Wow. It’s wonderful when you manage to find enlightenment! I really hope this article helps beleaguered and handicapped BC’s out there who are trapped by their corrupt MA’s. I have been monitoring the Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/sectionaltitle/. Join by the way. It has a wealth of information for people faced with any manner of situations in Sectional Title complexes. Anyways, it was posted recently by a trustee and affected the way we were in our complex. MA did some messed-up things and he was asking what his options were. I happened to know of actions taken by a complex close to us where the MA we kicked out for said actions, was being evaluated by Trustees at a trustee meeting. The chairman of this complex was taking no prisoners – he was the lone ranger with a loaded six shooter. He had managed to find out what happened in our complex and was provided with the judgement we were awarded by the High Court. This judgement is a publicly available document for your information. The problem though is that no one knows how to access and search for such documents. Oh well, I had a copy which I was only too pleased to provide to him. Using this judgement, he called for a vote to terminate MA’s contract with immediate effect. The premise is that the trustees have a fiduciary duty and have to protect the BC. I was not clear as to how this was legal but now have information that could really assist someone out there in a similar situation. A BC can do the following when a judgement is clear on the negligence of an MA:
Breach of service level agreement and the MA is ignorant to remedy such breach – upon the factual evidence of breach the trustees may;-
By either special general meeting or ordinary meeting, terminate the MA agreement:-
It would be thus 30 days for Special resolution with 75% in agreement.
Cancel the managing agent contract in terms:
Ordinary resolution – 14 days 51% in agreement
Trustees’ written cancellation refers to the management agreement terms. The catch here is the terms of the agreement must state the fiduciary duty of the MA and their responsibilities. All MA’s have this function as this is a critical part of the services offered – this will be stated in all MA agreements as standard practice. If a judgement has a clear ruling on gross negligence of this MA, you can pull the trigger!
Please consult your lawyer and industry experts on your particular case and terms in your contract – please don’t take the above as gospel! But I do think the mechanics apply. Now imagine! A resource where you can look up an MA and see if there were past judgements against them and details thereof. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? In the spirit of starting the ball rolling, I’m including our judgement here. I still need to think of a way in which a database can be created. All BC’s who manage to come across this site can contribute their hard won judgements for public view and anyone needing to check on this can do a search. It’s worth investigating and putting in the effort.