‘Can a husband and wife both be on the executive committee,’ writes Kenuppa on the Forum.
The simple answer is yes in NSW, but no in Victoria and Queensland. However, as with all things in StrataLand, it’s never as straightforward as that.
Firstly, in all states, an owner can nominate him or herself for election to the EC or they can nominate someone else.
That said, an owner can’t nominate another owner if they are standing for election themselves and a co-owner can’t nominate him or herself.
Co-owners can nominate other co-owners, as long as they aren’t standing for election too.
But generally speaking, any owner who isn’t standing for election can nominate anyone they like, even non-owners.
This is how that might work in NSW. Mr and Mrs Bloggs live and own in the same building as Jo Blow. Mr Grumpy has an investment unit there, with a long-term tenant called Jeff.
Mr Bloggs wants to be on the EC but, as a co-owner, he can’t nominate himself for election. He asks Mrs Bloggs to nominate him, which would be OK but she also wants to be on the EC so she’s not allowed to do that.
Instead they both get neighbour Jo to nominate them – she can nominate as many people as she likes, provided she’s entitled to vote (i.e. she’s paid her levies).
Meanwhile Mr Grumpy reckons all the other owners are idiots and, since he can nominate anyone he likes, he proposes his tenant, Jeff, if only to irritate them.
At the AGM, the Owners Corp first has to decide how many seats there will be on the EC – anywhere between one and nine in NSW – then if there are more nominations than seats, they hold an election. If the nominations are the same as, or fewer than the number of seats, the nominees are elected unchallenged.
Anyone who didn’t want any specific person to be on the EC, would have to nominate more candidates to force a vote, otherwise, all the nominees walk on to the EC, apathy rules and the grumbling begins.
But, to be honest, the issue of too many people from one family being on ECs is usually less of a problem than too few people from strata buildings putting themselves up for election.
In Victoria things are a bit different, you can’t have more than one representative from a single lot in the strata committee which excludes one or other of a co-owning couple. There the committee can be from three to 12 in number. Owners can self-nominate and nominees must be an owner or hold a proxy for an owner. Owners who are in arrears with their levies can’t nominate and if they fall behind with payments while they are in office, they are suspended until the debt is paid.
In Queensland, co-owners are also forbidden from being committee members at the same time but owners can nominate representatives of up to three lots. Certain strata professionals are excluded from membership (see this factsheet) and there are other restriction and inclusions. In Queensland the committee must have no fewer than three voting members and no more than seven.
You can red the original question and responses HERE.