VIC: Q&A Dealing with Problem Committee Members

This Q&A is about dealing with problem committee members. We look at destructive members and conflict of interest on a committee in Victoria.

Table of Contents:

• QUESTION: How can our committee effectively address a disruptive member’s behaviour and maintain focus on our community’s priorities?
• QUESTION: Our committee seems to live by its own rules. Can a lot owner ask VCAT to remove this committee of three and put in an administrator?
• QUESTION: Current committee members block owners from joining. The same members are on the committee year after year. How do we break this cycle?
• QUESTION: Our committee is dealing with a rogue chair. Is there anything we can do to ensure our Chair abides by the Act and manages the OC Committee’s business appropriately and through a democratic process?




Question: How can our committee effectively address a disruptive member’s behaviour and maintain focus on our community’s priorities?

I live in a block of units in northern Victoria. A bitter dispute between our chair and a committee member is becoming increasingly prominent in our owners corporation (OC) committee work and communications to the detriment of making progress with other decisions. The member is quite rude and bullying towards the chair, who is trying to do their best, does a lot of work and is helpful.

The member has now raised a grievance meeting against the chair. The dispute is taking up too much OC time.

As the grievance meeting seems to have become a personal conflict, am I required to participate? Would my attendance be seen as encouraging the member rather than supporting the chair? I also feel like it’s an irrelevant issue from the past.

I am also considering resigning from the committee due to the detrimental impact this conflict is having on our community. Is this a wise decision, or are there other steps I can take to address the situation?

Answer: Nothing compels the committee to respond or acknowledge this person outside of voting on OC resolutions.

I assume the committee is conducting a grievance meeting because the ‘agitative’ member has lodged a formal complaint. If that’s the case, the OC committee needs to decide whether to ‘take action’ per Section 153 of the Owners Corporation Act 2006. You should attend to ensure you make an informed decision in that respect. It is not compulsory to attend, though.

Whether it be a formal or informal grievance meeting, you should attend so that you can hear both sides of the story. Being in attendance allows you to support the chair, speak to all the good things he is doing, and call out the disruptive behaviour of the other member. Possibly, the agitative member doesn’t understand the upset they’ve caused everyone, so this meeting is a good opportunity to get everything out in the open.

There is often a committee member or two who ruin it for everyone but I encourage you to hang in there. It’s important to remember that the agitative member can carry on all they like, but they only have one vote, and they’ll likely get tired of fighting if they don’t get the attention they’re seeking.

Some committees shut these types of members down by altering their communication style to be more direct. Rather than allowing generous preamble before making decisions (which allows the member to be disruptive), the chair can go directly to a yes/no vote for motions. If there is a majority vote in favour, the decision is final, so there is no need to engage in further discussion.

Whilst I don’t necessarily condone ignoring a committee member, there is nothing compelling you as a committee to respond or acknowledge this person outside of voting on OC resolutions. There is a risk that this approach will aggravate them further but if the committee sticks to it, I am confident the member will realise they’re fighting a losing battle and back down in due course.

Callum Wilson
The Strata Shepherd
E: info@thestratashepherd.com.au
P: 0431 925 908

This post appears in Strata News #714.

Question: Our committee seems to live by its own rules. Can a lot owner ask VCAT to remove this committee of three and put in an administrator?

Our committee seems to live by its own rules. I took them to VCAT about ten years ago for not making repairs and not responding to complaints about their and the manager’s lack of response. They didn’t respond to the VCAT application.

One observation by the VCAT member was that there were competency issues with the committee. Things have not changed since they repeatedly refused to discuss the VCAT findings and continued to breach model rules. The other owners do not seem interested. The cost to attend the VCAT from the UK was very high. Am I able to claim costs retrospectively? I held back previously with the thought that things would improve.

Can a lot owner ask VCAT to remove this committee of three and put in an administrator? The committee is reappointed each year due to a lack of interest from owners.

Answer: It will require substantial noncompliance with the obligations under the Owners Corporations Act for an administrator to be appointed.

