A concerned reader has contacted our panel to find out more about the duties and responsibilities of the trustees of a body corporate.
More specifically, she wants to know how meetings of the trustees should be documented. In her experience, the minutes are not necessarily a true reflection of what was actually discussed.
She would further like to know to whom these minutes should be distributed.
Her concerns also turn to the role of the chairperson of the trustees and specifically what his/her duties and responsibilities are.
“As we have seen before, the management of a sectional title scheme to a large extent lies with the trustees,” says Schalk van der Merwe from Rawson Properties Helderberg. “Such trustees are appointed for one year at a time during the annual general meeting of the members of the body corporate.”
Van der Merwe says the reasoning for electing trustees is obvious. “It is not always practically possible to have all the members of the body corporate available and present to make decisions regarding the management of a sectional title complex.
“Many decisions have to be made regarding the day to day functioning and maintenance of the complex and the trustees represent the other members in doing so.”
Various protection measures are however built into the provisions that deal with the powers of the trustees, according to Van der Merwe.
“Although the power to sign instruments on behalf of the body corporate lies with the trustees, a further provision has been incorporated that no such instrument shall be binding unless it has been signed by a trustee and the managing agent or by two trustees.”
The chairperson, says Lucille Geldenhuys from Lucille Geldenhuys Attorneys in Stellenbosch, is elected from among the trustees.
“Once elected, this chairperson shall remain in place until the end of the next annual general meeting of the body corporate. At this meeting, the trustees and chairperson can be re-elected.”
Geldenhuys says determinations are made by means of a majority of votes of the trustees present at a meeting. “One of the important functions of the elected chairperson is that he or she has a so-called ‘casting vote’.
“This means that if the votes are evenly divided, the vote of the chairperson can make the final determination. This power can prevent meetings from turning into an endless fight among trustees.”
It therefore also makes sense, says Geldenhuys, that one of the duties imposed on the trustees in terms of the regulations of the Sectional Titles Act is that of keeping minutes of their meetings.
“These minutes should be made available for inspection to any owner or bondholder of a unit upon written application.”
Geldenhuys says the minutes should be kept in such a way to prevent anyone tampering with it. “This information, after all, provides a record of the decisions made by the trustees.”
Send your property related questions to coetzee@fullstopcom.com.
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