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31 May What is a quorum?

Posted at 06:15h in Property by

The Sectional Title Act states clearly that a general meeting of owners will not proceed if a quorum is not present. A quorum is the number of attendees required at the annual general meeting for the meeting to proceed, be it in person or by proxy.

Previous Management rules (“PMR”) 57 and 58 contained in Annexure 8 to the Regulations made under the Sectional Titles Act 95 of 1986 (“the ST Act”) referred to the previous quorum requirements which were:

  • Schemes of 10 units or less: the number of owners holding at least 50% of the votes.
  • Schemes of less than 50 but more than 10 units: the number of owners holding at least 35% of the votes.
  • Schemes with 50 or more units: the number of owners holding at least 50% of the votes.

The aforementioned two rules have been combined to form the basis of the new PMR 19 contained in Annexure 1 to the Regulations made under the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act 8 of 2011 (“the STSM Act”) which states that a quorum is constituted when:

  • A body corporate that has less than 4 primary sections or members (only 3 or fewer primary sections or members), two thirds of the total value of votes must be present or represented;
  • In any other scheme, one third of the voting values are required.

An owner who is unable to attend a general meeting may appoint a proxy to attend the meeting on their behalf. The appointed proxy will have the same value in contributing to the quorum as if the owner was attending in person.

What happens if a quorum is not reached?

If the required quorum is not present within 30 minutes of the start time of the general meeting, the meeting cannot proceed and no business relating to the meeting can be discussed. The meeting is then adjourned and must take place within 7 days from the adjourned date of the meeting. The managing agent must inform the owners in writing the day after the adjourned meeting of the new date, time and venue of the meeting.

In the case of an adjourned meeting, the quorum requirements will not apply and any number of persons present in person or by proxy will form the quorum for the meeting.

 

See other blogs from this series ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS: 6 Key Questions

 

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