No committee in our building?

[zappalot]

We had an AGM January 8, 2017. Seven new committee members were elected. Since our stupid management sent out the invitation to the AGM (it was already the second one since to the first one not enough co-onwers showed up) six days before the meeting only (by law seven days are required).

A previous committee member complained to the land department and for almost 2 months nothing happened.

Now my question is: the laws says: "The members shall hold office for two years each term."
Now the majority of the old committee says the two years are over and we are not responsible for anything anymore. But there is no new committee since the meeting from January 8 is, by law, invalid. The current JPM doesn't want to decide anything as well. But we would have many things that should be resolved urgently. Our management doesn't deserve to be called so.

I cannot find anything in the condo law regarding a gap like ours. Shouldn't the old committee continue until a new one is elected?

[KittenKong]

As far as I know your JPM has broken the law by not ensuring that a meeting was properly called at the correct time. He should pull his thumb out of his rear and call another EGM ASAP at which the co-owners can vote again.

 

How can these people be so incompetent and lazy? They dont even have the brains to empty dustbins.

[lkn]

4 hours ago, zappalot said:

I cannot find anything in the condo law regarding a gap like ours. Shouldn't the old committee continue until a new one is elected?

Your committee members are registered with the Land Office. So who do they currently have registered, the old or the new committee?

 

I would however agree that even though the Thai Condo Act says that each term is two years, the meaning is that they cannot be reelected for a third term, unless there is a lack of other candidates. Since the AGM itself is within a 120 day window, you could theoretically serve for two years ± 120 days.

 

That said, if the old committee does not want to serve, and you did elect a new committee, even though the AGM was declared invalid, why doesn’t the new committee members start to do committee work? If the JPM does not respect their authority, then the JPM seems to already have accepted that the AGM was invalid, and should call for a new one.

[trogers]

10 hours ago, KittenKong said:

As far as I know your JPM has broken the law by not ensuring that a meeting was properly called at the correct time. He should pull his thumb out of his rear and call another EGM ASAP at which the co-owners can vote again.

 

How can these people be so incompetent and lazy? They dont even have the brains to empty dustbins.

Takes brains to siphon stuff...and the reason for such outcomes would be due to activities of the brain...

[Delight]

 A condo can never be without a committee

The law says:

The members shall hold office for two years each term. In the case where a member vacates office prior to the expiration of term or a member is additionally appointed during which the members having already been appointed still have a term in office, the member so appointed to take place or in addition shall have a term in office equivalent to the remaining term in office of the members having already been appointed. Upon completion of the term in office in accordance with paragraph two, if new members have not yet been appointed, the members vacating office on the expiration of the term shall continue to perform their duties until the newly appointed members assume their duties.
The JPM needs to inform the former commitee that they are  indeed the current committee

[KittenKong]

"A condo can never be without a committee"

 

What if they all resign? What about the period between the creation of the condo and the first GM?

 

That said, I agree with you that the current committee technically remains the committee until the new one is elected even if that takes their tenure beyond two full years. In practice this happens often as a GM is unlikely to fall exactly 365 days after the previous GM.

[KittenKong]

5 hours ago, Delight said:

The JPM needs to inform the former commitee that they are  indeed the current committee

 

I disagree. He needs to call a proper and legal meeting as demanded by the law. It is his responsibility to do this. This meeting should not take much more than 7 days to arrange but apparently he has been dragging his feet for weeks/months. The building can do without a committee for 7 days.

[smutcakes]

3 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

I disagree. He needs to call a proper and legal meeting as demanded by the law. It is his responsibility to do this. This meeting should not take much more than 7 days to arrange but apparently he has been dragging his feet for weeks/months. The building can do without a committee for 7 days.

The OP stated that a former Committee Member had complained. What was the result of the complaint? Has the JPM received a notice from the LD informing them that the meeting was void, and did the Management attempt to register the New Committee whilst the complaint was ongoing?

 

To me it just sounds a difficult building, Committee Members, past and present fighting, probably the current Committee just fed up and are saying screw it.

[Delight]

 kitten kong states:What if they all resign? What about the period between the creation of the condo and the first GM?

 

Worst case  a committee of 3 all sell their  condos all at the same time

 

 In such a circumstances a EGM will be called to generate new volunteers. 

In the meantime the former committee is still legally registered at the land office. A committee in name -however not in practice.

 

Reference  the period between the creation of the condo and the 1st AGM-you are correct -in that early period (max 6 months) there is no committee

[zappalot]

The current situation is still unclear. Yesterday we had an informal meeting where the JPM and the co-owners elected to become committee members on January 8, 2017 were present.

Even if almost everyone (not the Thais, they didn't say anything) agreed that the JPM should have taken action already to set up a new meeting the JPM didn't want to decide anything. Because if you decide something you might face the consequences. So it's better to wait, so her words.

