If maintenance work is above the Committee Spending Limit, set at $200.00 x the number of lots unless this has been changed at a General Meeting, and is required to be included as a motion at a General Meeting, whether Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) the number of quotes that is required to accompany the motion will be determined by the “Major Spending Limit”.
Under the Definition Schedule of the Body Corporate and Community Management (Standard Regulation Module) Regulation “relevant limit for major spending” is defined as:
relevant limit for major spending, for a community titles scheme, means—
- the amount last set as the relevant limit for major spending by ordinary resolution of the body corporate at a general meeting; or
- at any time there is no amount set, the lesser of the following amounts—
- an amount worked out by multiplying $1,100 by-
- for a principal scheme in a layered arrangement of community titles schemes—the number of layered lots for the scheme; or
- for another scheme—the number of lots included in the scheme;
- $10,000.
- an amount worked out by multiplying $1,100 by-
Therefore, if no amount has been set by ordinary resolution at a General Meeting and the default remains at either $1,100.00 x the number of lots or $10,000, whichever is the lesser amount, maintenance work OVER this limit requires that 2 quotes, at a minimum, be obtained and included.
What is NOT included in legislation is an onus on the Committee or the Body Corporate to endlessly seek quotes to ensure that the “cheapest” quotes are obtained – this was raised in an adjudicators order by the applicant as one of a few reasons why a motion passed at a general meeting should not be implemented.
The adjudicator noted perhaps cheaper quotes could have been obtained, but there is no obligation on a committee or body corporate to endlessly seek them, indeed the legislation specifically provides that two quotations are sufficient in the ordinary course. Owners are free to defeat a spending motion if they are unsatisfied with the provided quotations, and they are free to seek and propose other quotations themselves.