included in the AGM notice or both.
- The committee may form a view that the motion is likely to be ruled out of order by the presiding chairperson on the day of the AGM. The committee might choose to advise the lot owner and accept a motion resubmission that might enable the motion to not be ruled out of order.
- The committee may be significantly against the motion. Lot owners could be advised to vote NO, and the committee should give reasonable arguments as to why the motion should be voted down.
- The committee members may be split in their support for the motion. In this case, lot owners could be advised that the committee is in disagreement about the merits of the motion and has no guidance to give lot owners.
- The committee might be significantly in favour of the motion. The committee might choose to ask the lot
owner to withdraw their motion so that the motion can be put to the AGM as a committee motion. The lot owner might want to see final wording of the committee motion before agreeing to withdraw. - The committee might be significantly in favour of the motion provided that the motion wording is modified to address committee concerns. If the lot owner does not want to comply and does not withdraw their motion, the committee can put an alternate motion to the AGM that does address the committees’ concerns. Together, these motions are known as ‘a group of same motions’. This most commonly occurs when the lot owner motion is ‘an improvement to common property by a lot owner’. Usually, the lot owner is proposing a motion that is of direct benefit to themselves and usually no one else. When the project cost is more than
$3,000 – the motion must be considered at a general meeting (and cannot be approved by the committee)