“Unprecedented times” – the phrase that keeps showing up on news feeds, social media platforms and in conversations the world over. With our nation, and many others around the world, facing severe restrictions on movement and physical interaction with others, we are being forced to adapt and find new ways of doing things.
While some find doing old things in new ways quite exciting, others (usually the more traditional among us) are not quite so enthused. We were recently forced (due to the nationwide lockdown) to present a workshop for one of our online short courses via the online platform “Zoom”, rather than in person, and I was surprised by the number of students who were so uncomfortable with the idea of attending a workshop online, that they chose to delay completion of their course by four months, just to be able to attend the workshop in person, rather than digitally. This experience made me realise that many trustees may also be uncomfortable with the idea of attending trustee meetings remotely and I thought I would answer some frequently asked questions, to help set those minds at ease and encourage remote attendance during this time.
Q: May we hold trustee meetings without meeting in person?
A: Yes, Prescribed Management Rule 11(5) specifically allows trustees to attend these meetings remotely. Trustees do not have to be in the same room to form a quorum.
Q: What platform should we use to host these meetings?
A: You can use any platform that can be accessed by all trustees, members, registered bondholders, holders of future development rights and the managing agent, which allows those participating in the meeting to communicate with one another. In addition, the platform should enable the chairperson to confirm the identity of the participants with reasonable certainty. Therefore, while it would arguably be preferable to use a platform where the participants can see one another (like Zoom or Skype for example), this is not an absolute requirement and any platform that allows the participants to hear one another clearly (like a conference call) will do.
Q: Should we rather postpone our trustee meetings until after the lockdown period?
A: No. If you have previously drawn a resolution, setting the dates of future meetings, you should abide by the resolution and (at least attempt to) have the scheduled meetings. If you have not prescheduled your trustee meetings, but need to have one, remember to give all trustees the required 7 days written notice (unless of course the meeting is urgent, in which case you could give shorter notice as required). If you are going to try to host the meeting on any particular platform for the first time, try to keep to the 7 day notice period unless absolutely necessary – thereby giving all trustees enough time to download the relevant app and test it out before the meeting.
Should you have any other questions related to remote attendance of meetings or if you are a trustee interested in broadening your knowledge by completing an online short course during this time spent in isolation, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Article reference: Paddocks Press: Volume 15, Issue 4.
Specialist Community Scheme Attorney (BA (Law) LLB), Ané de Klerk, combines her work experience as a Portfolio Manager with knowledge of conveyancing and community scheme law.
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
5 Comments.
I would like to ask about a planned AGM and what are the options — does one have to have a virtual meeting with owners or can the Trustees togeter with the MA simply send out the documentaion with specific recommendations and ask owners to approve or otherwise via e-mail ?
1: Will he Trustees have to give due notice to all members.
2: Will the Trustees have to allow all members to attend the online meeting
3:How will minutes of the meeting be recorded especially as to resolutions
Hi Ané
What about the AGM. Could this be held on Zoom
In reference to Graham Pirie’s question, I’d be very interested to hear a response regarding the legalities of holding an AGM via correspondence where the Trustees and Managing Agents have stated that will be “unable to form a Quorum” but wish to proceed by merely asking to owners to comment on the Traditional AGM pack that is circulated.
Furthermore, the document pack provided does not clearly state what the resolutions are that the Trustees are seeking a decision on and the proposed process has provided no feedback loop for the owners to query and/or raise issues for additional information prior to the owners being requested to vote whether they are in favour of the “resolution or not”. It has been left to the Managing Agents “experienced and qualified minds in our office” to decide when additional input will be sought by owners, based on the responses received to the document pack, which they will write up as minutes?
An example of this is we’ve be asked to “approve the auditors for the forthcoming year” (in favour/against) but no where in the documents do the Trustees indicate who they want to appoint and one is lead infer it would be the current auditors.
Reading between the lines there appears to be some dissension in the building between the new and old guard owners (currently the Trustees) and I am concerned that this proposed process is leaving the BC open to a legal challenge at a later date.
Any thoughts – my concerns have been labelled a criticism by the Managing Agent and essentially dismissed
As Chairperson of Erandio complex in Sinoville, I requested a virtual meeting but 65% of the owners voted against it. May we persone it until Lock-down is over or what else can we do?