Corporate Living Rules !

The ever increasing cost of housing is forcing more people to abandon the idea of living in a free standing house with its own backyard - and embracing the cheaper option of an apartment in a multi story building.  The state government has recently implemented changes to the strata laws that govern how body corporates rule the lives of those living under their control.

One of those changes was a reduction in the number of approvals by owners necessary to have an old apartment building demolished and replaced.  It used to be one hundred percent, but now seventy-five percent applies and so owners have a need to be represented whenever their board of management holds a meeting.

Sadly, a lot of people have an aversion to attending that dreaded "Annual General Meeting " that applies to all body corporates.  Many AGM's actually battle to achieve a legal quorum and consequently the decision making is in the hands of very few people.  In some cases this devolves into a form of management tyranny.

It is the body corporate that decides the rules that apply.   In the past, some buildings had a fanatical opposition to any form of pets - and that refusal even applied to a small caged bird or goldfish.  Parking of cars on common property was always highly contentious, as was both the placement and management of rubbish bins on commercial premises.   Smoking bans are one of the newer areas of contention.

The governments revision of strata laws sought to make them fairer.   Where one owner has a number of units in a building the placement of a commission agent on the board to represent that owners is now illegal.  Unfortunately, some management cliques are implementing plans to subvert those laws so that they can dominate the decision making for the building.

One of these strategies is what is known as "proxy harvesting ".   Using the confidential records of the body corporate to access email addresses to enable an approach to be made to solicit the awarding of a proxy vote for one of the selected members of that management group.   Owners not in the habit of personally attending body corporate meetings are particularly vulnerable to this ploy.

Where management rests in the hands of a wealthy group of owners, decisions on spending may seriously disadvantage those with lesser means.  Building maintenance and the issue of managing the lawns and gardens are often a divisive issue.

The government is promising to crack down on efforts to subvert or ignore the intention of the new rules in place to deliver wider representation.   Perhaps the biggest need is to convince those who lack the confidence to attend formal meetings or who put their trust in the decision making honesty of others that it is in their interests to attend AGM's.

That is something that can not be achieved by legislation !