An application for costs can be made after final orders are obtained unless the Tribunal made an order specifically about costs.

There is a general presumption that each party bear their own costs, so obtaining a costs order against an owners corporation is not a guarantee even if wholly successful in the proceeding. The Tribunal must decide whether it is fair to make an order.

As for administrator actions, it is difficult to obtain an order in circumstances where AGMs are being held and where there is an elected committee and appointed owners corporation manager. Just because a lot owner cannot get their way does not mean VCAT will interfere. It will require substantial noncompliance with the obligations under the Owners Corporations Act for an administrator to be appointed.

Your best strategy is to work on PR and get lot owners wanting to be involved and nominate for the committee. If you have a view that is not the majority view, it is up to you to get the majority on your side. Otherwise, you have to submit to the majority decisions or decide that owning a lot in an owners corporation is not for you.

VCAT should be used as a last resort due to the delays and costs of VCAT.

Phillip Leaman
Tisher Liner FC Law
E: ocenquiry@tlfc.com.au
P: 03 8600 9370

This post appears in the September 2024 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.

Question: Current committee members block owners from joining. The same members are on the committee year after year. How do we break this cycle?

If someone self-nominates for the committee at the AGM, is it valid for that nomination to be seconded from the floor? Unfortunately, some committee members continually block owners from joining even though our committee is under 12 members.

The same members are on the committee year after year. The committee requests nominations be submitted two months in advance so they can strategise how to prevent members from joining. How do we break this cycle?

Answer: The only way to get onto the committee is by the sheer weight of votes.

Committee nominations from the floor are completely valid. You cannot be excluded from nominating just because you haven’t completed a nomination form. The exception to this will be if there has been an OC resolution in the past specifying that committee nominations must be made in a particular way (i.e. via submission of nomination forms). However, such resolutions are rare.

It sounds like the only way to get yourself onto the committee is to rely on the sheer weight of votes. Even if your nomination is accepted at the meeting, the existing committee members could use their voting power to adjust the agreed number of committee members to exclude you. Try to gather support before the meeting (either through proxies or getting other owners ‘on your side’ to attend) so your faction can outvote the other when it comes to determining committee numbers and members.

Callum Wilson
The Strata Shepherd
E: info@thestratashepherd.com.au
P: 0431 925 908

This post appears in the July 2024 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.

Question: Our committee is dealing with a rogue chair. Is there anything we can do to ensure our Chair abides by the Act and manages the OC Committee’s business appropriately and through a democratic process?

I am a lot owner and member of our OC Committee. Together with a few other lot owners/OC Committee members, we find ourselves in the minority (by votes) due to the Chair going continually rogue, regularly bypassing consultation with the whole OC Committee for works undertaken and generally being dictatorial and unpleasant when questioned about unilateral decisions taken by him.

We are not getting a great deal of support from the OC management company. They state the Chair was duly elected at the AGM and that they as managers have no power to intervene to ensure that the Chair presides over the OC Committee in a manner expected from the Act.

Is there anything that can be done to ensure that our Chair abides by the Act and manages the OC Committee’s business appropriately and through a democratic process?

Answer: It is likely that the decisions being made by the chair are not valid.

The committee of management is elected at the AGM by owners and there the committee is delegated power to make ordinary resolutions for the owners corporation.

All committee members have an equal vote unless powers have been specifically delegated to the chairperson. The only extra power a chairperson has in relation to voting is the ability to make the casting vote in the event of a split vote. It is therefore likely that the decisions being made by the chair are not valid.

If you are concerned about the behaviour of the Chairperson, we suggest trying to speak to them first. If that does not work, you can remove the chairperson by a majority vote from the committee.

Please note if you vote to remove them as Chairperson, they will remain a committee member. In order to remove a committee member, you will need to vote to remove them at a general meeting of the owners corporation. The secretary, the manager acting on authority of the committee, or a lot owner nominated by owners whose lot entitlements total at least 25% of the total may call an SGM to do so.

Alex Smale
The Knight
Email

This post appears in Strata News #539.

Have a question about dealing with problem committee members in Victoria or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.

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