Voting and resolutions

Body corporate voting, counted the way the Act says

A body corporate counts votes in value, by participation quota, and counts special and unanimous resolutions in number as well. Estate Manager runs the vote at the meeting: the chair opens one poll at a time, owners vote from a phone, proxies follow their instructions, and every result records the rule that decided it.

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PMR 20(1)(b) Ordinary: a majority in valueSection 1 Special: 75 per cent in value and numberSection 6(6) Value follows the quotas

The chair's console in the dark theme with a poll open on a special resolution and 9 of 14 members present or represented voted, beside an owner's ballot on a phone. — A poll in progress: the chair sees how many have voted, never how anyone voted.

The same, on a phone. — A poll in progress: the chair sees how many have voted, never how anyone voted.

Ordinary, special and unanimous resolutions

What each resolution needs under the Act and the prescribed management rules. Value follows the participation quotas, and number is one vote per member.

Resolution	Passes with	Counted in	Notice	Source
Ordinary	A majority of the votes of the members present and voting	Value	14 days	PMR 20(1)(b), PMR 15(1)
Special	At least 75 per cent of the votes of the members represented	Value and number	30 days, unless the rules provide for shorter notice	Section 1, section 6(2)
Unanimous	Every vote cast in favour, with at least 80 per cent of all the votes present or represented	Value and number	30 days, unless the rules provide for shorter notice	Section 1, section 6(2)
Special, in writing	Agreed in writing by members holding at least 75 per cent of all the votes	Value and number	No meeting	Section 1
Unanimous, in writing	Agreed in writing by all the members	All members	No meeting	Section 1

Estate Manager counts resolutions taken at a meeting. It leaves abstentions out of an ordinary resolution and counts them as not in favour of a special one. A tie is not a majority.

The chair's console

One screen for the chair, one poll at a time

The console shows the live quorum, who is connected and every resolution on the agenda. Voting runs only while the meeting is in progress and quorate. The chair opens one poll at a time and sees how many members have voted, in value and in number, never how anyone voted.

Closing the poll counts the votes at once and records the votes for, against and abstaining, in value and in number, with the rule, the outcome and the reason. A meeting with an open poll cannot close or adjourn.

PMR 19(1) No business without a quorumPMR 20(8) Each result announced

The chair console with a closed poll on an ordinary resolution, passed, with its votes in value and in number beside the live quorum. — A closed poll, with the rule that decided it.

Voting from a phone

Owners vote from a phone, in the room or online

Estate Manager runs in the browser, with nothing to install. An owner attending online checks in for their own units and the proxies they hold, and votes once the chair has confirmed who they are. Owners in the room vote the same way.

The ballot shows the resolution, its type and the rule that passes it. One choice can cover every owner the member represents. A vote can change until the poll closes, and then every owner sees the result in value and in number, with nobody's choice on it.

PMR 17(10), 17(11) Online attendance counts as present

An owner's attendance on a phone: present electronically, identity confirmed at 20:57, with a link to join the meeting online. — Check in online, then vote for every owner you represent.

Proxy votes

Proxies vote as the owner instructed

A proxy holder votes for the owner they represent, with that owner's weight, and where the owner gave an instruction the ballot offers only that choice. While the register shows an owner represented by proxy, the owner's own vote is closed, so no owner counts twice.

Joint owners, companies and trusts have one vote, cast by the person the register names. A tenant votes only as an owner's proxy.

Section 6(5) In person or by proxyPMR 20(7) One vote for joint owners

How proxies are appointed

A proxy holder's ballot on a special resolution for the owner whose proxy they hold, with the vote recorded as For at 21:22, above the result of the first resolution. — A proxy holder's vote for the owner they represent, recorded with its time.

Results certificates

A certificate for every resolution

Each closed poll has a certificate: the scheme and meeting, the resolution's text, type, proposer and seconder, the votes for, against and abstaining in value and in number, the rule and its source, the outcome, and the chair who closed the poll. It prints on one A4 page with a line for the chair's signature.

Where a special resolution passed with members holding less than half of all the votes in value, the certificate notes the week's wait before it is acted on.

PMR 20(8) The votes for and againstPMR 20(9) The week's wait

A results certificate in the dark theme for a special resolution on a perimeter security upgrade, with the meeting, the poll's times, the proposer, the seconder and the text of the resolution. — The certificate keeps what the minutes must record about each result.

What the law says

How a body corporate votes

Votes follow sections 1 and 6 of the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act and prescribed management rules 19 and 20. A scheme's own rules may differ where the law allows.

General information, not legal advice.

Section 6(6), 6(7)

Value and number

In value, a member's vote is the total of the participation quotas of their sections, unless a rule made under section 10(2) sets another value. In number, each member has one vote.

