More and more, when reviewing Adjudicators orders, we are seeing a trend of requests for motions to be invalidated is upheld – on the basis that the motions were not valid in accordance with the legislation.

In November 2017, we wrote an article around how motions should be submitted to ensure that they are valid and correctly presented and thought it was timely to refresh everyone on this information.

Hartley’s Body Corporate Management have created a Fact Sheet on “How to Prepare a Motion” that is distributed to all Owners at the same time we send out the Invitation to Owners to submit Motions & Committee Nominations prior to the end of the financial year. This Fact Sheet sets out advice from the Commissioners Office on what owners should do to submit a motion that has been prepared properly.

The advice is to ensure the motion is C.L.E.A.R:

Concise – are you clearly and concisely explaining what should happen so the body corporate can adopt the proposal without any further decisions?
Legal – does the proposal have to meet any special requirements under the body corporate legislation or any other legislation (e.g. building regulations?)
Economic – can any action required by the motion be paid for? Are there funds in the budget or will a special levy have to be raised? Instead of submitting 1 motion, should 2 quotes and 2 alternative motions be submitted?
Action-based – is there a clear action to be taken? Is a timeframe set?
Realistic – can the proposed action be achieved? Is it something that other owners are likely to support?

The full fact sheet can be read here.

The website of the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate also contains information in regards to the preparation of motions – which can be accessed:
– https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-corporate/committees-meetings/general-meetings/submitting-motions
– https://www.qld.gov.au/law/housing-and-neighbours/body-corporate/committees-meetings/general-meetings/drafting-motions