Running a meeting
The whole sequence for an AGM, SGM or council meeting — create, notice, agenda, quorum, votes, minutes, follow-ups — in the order you'll do it.
Meetings are where a strata corporation makes decisions that bind everyone, which is why the procedure matters. Get the notice period right and most of the rest follows.
ManageStrata walks the whole sequence. Meetings.
The three meeting types
AGM — the annual general meeting. Budget approval, election of council, and anything else requiring the ownership. Notice period is set by your province — in BC the Act requires 2 weeks, but emailed notice is deemed received 4 days after sending, so send it 18 days ahead. More →
SGM — a special general meeting, called when something can't wait for the AGM. A levy, an urgent bylaw amendment, a major contract. Same notice period in BC.
Council meeting — the council itself. No owner notice period, though your bylaws may require owners be permitted to attend.
The full sequence
Create the meeting
Meetingsnew meeting. Pick the type and the date. From the date and the type, ManageStrata calculates the last day you can validly send notice — which is often the moment a council discovers they need to push the meeting back a week.
Build the agenda
Add items in the order they'll be taken. For an AGM this usually runs: quorum, minutes of the last AGM, financial statements, budget approval, resolutions, election of council, and other business. More →
Add the resolutions
Anything being voted on is a resolution, and each needs its exact wording and its threshold — majority, 3/4, 80% or unanimous. The wording on the notice is the wording owners vote on; it cannot be edited on the night. More →
Send notice
Send notice emails every owner the notice, agenda and resolutions, and records the date it went out. Send it with room to spare — the minimum is a minimum. More →
Check quorum on the day
Quorum check counts who is present and who is represented by proxy against the threshold. No quorum, no valid decisions.
Record the votes
Open each resolution for voting. Owners with a login can vote themselves; for anyone else the vote is recorded on their behalf. The tally updates live. More →
Finalize each result
Close voting and finalize from the recorded votes. ManageStrata applies your province's threshold and records carried or defeated. For an 80% or unanimous vote it needs your total eligible votes, and will say so rather than measuring against turnout.
Draft, approve and distribute the minutes
AI drafts from the agenda and the recorded results; a council member reviews and approves; then distribute to owners. Nothing is final until a human approves. More →
Track the follow-ups
Actions arising become directives, so "council to obtain three quotes" doesn't evaporate the moment the meeting ends.
A realistic AGM timeline
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 8–10 weeks before | Set the date. Confirm your fiscal year end and that statements will be ready |
| 6 weeks before | Draft the budget. Budgets → |
| 4 weeks before | Council approves the draft budget and settles the resolutions |
| 3 weeks before | Create the meeting, build the agenda, enter the resolutions |
| 2–3 weeks before | Send notice — before the statutory minimum, not on it |
| 1 week before | Answer owner questions; confirm the chair and minute-taker |
| On the day | Quorum check, run the agenda, record votes, finalize results |
| Within a week | Approve and distribute minutes; convert actions into directives |
| Ongoing | Work the directives |
Notice is the most common procedural failure
Short or defective notice is what councils get wrong most often. ManageStrata records exactly when notice went out and to whom. Send early anyway — and note that in BC an emailed notice needs 18 days, not 14.
But a slip in notice does not void the meeting
Under s.47, a failure to give proper notice does not invalidate a vote taken at the meeting, provided the corporation made a reasonable attempt to give notice to everyone entitled to it. An address that bounced, or one owner missed off a list, is not fatal — you do not need to re-run a valid meeting or unwind a valid levy over it.
That is a safety net, not a plan. The send record is what demonstrates the reasonable attempt, which is exactly why it matters.
If quorum fails
In BC, quorum is eligible voters holding 1/3 of the votes, present in person or by proxy — 2/3 for corporations with fewer than four lots (s.48).
If quorum fails, the meeting is adjourned to the same day the following week, at the same time and place, and whoever turns up then is the quorum. That last part is what a council actually needs on the day: the reconvened meeting can proceed on any turnout.
Record the adjournment in the minutes; it's part of the story of how the eventual decision was reached.
Owners can force an item onto the agenda
Owners holding 20% of the votes can require the council to put a proposed resolution on the notice of a general meeting (s.46). This is the mechanism owners use when a council won't bring something forward, and a council that doesn't know about it will refuse a valid demand.
Reconsidering a thinly-attended 3/4 vote
Where a resolution requiring a 3/4 vote passes at a meeting with less than 50% of the votes present, owners holding 25% of the votes can demand an SGM to reconsider it — within one week (s.51). A levy carried at a poorly-attended AGM is therefore not settled on the day. See special levies.
Council meetings
Lighter, but worth running in ManageStrata all the same. Agenda, decisions, and minutes owners are entitled to — see tracked duties. Directives make council meetings materially more effective: the recurring failure isn't making decisions, it's forgetting them.
Owners' view
Owners see the meetings they're entitled to at Meetings & votes: notice and agenda beforehand, resolutions to vote on, a proxy to appoint if they can't attend, and the approved minutes afterwards. See the owner portal.
Still stuck? Open Support in the top bar of the app, ask the Assistant, or contact us.