INFORMATION

Committee meetings

Attending committee meetings

As an observer

Lot owners or their representatives can attend committee meetings as observers.

There is no obligation to attend committee meetings. Owners and their representatives who wish to attend do so as observers.

Who can attend

  • An owner of a lot.
  • A representative of an owner.
  • Any other person, but only if the committee invites them to the meeting.

§ 55(1): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)

Telling the secretary you will attend

Tell the secretary in writing that you intend to attend. Your notice must reach the secretary at least 24 hours before the meeting start time.

Notify attendance

Each observer must notify the secretary individually. This applies to every person watching, even when several people watch together on one screen. We can only admit and record observers we know about, so anyone who has not notified the secretary may not be admitted.

§ 55(2): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)

Attending as a representative

If you are attending for someone else, your notice must also include:

  • your home or business address;
  • which type of representative you are under the regulation's categories;
  • the name of the owner you represent;
  • if you are not already recorded on the body corporate roll as that owner's representative, written proof that the owner has asked you to attend for them.

§ 55(3): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)

Online attendance

Committee meetings are usually held in person, with committee members attending in person. Observers attend electronically. Where electronic attendance is available, the link is sent only after the secretary confirms your notice.

§ 55(4) & 55(5): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)

What observers can and cannot do

  • Observe the meeting.
  • Speak only if the committee invites you to. That invitation can be withdrawn at any time.
  • Speaking without an invitation may lead the chairperson to ask you to leave, and you must comply.
  • Observers do not vote and cannot move or second motions.

§ 55(8–11): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)

Items observers may be asked to step out for

For some matters, the committee can decide that observers must leave while the item is discussed and voted on. These matters are generally limited to:

  • a by-law breach;
  • starting legal action, where that decision is the committee's to make;
  • legal action against the body corporate;
  • a dispute between the body corporate and an owner or occupier, the body corporate manager, or the caretaking contractor.

Where the committee decides observers must step out, these items are grouped together towards the end of the meeting. Observers are asked to leave once, rather than stepping out and rejoining several times.

Observers may also be asked to step out while the committee decides whether an observer can stay for one of these items.

Some matters are not on this list but still concern an individual's personal or financial circumstances – for example, a lot owner's account or a payment arrangement. The committee deals with these in a way that does not disclose an individual's private details while observers are present, including by reaching them once observers have stepped out and by redacting details from the meeting papers.

§ 55(6–8): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)

Attendance by the Caretaking Service Contractor

The scheme's caretaking contractor is a non-voting member of the committee. This is set by the regulation – it is not an appointment the committee makes or a vote it holds. The contractor is entitled to attend committee meetings and usually attends in person.

The contractor does not have a vote and is not counted towards a quorum. The committee may ask for the contractor's input on matters within their work, and values it, but decisions are made by the voting members.

Like observers, the contractor may be asked to step out for certain matters – including a dispute involving the contractor, and any discussion of the contractor's own engagement or letting authorisation.

§ 13, § 54, and § 52(3): Body Corporate and Community Management (Accommodation Module) Regulation 2020 (Qld)