Owners Corporation - the importance of proxies

If you are a member of an owners’ corporation, it’s important to check that the parties who speak and vote at an annual general meeting, special general meeting or committee meeting are legally entitled to do so.  A lot owner must be “financial” (i.e. their owners corporation fees must have been paid in full) to vote at an owners corporation meeting. This is required by the law governing owners corporations in Victoria, being the Owners Corporation Act 2006 (Vic).

If a lot owner cannot attend a meeting (in person or by telephone) then they can appoint a proxy or representative to attend and vote on their behalf.  A proxy form must be completed by the lot owner naming the person appointed as proxy, and state what matters the proxy can speak on and how they must vote.  Often a lot owner will appoint the owners corporation manager or another lot owner to vote on their behalf.

However, a proxy form does not operate indefinitely.  It lasts for 12 months only and must be renewed annually to be valid.  A proxy granted to one person cannot be transferred to another person as a substitute proxy.

A prudent owners corporation manager or secretary will always check the proxy forms held by an owners corporation are current before allowing a proxy to vote.  This is important when a vote is required to pass a resolution (i.e. make a decision) at an owners corporation meeting.

Speak to us today is you need to know more about how appointing a proxy works.

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Protection to “Small Businesses” from Unfair Contract Terms

Further to our blog of July 2015 on this topic, from 12 November 2016 a new law will come into operation which is aimed to protect small businesses from unfair terms in standard form contracts.  The law (Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015 (Cth)) will effect standard form contracts for the supply of goods or services and the sale or grant of an interest in land, where at least one of parties is a small business (employees less than 20 people) and where the upfront price payable is no more than  $300,000.00 or $1 million if the contract term extends beyond 12 months.

Examples of unfair terms include:

• terms which enable a party (but not the other party) to avoid or limit their obligations;
• terms which enable a party (but not the other party) to terminate the contract;
• terms that penalise a party (but not the other party) for breaching the contract; and
• terms that enable a party (but not the other party) to unilaterally vary the terms of the contract.

Unfortunately, it will be up to the courts to determine whether a term is unfair.  That is, it is not the role of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to make a determination on whether a clause in a contract is fair or unfair.

The effect of a term being determined “unfair” will render that term void.  However, the balance of the contract should continue to bind the parties to the extent that the contract is capable of operating without the unfair terms.

It should be noted that certain contracts are excluded from the operation of the law, which include, constitutions of companies, managed investment schemes and certain insurance contracts amongst others.

We suggest clients review their standard form contracts for compliance.


Please contact our Commercial team today if you would like to know more.

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Buying real estate? Do your research first

When considering the purchase of residential or commercial property, it’s critical you do your market research so you don’t pay too much.  We often suggest to prospective purchasers to subscribe to a property market research service, such as CoreLogic RP Data (www.corelogic.com.au) or Australian Property Monitors (www.apm.com.au) on a month to month basis, for a fee.

Knowing the market is important when bidding at an auction or making an offer to purchase in a private sale campaign.  A market research service can provide you with:

• comparative sales information;
• how long a property has been marketed (i.e. number of days on the market);
• details of the marketing campaign, including changes made to the campaign such as changes made to the price listed, etc; and
• historical sales and rental prices.

Some mortgage brokers can provide you with a report for a particular property without you needing to pay a monthly subscription cost to access this information from a market research provider. Talk to our property team today if you would like to know more.

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