New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CO-OPERATIVE HOUSING AND STARR-BOWKETT SOCIETIES ACT 1998 - SECT 43

43 Appointment of administrator

(1) The Registrar may, by written notice, appoint an administrator to conduct the affairs of a co-operative housing body and may, by written notice, revoke the appointment.

(2) A notice of appointment must specify:

(a) the date of appointment, and

(b) the appointee’s name, and

(c) the appointee’s business address.

(3) If the appointee’s name or business address changes, the appointee must immediately give written notice of the change to the Registrar.

(4) The Registrar must not appoint an administrator unless:

(a) the Registrar is of the opinion that:

(i) the co-operative housing body has contravened this Act or its rules and, after being given written notice of the contravention by the Registrar, has allowed the contravention to continue or has again contravened this Act or those rules, or

(ii) the body is trading unprofitably or has an accumulated deficit in its accounts, or

(iii) the affairs of the body are being conducted in an improper or financially unsound way, or

(b) after making such inquiries in relation to the body as the Registrar considers appropriate, the Registrar is satisfied that it is in the interest of members or creditors that the body’s affairs be conducted by an administrator, or

(c) the Registrar has certified that:

(i) the body has not started business within a year of registration or has suspended or ceased to carry on business for a period of more than 6 months, or

(ii) an event (specified in the certificate) has happened on the happening of which the regulations or the body’s rules provide that the body is to be wound-up, or

(iii) there are, or have been for a period of 1 month immediately before the date of the certificate, insufficient directors of the body to constitute a quorum as provided by the body’s rules.

(5) On the appointment of an administrator of a co-operative housing body:

(a) the directors of the body cease to hold office, and

(b) all contracts of employment with, or for providing administrative or secretarial services to, the body are terminated, and

(c) the administrator may terminate any contract for providing other services to the body.

(6) An administrator of a co-operative housing body has the powers and functions of the board of the body, including the board’s powers of delegation.

(7) A director of a co-operative housing body must not be appointed or elected while the administrator is in office except as provided by this section.

(8) An administrator holds office until the administrator’s appointment is revoked.

(9) Immediately on the revocation of an administrator’s appointment, the administrator must prepare and submit a report to the Registrar showing how the administration was carried out, and for that purpose an administrator has access to the co-operative housing body’s records and documents.

(10) On providing the report and accounting fully in relation to the administration of the co-operative housing body to the satisfaction of the Registrar, the administrator is released from any further duty to account in relation to the administration of the body other than on account of fraud, dishonesty, negligence or wilful failure to comply with this Act.

(11) Before revoking an administrator’s appointment, the Registrar must:

(a) appoint another administrator, or

(b) appoint a liquidator, or

(c) ensure that directors have been appointed or elected under the co-operative housing body’s rules at a meeting called by the administrator under the rules, or

(d) appoint directors of the body.

(12) Directors elected or appointed under this section:

(a) take office on the revocation of the administrator’s appointment, and

(b) in the case of directors appointed under this section-hold office, subject to section 44 (Additional powers of Registrar), until the society’s next annual general meeting.

(13) The expenses of conducting a co-operative housing body’s affairs by an administrator are payable from the body’s funds.

(14) The expenses of conducting a co-operative housing body’s affairs include:

(a) if the administrator is not an officer of the Department of Fair Trading-remuneration of the administrator at a rate approved by the Registrar, or

(b) if the administrator is an officer of the Department of Fair Trading-the amount that the Registrar certifies should be paid to the Registrar as repayment of the administrator’s remuneration.

(15) An amount certified by the Registrar as the amount that should be paid to the Registrar as repayment of the administrator’s remuneration is a debt due to the Crown and may be sued for and recovered in a court having jurisdiction for the recovery of debts up to the amount concerned.

(16) An administrator has, in relation to the expenses of conducting a co-operative housing body’s affairs, the same priority on the winding-up of the body as the liquidator of the body has.

(17) If a co-operative housing body incurs any loss because of any fraud, dishonesty, negligence or wilful failure to comply with this Act or the body’s rules by an administrator, the administrator is liable for the loss. An administrator is not liable for any other loss but must account for the loss in a report given under this section.