Had a very intense debate with an owner last night at an SGM about the vote in terms of value… she was saying she counts as 2 persons because she is a member in her capacity as owner of unit 5 and a separate member in her capacity as owner of unit 12, even though they are registered in the same name. How does this work exactly?

The biggest new thing since the STSM Act was enforced is that all voting (except for special and unanimous resolutions) will be calculated in value instead of by number as it was in the past.

When the STSM Act was published in 2011 it introduced a controversial clause that stated that when voting in number each member only has one vote.  As opposed to the previous Act that stated that it would be one section one vote.  A person is one member no matter how many units they own so according to the Act a person could own 10 units but only have one vote (when voting in number). 

There was an outcry in the industry.

When the PMR’s were published on 7 Oct 2016 – and with that bringing the STSM Act in force – the situation was salvaged by the provision in PMR 20(1)(b) that all voting will be calculated in value.  In effect this means that the standard method of voting will no longer be a vote by show of hands, but rather that voting will take place per ballot.

Quote from the STSM Act:

Section 6(7) When votes are calculated in number, each member has one vote

History:
PMR 62 of the original 1986 act stated that on a show of hands, the owner or owners of a section shall have one vote.  This caused much debate with some experts stating that that means that an owner has only one vote – irrespective of how many units he owns.  It was clarified in 2005 when the PMR was amended to say “the owner or owners of a section shall have one vote for each section owned”

When voting in value the STSM Act stipulates the votes must be calculated either:

  • the total of the PQ’s of the sections registered to an owner; OR
  • the total of the nominated values of the sections registered to an owner (if so decided by special resolution) whichever is applicable.

Quote from the STSM Act:

Section 6(6)

When votes are calculated in value, each member’s vote is calculated either—

  • as the total of the quotas allocated to the sections registered in that member’s name; or
  • in accordance with a rule made in terms of section 10(2), whichever is

So the members owning more than one section only really gets “penalized” when voting in number – and this is rarely applicable.