The Minutes and the E-signature
After having demystified the convocation process in a General Assembly of co-ownership (article on the subject right here), as well as the role of the co-ownership by-law, we will look in this article at the minutes and the e-signature (electronic signature), in particular in a dematerialized general meeting.
The minutes are an essential document that contains all the decisions and discussions that took place during the meeting.
It serves in particular as a written record and as a point of reference: the minutes are in fact official proof of the history of the debates and decisions taken during the general meeting. It is a legal document that can be used later in the event of a conflict or dispute. It can also be used as a reference for subsequent decisions of the co-ownership and serve as a basis for the actions to be taken, the work to be carried out, the resolutions to be applied, etc. It allows you to follow the evolution of the decisions taken over time, thus facilitating the management and administration of the co-ownership.
The minutes also make it possible to communicate in complete transparency to the absent co-owners the content of the proceedings of the GA, in particular the discussions and resolutions adopted.
In Quebec, the rules governing the minutes of a general meeting of co-ownership are mainly the Act and the Regulation respecting divided co-ownership. The minutes must actually be drawn up in accordance with the rules and legal provisions applicable to general meetings of co-ownership:
1- The minutes must be drawn up by the secretary of the general meeting, who may be a co-owner, a member of the board of directors or a person designated for this purpose. It must be written in a clear, precise and complete manner.
2- It must include the mandatory elements such as the identification of the co-owners present and represented, the resolutions proposed and voted on, the results of the votes including the majorities obtained, the date, place and time of the general meeting, the agenda of the general meeting, the summary of the debates and discussions, mentions of any special powers given to the union council or to an agent, etc.
3- The signature of the chairman of the meeting and of the secretary of the meeting must be present: this signature can be done electronically.
The minutes must also be sent to all co-owners within 30 days after the general meeting is held. It can be transmitted by post, email or by any other means authorized by the regulations of the building. The minutes must be kept by the syndicate of co-owners for a period of five years. In the event of dispute of the minutes, the co-owners have a period of 90 days from its notification to request the holding of a special general meeting to correct or complete the minutes.
We have seen that the processes that normally take place during a general assembly are “revisited” when said GA is held in dematerialized form, either remotely or in hybrid mode.
Indeed, since 2019, certain laws have evolved and certain processes have been modified, in particular by the arrival of new technologies and the integration of digital and electronic mode, allowing general meetings to be held in whole or in part remotely, by electronically or by videoconference. The co-owners can thus participate in the debates and vote in real time from their computer or smartphone, or even submit their votes by post or sign electronically.
With new technologies and new tools such as agconnect which allow the dematerialization of general meetings of co-ownership, the minutes' template is provided by agconnect platform (as well as the resolutions' results and the graphs), and the drawing up is done online, which allows co-owners to access the documents much more easily and save time. Indeed, as soon as the GA is over, agconnect allows the chairman of the meeting, the scrutineer and the secretary to sign the document wherever they are (in-person or remotely), with all signatures on the same document.
The electronic signature process takes place when the minutes are validated (the manager has previously reviewed the compilation of the minutes of the various resolutions of the GA): the manager then sends a signature request to the chairman of the meeting via agconnect, which receives it by email. Each stakeholder connects to their access from their support, reads the documents, then signs them. The manager is then notified of the signature and sends the minutes by registered mail to the persons to be notified (in particular those absent, or those who objected to the result of one of the votes, for example).
The electronic signature process is legally secure and it saves considerable time in the course of an GA, in particular in the preparation and sending of the minutes.
In conclusion, the minutes of a general meeting of co-ownership are framed by law, but new technologies and new tools, in particular agconnect, have made it possible for certain stages to be carried out electronically (the remaining process legally secure), in particular its drafting and signature, thus facilitating the participation of co-owners, and while reducing the costs associated with a more traditional process.
And in addition to reducing costs, the dematerialization tools for general meetings reduce delays in communications and accelerate the decision-making process, while providing easier access to documents and information for co-owners.
To learn more about our agconnect tool and how it can help you plan and manage your general meetings in the best way, go to ag-connect.ca!
And to know everything about the purpose of a GA? It's this way !
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Sources :
Loi sur la copropriété divise & règlements d'application (Règlement sur la copropriété divise)
ARCQ