Sectional Titles Act, s32

Where quotas come from

In a scheme used only for residential purposes, a section's quota is its floor area over that of all the sections, each to the nearest square metre, as a percentage to four decimal places. A section of 90 square metres in a scheme whose sections total 1,800 square metres has 5.0000 per cent. In other schemes the developer sets the quotas, and in a partly residential scheme the total the developer gives the residential sections is shared among them by floor area.

PMR 19(1), 19(2)

Quorum first

No business without a quorum: members entitled to vote, present or represented, holding one third of all the votes in value, with at least two persons present, or two thirds in a scheme with fewer than four primary sections or members.

PMR 20(1)

Ordinary resolutions

A motion needs no seconder. Unless it is a special or unanimous resolution, it passes by a majority of the votes, calculated in value, of the members present and voting.

Section 1

Special and unanimous resolutions

Special: at least 75 per cent of the votes of the members represented, in value and in number. Unanimous: at least 80 per cent of all the votes present or represented, in value and in number, and all the members who cast their votes do so in favour.

PMR 20(8), 20(9), 20(10)

The result, and the week's wait

The chair announces each result with the votes for and against. A special resolution passed by members holding less than half of all the votes in value waits a week, unless the trustees find immediate action needed for safety or to prevent significant loss, and within seven days members holding at least a quarter of all the votes in value may, by a written and signed request delivered to the body corporate, require a special general meeting to reconsider it.

Free tools

Check a quorum or a vote

Two small calculators apply the same rules Estate Manager applies at a meeting.

Quorum calculator

Whether the members present or represented make a quorum, in value and in persons.

PMR 19(2)Check a quorum

Resolution calculator

Whether an ordinary, special or unanimous resolution passed, in value and in number.

STSMA s1Check a vote

Free template

Results certificate

The certificate Estate Manager prints when a poll closes, as a blank to complete by hand. It records what rule 27(2)(a) asks the minutes to keep about each result, with a line for the chair's signature.

Download the results certificate

PDF

results-certificate.pdfPDF · free download

The scheme, its SS number and the meeting
The resolution's number, text, type, proposer and seconder
Votes for, against and abstaining, in value and in number
The rule applied, the outcome and any note
The chair's name, the time the poll closed and a signature line

Questions

Questions about body corporate voting

Anything else: ask us when you book a demo, or write to info@nanotech-computers.com.

What is the difference between an ordinary and a special resolution?

An ordinary resolution passes by a majority of the votes, in value, of the members present and voting (rule 20(1)(b)). A special resolution needs at least 75 per cent of the votes represented, in value and in number, and 30 days' notice of its wording (sections 1 and 6(2)). Changing the conduct rules, for example, takes a special resolution (section 10(2)).

What is a participation quota, and what does it decide?

The percentage given to each section on the sectional plan. It sets the owner's undivided share in the common property (section 32(3) of the Sectional Titles Act), their share of the levies (section 3(1)(f) of the Act) and the value of their vote (section 6(6)). Estate Manager checks that the quotas in the register total 100 per cent.

Can an owner in arrears vote?

Usually, yes. Arrears alone do not remove a vote. A member loses the vote on ordinary resolutions only after failing to pay an amount a court or adjudicator ordered, or persisting in a breach of the conduct rules after such an order (rule 20(2)). The Community Schemes Ombud Service (CSOS) lists rules that withhold votes for unpaid levies as undesirable.

Can owners vote before the meeting?

Not in Estate Manager. Votes are cast during the meeting while the chair has the poll open, and can change until it closes. An owner who cannot attend appoints a proxy, with an instruction on each resolution if they wish, and the proxy's vote must follow it.

Can anyone see how an owner voted?

No. While a poll is open, the chair sees how many members have voted, in value and in number. Once it closes, everyone sees the totals. No screen, results certificate or set of minutes in Estate Manager shows how a member voted.

Can members pass a resolution in writing?

Yes. A special resolution can be agreed in writing by members holding at least 75 per cent of all the votes, in value and in number, and a unanimous resolution by all the members (section 1). Such a written resolution is often called a round-robin resolution. In Estate Manager the managers put one to the members with a closing date, each owner's voting member agrees and signs in the app or on paper, and it passes once the agreements reach what the law asks of all the votes.

What it does not do

Every voter uses their own sign-in. The chair cannot record a vote for an owner present without one, so invite owners before the meeting.
The developer's votes are not left out of the count automatically. The body corporate, once the register marks it, neither attends nor votes. A member who lost the vote on ordinary resolutions under rule 20(2) is barred once the managers record the court's or adjudicator's order on the owner.
Votes are weighed by participation quota, or by the values that a rule of the scheme under section 10(2) attaches to them, which the register records for each unit.

See a vote counted in value and in number

A demo runs a poll on a fictional scheme from the chair's console, with owners voting from their phones and a proxy following its instructions.