No Strata Questions Allowed

Last week I blogged about Florida committee members having to certify their knowledge (see Florida Strata Committees Sent to Boot Camp) and now’s there’s this follow up. 

When Alan Weiner, an owner at Bonaire Village Condominium Association of Delray Beach, wanted to ask his condo board a question he found out the hard way that he couldn’t.

Florida meeting law is clear:  No matter what your governing documents say, condo boards must notify owners 48 hours in advance of a meeting and the notice must include a copy of the agenda. Owners and board members are only allowed to address agenda items.  So, if an issue is not on a condo meeting agenda, it is off limits for board members and owners alike to discuss.

Alan only wanted to ask a simple question of the condo board: “How many are certified to serve as required by a new Florida law?” 

But there was no question and no answer.

"This was the first time I had requested to speak," Weiner said.  "And was told that the board recently ruled that those wishing to speak had to have prior clearance from the board office."

Bonaire Village Condominium Association’s lawyer, Melissa Beigel, of Becker & Poliakoff. Beigel said the condo board was not trying to be bad guys here, but were instead attempting to follow Florida condo codes and statutes and be fair to all owners who must follow the same state-mandated rules.

So, it’s no no to questions in Florida strata corporations.

But, it’s almost the same in many Australian strata corporations where the laws say that –

• whilst owners can attend committee meetings as observers, they can’t address the meeting (including asking questions) without the approval of the committee, and
• strictly speaking the only legitimate business at a strata meeting is the agenda and formal matters about agenda items.

So, if a committee takes a strict view of things and doesn’t want to let owners speak … Australian strata owners will find themselves unable to ask questions at meetings and not able to get any answers either.

This seems completely at odds with concepts of transparency, owner participation, democracy and community spirit. At least to me.

So, see you (staying quiet as a mouse) at the next committee meeting.

Francesco …