Nominee biographies and how-to-vote guides: what the Act actually requires

A nominee is told their biography must be under 300 words “as per the Act”, and when they ask where that is written, the answer changes to practice. That is the situation Ben Quirk addresses: nothing in the Act or the Regulations requires nomination biographies to be submitted or distributed — which means there is no statutory word limit either.

What a manager can and cannot do with election material

A manager is a service provider. It acts within the authority given to it by its contract and by resolutions of the owners corporation, and distributing candidate material is not something it can take on itself. If the committee or the owners want biographies circulated to every lot owner, the decision should be made by the committee or by the owners corporation at a general meeting — a motion, on the record.

There is likewise no provision in the Act or the Regulations that allows or requires a secretary to issue a “how to vote” guide to owners. A how-to-vote document should not be going out to lot owners under a secretary’s hand.

Why this matters more than it looks

Election communications are where owners corporations are most exposed to claims of one-sided process. Material that favours particular candidates, circulated with the apparent authority of the manager or the secretary, undermines the election even when the underlying vote is sound.

The governance answer is a written policy: who may prepare and distribute election material, what form it takes, what word or length conventions apply (set by the owners corporation, not invented by a manager), and that all candidates are treated equally.

What an owner can do

• Ask for the authority relied on before material is distributed in the owners corporation’s name.
• Ask for a motion or resolution authorising distribution, and for it to be minuted.
• Put the policy question on the AGM agenda, so the rule is set before the next contested election.

Where to go next

Committee elections: individual votes, not block votes and the AGM explained. Definitions are in the glossary.

Source: VIC: Q&A Are nominee's biographies and a how to vote guide a usual inclusion in AGM papers? by Ben Quirk, Senior Owners Corporation Manager at TOCS, published by LookUpStrata (December 2025 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine). This is a summary written by TOCS, not a reproduction of that article.