What happens if I can't attend my apartments Annual General Meeting (AGM)?

SUMMARY: 

If you can’t attend your AGM, you can get someone to attend on your that person with a proxy form can have input or alternatively a proxy form can be emailed/posted to the committee.

As an owner you will be notified when the meeting is earlier on in the year and then closer to the date of the meeting you will be notified of the meeting minutes.

From there you can add other suggestions for the minutes as well as either getting a representative or proxy from to the committee so you can have your say.

After the meeting there will be Body Corporate meeting minutes that you will have access to and you will continue to be up to date with what is going on in your building.

TRANSCRIPTION:

What happens if you cannot attend your Annual General Meeting for your apartment complex? You could be a person that is about to purchase, and you know you are not going to attend them i.e. you are overseas, or you are out of Auckland, or you simply just cannot make it. How do you stay in touch with what is happening with your apartment and your complex, and still have your say?

Good day, it is Andrew Murray here from Apartment Specialists. Today, we'll be talking about what an owner can do to make sure that they know what is going on in the building. If they cannot attend the Annual General Meeting. What happens is, about two weeks before an Annual General Meeting, it will be announced. When it is going to be happening before that but they will send out what is called an agenda. The agenda will include all the topics that will be tackled at the Annual General Meeting. In this case, which I would have called April AGM. Which is also the abbreviation through this podcast.

In the agenda, we will know that they are going to be talking about the manager's report. What has been happening in the year. Then they are going to be talking about certain decisions. For example, is there certain maintenance that needs to occur.  An example maybe they are thinking about heating the pool and that is going to come at an extra cost to all the owners. Because it means it is going to have to be rebuilt and all that kind of thing. Everybody has to take a vote on whether they should or should not heat the pool.

There could be lengthy issues that need to be discussed - a whole host of things. So, this will all be in the agenda and it will be posted out to you or emailed. Therefore, whether you are going to attend the AGM or not, you can go open that agenda so you're prepared for the AGM when it comes. Now, if you can't make that AGM, there are two options. The first option is you can assign what is called your proxy, which means your vote to a friend, family or real estate agent.

Somebody you trust to go and represent your opinion at that AGM, and voice or vote however you want to vote. Or you can post in a proxy form, which fills out basically what your decisions are on what they call motions. For example, that pool  which I mentioned before. What is your opinion on it?  You may not live in the complex and you do not think it is going to increase the rent for your tenants.

Now, why should you have to pay for any of the pool if you are not going to use it. It is going to bring no benefit to you. Your opinion may be no and you would tick on that particular motion. Your decision is no and you may have something that you want to bring up because your tenants have been complaining about behaviour or noise in the complex, or the tidiness of the rubbish room. You want to voice that opinion, so you would put that in the proxy form.

Anyway, I hope that helps and to just let you know there is a system in place for you to be able to be heard and still keep an eye on what is going on in that Annual General Meeting. After the Annual General Meeting, what will happen is you will get posted out or emailed out the latest body corporate minutes. You can then read through what has been happening in your building. You can still keep up-to-date with what is going on.

If you have any questions just put a comment below or flick me an email to [email protected].

Cheers.