Unfortunately three of the present Co. owners are members of the old/current committee. But they never said a thing, typical Thais accepting their faith no matter what is coming. Don't ask questions, don't put anything into question and last but not least never make suggestions. More safe.

The worst thing was that the JPM in the beginning said that until the new committee is confirmed the old committee and the JPM can only decide very important things. And that she by law cannot call for a new general meeting.

Luckily I had the condo law at hand and could show her how wrong she is and was. Anyway it didn't change much and so we have to wait.
It's like in a very bad movie...

[lkn]

1 hour ago, zappalot said:

But they never said a thing, typical Thais accepting their faith no matter what is coming. Don't ask questions, don't put anything into question and last but not least never make suggestions. More safe.

Or more likely, because the discussion was in English, they did not follow everything, and were afraid of embarrassing themselves by saying something that showed they didn’t understand what had previously been discussed, or something where they could not fully explain themselves.

 

I think many fail to realize just how much of a language barrier there is. Even Thais that seem to talk perfect English when small talking, may still have a very hard time understanding the various accents, and/or a vocabulary limited to the type of small talk they are exposed to.

 

And I say this as someone who have found myself in situations where I only understood half of what was said to me in Thai, yet reply as if I understood it all, and/or found myself asking about something that was actually explained to me five minutes earlier (but I just didn’t fully understand it).

[zappalot]

Everything was translated properly by someone from our "management"company. Anyway the ones not saying something did not say something for two years in the previous/still "active" committee...

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, zappalot said:

The worst thing was that the JPM in the beginning said that until the new committee is confirmed the old committee and the JPM can only decide very important things. And that she by law cannot call for a new general meeting.

Luckily I had the condo law at hand and could show her how wrong she is and was. Anyway it didn't change much and so we have to wait.
It's like in a very bad movie...

 

Your JPM appears to be an idiot or worse.

 

Go to the Land Office and tell them what's happening. The law is very clear and the JPM should call another meeting immediately if you were unable to properly elect a committee at the last one, for whatever reason. You just keep having meetings until you get it right.

[blackcab]

Have you considered asking the JPM if they want to keep their job? Explain to them that they have been given a direct order, and if they refuse to carry it out the Committee will invoke Section 38 (2) of the Confominium Act:

 

"The Board shall have the power and duty as follows:

 

Appointing a member to assume duties of the Manager of the condominium corporate in the case where there is no Manager or the Manager is unable to perform normal duties in excess of seven days."

 

Register the change at the land office and then get a new JPM.

Edited March 7, 2017 by blackcab

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

Have you considered asking the JPM if they want to keep their job? ......

Register the change at the land office and then get a new JPM.

 

That's easy to say but may not be so easy to do. In my building hardly anyone who is qualified wants the job. I dont think we have ever had more than one candidate at the same time, and the people who do end up doing it only seem to be in it for dubious reasons.

[blackcab]

17 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

That's easy to say but may not be so easy to do. In my building hardly anyone who is qualified wants the job. I dont think we have ever had more than one candidate at the same time, and the people who do end up doing it only seem to be in it for dubious reasons.

 

As you are aware, the JPM doesn't have to be an owner. If the incumbent is hired, replace them with another employee. In the interim period nominate an owner for 60 days - long enough to hire a suitable candidate.

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

As you are aware, the JPM doesn't have to be an owner. If the incumbent is hired, replace them with another employee. In the interim period nominate an owner for 60 days - long enough to hire a suitable candidate.

 

As I said, sounds easy but in practice is impossible. You dont seem to appreciate just how corrupt some buildings are here.

[stud858]

Each condo will only ever be run as good as the combined quality of the residents. The only sure fire way is to get 20% signatures to hold your own emergency meeting and get support for yourself to be Juristic manager. Otherwise sell and move on if things hit the fan.

[inThailand]

On 06/03/2017 at 3:01 AM, Delight said:

 A condo can never be without a committee

The law says:

The members shall hold office for two years each term. In the case where a member vacates office prior to the expiration of term or a member is additionally appointed during which the members having already been appointed still have a term in office, the member so appointed to take place or in addition shall have a term in office equivalent to the remaining term in office of the members having already been appointed.   Upon completion of the term in office in accordance with paragraph two, if new members have not yet been appointed, the members vacating office on the expiration of the term shall continue to perform their duties until the newly appointed members assume their duties.
The JPM needs to inform the former commitee that they are  indeed the current committee

The registered committee members and the JP Mgr are such until new ones are voted in and registered.  If they don't want to act responsibly get 20% of the owners and call an EGM and put forth the resolutions you desire.

I have seen more than once a worthless committee and JP mgr. This is not that unusual here.