Can they limit the number of committee members in an election?

[zappalot]

Yesterday, July 21, we had an annual general meeting. Including an election of a new committee..

 

The current committee controls about 14% of the building space. About 27% of the co-owners showed up.

 

The current committee  does not do anything for the building. That is why practically almost no one of the co-owners who live there were to reelect them. But of course they with their 14% can elect themselves. Since they do not have nine people  run for committee they had a new idea. To not have any opposition in the building within the committee they voted for limiting committee members to five.

And now they interpret the law as if it says there shall be not less than three but no more than five committee members.

 

So the regulation/condominium act says that there shall be no less than three but no more than nine committee members. More than nine co-owners applied to be committee members. With their own votes they elected themselves with five committee members into the committee.

 

Here's the thing: the bylaw of our building does not say anything about the number of committee members. So they had to change the condominium act of Thailand.

 

The question is can a law in Thailand be changed by the vote of some people other than Ministries or Parliament or Prime Minister?

 

(we know that we can hand over a formal complaint to the land department about them violating the law, but we also know that the land department  has deep connections to one of the committee members violating the law, so they won't act at all)

[KittenKong]

You are aware that no committee member can serve more than two consecutive terms (ie 4 years) unless no one else stands for election? So in theory you can always get shot of any member(s) after 4 years.

 

It is quite common for AGMs to have an initial vote to decide the size of the next committee though there is no written legal requirement for such a vote in the Condo Act. There may be such a requirement in the by-laws, but you say that in your case there is not. Some Land Offices seem to like to see a vote for 3-5-7-9 members, and they may object if there isn't one.

 

If the current committee had 5 candidates then even if you also elected 4 more (the maximum) their 5 would still have voting control in committee meetings, so no huge advantage for you there.

 

Your best bet would be to contact other co-owners who never attend meetings and get their proxy votes. That should allow you to elect a different committee, even if the proxies only amounted to a couple of percent of the total.

Edited July 22, 2019 by KittenKong

[Delight]

 The condo act is quite specific. Committee members Min 3  Max 9.

It must be illegal to change these parameters.

Idea!

If 16 co -owners apply for committee membership then there has to be a vote-to eliminate 5 applicants. Those current committee members are auto eliminated due to the 2 -two year rule. This will only apply when the 16  submit their applications.

As KK suggests if the 'frustrated ' co owners control say 5% of the proxy votes-then it may be possible to out vote the un desired 5. The 27 % -which you refer to must show.

You will have to conspire with your fellow 'frustrated'  co -owners  and develop a cunning plan.

 

[zappalot]

The problem are most of the fellow frustrated co-owners. The frustrated co-owners with Thai passports in their pockets are very difficult to convince to join the general meetings. And quite a few of them tend to believe what ever they are told by the management. For example is there no water supply for the fire hoses in some of the floors of our building. We have proven that by a video showing to all of them. Everyone can check that by him or herself. And yet some Thais told me in the general meeting: "If the chairman of the committee says it is working than it is working. How dare you to doubt his words, he is the chairman".

 

Same for missing water hoses in some floors. There is not even need to check it, you just see it that there is no water hose. The imagination of all of our current committee members is so strong that they tell you that everything is 100% in perfect condition and everything is there, no need to come with me to have a look together.

 

They never check anything, They are not interested in anything, they don't care about the law and about nothing and the majority of the owners with Thai passports believe whatever they are told. It's basically only the foreigners being well informed about what is going on... 

 

And since one of the committee members has strong connections not only to the land department but also to the district responsible for some of the issues of the building they belief what ever they are told. The management told the district authority after our complaint that there are water hoses everywhere then there are water hoses everywhere despite the fact that there aren't.

[newnative]

     All good points by Kittenkong.  In my opinion it is actually a good thing that the committee is 5 members rather than 7 or 9.  Committee members can only serve 2 terms but can continue to serve if no other owners come forward to serve.  So, if you want to change the committee, you only need to find 5 owners to agree to serve rather than a higher number.  And, believe me, finding 5 may be enough of a challenge.  If you can get 5, all the members at their term limits get knocked off the committee at the next election.  

    I would suggest you use this time before the next election to get organized.  I would recommend starting a condo Line group for the condo owners.  If not that, some other way to keep informed.  Post some notices and slip a message under owners' doors or in their mailboxes.

   It's so important for owners to be able to communicate with each other and keep informed about what is going on.  And, to organize as a group with a more powerful voice than one individual.  In my experience, lots of condo boards and management companies go out of their way to keep owners as in the dark as possible and as unorganized as possible.  Start looking for owners willing to serve on the committee and run in the next election.  Good luck.