You may wonder what a strata committee does in a body corporate. This Q&A about whether a subcommittee of the body corporate committee can make decisions in QLD has been answered by Hayley Gath, Mathews Hunt Legal.
Question: The committee has created a subcommittee to make decisions about a refurbishment program for our building. Does the subcommittee have the power to make decisions?
Our committee has recently established a subcommittee to oversee and manage the decision making process for an upcoming refurbishment program intended for our building. What does a subcommittee do? What authority does the subcommittee have to make decisions related to the refurbishment? How does the subcommittee collaborate with the committee and the body corporate when reporting its decisions and are there any potential checks and balances in place?
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Answer: The Body Corporate cannot delegate its decision making powers to a subcommittee.
Often subcommittees are used to compile information for a committee’s consideration. A common subcommittee is an architectural review committee.
The Body Corporate cannot delegate its decision making powers to a subcommittee. Therefore, a subcommittee cannot and should not make decisions about the refurbishment program, especially because their actions are not covered by the legislative protections given to committee members.
Additionally, if a refurbishment program is over the major spending limit there needs to be compliance with the legislation regarding quotations and general meeting approval will be required.
If you have a question or something to add to the article, please leave a comment below.
EmbedThis post appears in Strata News #294.
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Hayley Gath E: hayley.gath@mathewshuntlegal.com.au W: Mathews Hunt Legal
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