Villas St Croix [2002] QBCCMCmr 3 (8 January 2002)

C G YOUNGREFERENCE: 0621-2001

ORDER OF AN ADJUDICATOR

MADE UNDER PART 10 OF CHAPTER 6

BODY CORPORATE AND COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT ACT 1997

Number of Scheme:	26654
Name of Scheme:	Villas St Croix
Address of Scheme:	2/ 52 Cronin Avenue MAIN BEACH QLD 4217

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to an application made under the abovementioned Act by Lawrence Clifford PATON and Sonia Lesley PATON, as the co-owners of Lot 2,

C G YOUNGI hereby order that -

1.	Sonia Lesley PATON of Lot 2 is appointed Administrator to call and chair an annual general meeting of “Villas St Croix” in accordance with this order and within three (3) months of the date of this order.

2.	The Administrator will hold appointment for the period beginning from the date of this order until the close of the meeting ordered to be held.

I further order that within seven (7) days the Administrator must give a copy of this order to the owner of Lot 1.

I further order that –

(1)	For the purpose of calling and chairing the meeting, the Administrator shall have all the powers of the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the body corporate, and of the committee, with the exception of the following powers -

• to further delegate any of those powers to another person; or

• to incur any expenditure apart from that necessary for the calling and holding of the meeting, except in regard to expenses that must necessarily be met and are capable of being authorised and incurred by a committee under the legislation.

(2)	Executive members of the committee shall be chosen in accordance with section 11(4) of the Body Corporate and Community Management (Standard Module) Regulation 1997.

(3)	The Administrator must upon receipt of this order give at least two (2) weeks written notice for owners to submit motions for inclusion on the agenda of the meeting.

(4)	The meeting must consider and determine the matters set out in section 62(3) of the Standard Module.

(5)	The meeting shall be otherwise called and held as an annual general meeting in accordance with the Act, particularly sections 42 and 45 of the Standard Module, and all other provisions relating to meetings under Part 4 of the Standard Module.

(6)	The meeting may consider any other motion before it.

(7)	The Administrator must not give notice of the meeting to owners earlier than twenty-one (21) days from the date of this order.

I further order that the meeting shall be deemed to be the First Annual General Meeting for the scheme.

C G YOUNG 2yn
STATEMENT OF ADJUDICATOR’S REASONS FOR DECISION - REF 0621-2001

“Villas St Croix” CTS 26654

The applicants, Lawrence and Sonia Paton of Lot 2, have sought the following order of an adjudicator under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (“the Act”), quote -

“That the first annual general meeting be convened, chaired by Sonia Paton.”

Relevant Legislative Provisions:

The administrator has the powers given to the administrator under the order (section 248(2)). Section 248(3) provides that the order may –

(a)	withdraw all or particular stated powers from the body corporate (and any delegate of the body corporate) or from stated officers of the body corporate until the administrator has taken the necessary action to secure compliance with the obligations; and
(b)	require officers or delegates of the body corporate to take stated action to help perform the work the administrator is required to perform; and
(c)	fix the administrator’s remuneration.

An order appointing an administrator may be the only order the adjudicator makes for an application (section 223(4)(a)). An adjudicator’s order may contain ancillary or consequential provisions the adjudicator considers necessary or appropriate (section 230(1)).

If the original owner does not call and hold the first annual general meeting as required by the section, the order of an adjudicator under the dispute resolution provisions may include an order appointing a person to call the first annual general meeting within a stated time (section 62(4)). The agenda for the meeting must include the items set out in section 62(3) of the Standard Module.


Circumstances of the Body Corporate:

The applicants have enclosed with their application copies of correspondence between their solicitor, Shane Ellis Lawyer, and the solicitors for the vendors, Rapp Yarwood Lawyers, for a period of over a year from their purchase of the lot in January 2000. The applicants believe that information supplied in the Information Statement to them was false. The owners have not received any body corporate records from the vendors or other party and it appears likely from the absence of records and the correspondence, that no first annual general meeting was ever held nor any records compiled.

The applicants were advised by administrative staff of this office that if they believed they relied on certain information given to them by the vendors, and that information misstated the actual position of the body corporate, then they would have to pursue the matter privately with the vendors. This office was able to assist them to the extent of facilitating the holding of a meeting to be deemed to be the first annual general meeting, which will allow the body corporate to re-establish itself as a functioning body including the establishment of proper body corporate records.

A copy of the application was forwarded to the co-owners of the other lot, Robert and Monique Verstreken of Lot 1, who have made a written submission agreeing to the matter being resolved.

In the circumstances I am satisfied that an order should be made in the terms authorised by section 62(4) of the Standard Module, for a meeting, deemed to be the first annual general meeting, to be held.

2n2y