General meetings, other than AGMs, should be held when needed.
There are two ways to arrange for a general meeting:
- the Secretary or strata committee can convene an extraordinary general meeting at any time, or
- if owners entitled to vote, who together hold at least a quarter of the total unit entitlements, ask for a meeting in writing.
The secretary of the owners corporation, or another officer if the secretary is absent, must convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation as soon as practicable, and not later than 14 days after, receiving a qualified request*.
*A request is a “qualified request”, for the purposes of section 19 of the Act, if it is made by one or more owners of a lot or lots in the strata scheme having a total unit entitlement of at least one-quarter of the aggregate unit entitlements.
Calling an extraordinary general meeting – The secretary refuses to convene a meeting
The Tribunal may, on application by an owners corporation or an owner or mortgagee of a lot in a strata scheme, order a person to convene and hold a meeting of the owners corporation within the time specified in the order if a meeting has not been convened and held in accordance with this Act. (Section 20)
The person who is to convene and hold the meeting is to be a person nominated by the applicant, or appointed by the Tribunal, who has consented to the nomination or appointment.
Please note it is a requirement of NCAT that the applicant must provide evidence of attempted mediation in a Section 20 application to the tribunal.
Note: The process of seeking and obtaining adjudicator’s orders in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (“NCAT”) can take from 3-6 months, or longer.
Calling an extraordinary general meeting requires a written notice of a meeting must, at least 7 days before the meeting, be given to each owner. (Schedule 1, section 7)
