What should your Body Corporate Committee be doing?
A body corporate committee is made up of your fellow owners or the people who act for them. It’s the body corporate committee’s responsibility to act on your behalf for all body corporate business. You will have the opportunity to vote or to run for the committee positions on an annual basis and we would encourage you to get involved.
The committee is a volunteer position but an important one as the committee makes important decisions about the running of the body corporate. It’s important that this task is done with the best interests of the scheme at heart, so being involved gives you the opportunity to make sure that everyone’s rights and responsibilities are protected.
The Body Corporate committee is in charge of:
• Looking after the administrative and day-to-day running of the body corporate
• Making decisions on behalf of the body corporate
• Putting the lawful decisions of the body corporate into place
The Body Corporate Committee can make decisions by calling a committee meeting or by voting outside of a committee meeting. Your committee will have a minimum of three and a maximum of seven members, depending on the size of your scheme.
Committee members each has specific tasks which are as follows:
The Chairperson
The chairperson facilitates the smooth running of each meeting in line with state legislation.
There are set protocols they must follow as they keep everything in order and ensure that meeting guidelines are adhered to. Your chairperson can advise you of the right protocols to follow if you would like to contribute to a meeting.
The Treasurer
This is an important role as it involves the management of the scheme’s finances. There are strict legislative rules and protocols to follow as the treasurer keeps accurate accounts and balances the budget. The Treasurer assists the committee in the payment of bills to service providers and ensures that the schemes finances are in good shape.
Elected committee members
As elected members, the committee make decisions on your behalf. They will meet regularly to discuss scheme business and will organise for all the members to vote on decisions when the legislation requires it. The committee will inform you through the secretary when the body corporate is meeting and when you are required to vote on important decisions.
How your committee members should act?
There is a set behavioural code set out by the body corporate governing body. The code requires the voting members to:
- try to develop an understanding of the law and the code
- act honestly, fairly and with confidentiality
- act in the body corporate’s best interests
- comply with the law and the code
- not cause a nuisance
- disclose a conflict of interest
In essence, it’s all about acting neighbourly and supporting the rights and responsibilities of all of the lot owners. The easiest way to operate a body corporate committee is to have a clear understanding of what your role is and to be fair in all of your dealings with body corporate business and with your fellow owners.
If you would like to know and understand the responsibilities of all of the stakeholders in your strata community, we have created a new strata guide titled “Who’s Responsible?” In this guide you can learn about each of the roles in detail and it will help you in understanding the best way to live and enjoy your strata life.
