Question: Can an owner of two lots elect themselves and a proxy to the committee, and can both hold office bearer positions?
An owner in our scheme holds two lots. They want to give a proxy for one lot to a friend and elect that friend to the committee, while also electing themselves to the committee. This would give them two votes at committee meetings. If allowed, could both the owner and their proxy also be elected into office bearer positions?
Answer: The owner and non-owner friend could both be elected to the strata committee, provided…
Yes, the owner and non-owner friend could both be elected to the strata committee provided the non-owner friend is nominated for election by an owner other than the friend owner OR some other owner who is not seeking election – see extract of Section 31 of the Strata Scheme Management Act 2015 below (emphasis added):
31 Persons who are eligible to be appointed or elected to strata committee
- The following persons are eligible for appointment or election to the strata committee of an owners corporation:
- an individual who is a sole owner of a lot in the strata scheme,
- a company nominee of a corporation that is a sole owner of a lot in the strata scheme,
- an individual who is a co-owner of a lot or a company nominee of a corporation that is a co-owner of a lot in the strata scheme, if the person is nominated for election by an owner who is not a co-owner of the lot or by a co-owner of the lot who is not a candidate for election as a member,
- an individual who is not an owner of a lot in the strata scheme, if the person is nominated for election by an owner of a lot who is not a member, or is not seeking election as a member, of the strata committee.
This post appears in the October 2025 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440
Can the OC vote to remove an SC member from the committee? Furthermore, can they vote to not allow the owner back onto the SC? We have had severe bullying by a Secretary and the Owners are not sure what to do. Additionally, the Secretary has farmed proxies and passed these onto other (friendly) owners to all vote with the Secretary. This effectively gives the Secretary sole authority of our Large strata scheme (which has little owner engagement).
Question:
I would like to be a member of the executive committee, however, other lot owners have already volunteered for the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer in our block. As an owner, what other roles are there in the executive committee?
Answer by Leanne Habib: There are only 3 “offices” in a strata committee: Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. Any other persons on the strata committee who are not “officers” are “members” of the strata committee.
One slight (but important) clarification:
The AGM elects the members of the Strata Committee (but does not elect the Officers).
The members of the Strata Committee elect the Officers at their first meeting (which commonly (but not always) occurs immediately following the AGM).
In a committee meeting, should their be a motion to confirm minutes of the last committee meeting?
Hi smalloli
We answered a similar question here:
Question: When should the minutes from an AGM be approved? Is it at the next AGM or at a general committee meeting?
In a committee meeting, can members be present by proxy?
Hi smalloli
This article should help:
NSW: Q&A Proxy and Voting Rules for Owners Corporation Meetings
Hi,
Our strata started the year with 9 committee members, 3 of which had positions of Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. Within a short while, one committee member resigned. At the last committee meeting, all three office bearers resigned from their positions but are remaining on the committee. Does the strata manager need to hold a meeting to elect office bearers at least until the next AGM? What if some of the other committee members put up their hand for office bearers but those who resigned from the positions vote against them?
Unfortunately there is a lot of animosity between committee members and now with only 8, it is harder to get majority votes.
Hi Trish
This Q&A above should assist:
Question: Can I resign from my positions of both Secretary and Treasurer of our owners corporation, effective immediately? What happens if no one wants to take my position?
Hi, at our first SC meeting following the AGM where members of the SC were nominated and appointed to the SC, the husband of one of the SC members was given an official committee position of responsibility (ie.Fire Services Coordinator). I was under the impression that roles related to the management of the complex were assigned to the elected members of the SC (the reason we vote for and owners are appointed to the SC). Our SC just seems to appoint who they want to key positions of responsibility for the management of the complex regardless of whether they are an elected member of the SC or not.
Is this legal?
Hi Lois, anyone can assist the committee or the building, but if they’re not elected, they’re not a member of the committee and, thus, have no vote at a committee meeting. Nor can they address a committee meeting without the committee’s agreement.
In particular, they cannot be delegated the committee’s authority. So they can assist, but any decisions, approvals etc must be made by the committee.
There’s plenty to do with fire services, but any testing and certification now has to be done by suitably qualified people. If this husband is one of those, lucky you! If not, he’ll need to coordinate those who are qualified.
Perhaps your SC should clarify that this person is not a member of the committee, but a volunteer who’s assisting.
If he’s not doing it on a voluntary basis, he could be appointed under the Act’s provisions for ‘building managers’.
Hope this helps!
[PS: I’m not a lawyer, but an experienced chair/secretary/treasurer with a good grasp of the rules]
Hi Lois
Leanne Habib from Premium Strata has responded to your comment in the article above.
Hello, we recently had an AGM. Only two owners (myself and another person) turned up and were reelected to the committee. The other committee member believes the that the managing agent stated the the other previous two committee member who were no show can still be on the committee. I do not recollect this and it is not stated on the minutes of the AGM. Is this illegal as I believe a owner has to be at the AGM to voted on the committee. Your reply will be greatly appreciated
The article about a SC Secretary taking control and bullying other members was something I have experienced, but not in the capacity as an SC Member but rather as an owner occupier.
Another Lot Owner and I had raised concerns about the behavior of this particular individual who has breached a number of By-Laws on numerous occasions, as well as not wearing a mask on common property during this pandemic when a Public Health Order has been issued by the State Government making it mandatory to wear face masks on Common Property. Unfortunately, this particular individual claimed ‘harassment’ against us and wanted to gag or suppress us in raising matters of concern. We were of the opinion that Lot Owners have a right to raise issues. But it appears that ‘free speech’ and voicing matters is not implied into our strata levies and thereby this person in a position of trust takes it upon themselves to be above the law.
What recourse if any does a law abiding Lot Owner have against a recalcitrant SC member who’s being vexatious?
Section 238.
https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2015-050
The SSMA talks of Officers” of the strata as being the Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer, but doesn’t give clear outlines of what each function entails. Can you clarify please?
Hi Paul
The following response has been provided by Leanne Habib, Premium Strata:
The functions are set out in the SSMA as per the extracts below:
42 Functions of chairperson of owners corporation
43 Functions of secretary of owners corporation
Must office bearers be strata committee members? I.e. can a non-member such as a partner of an owner, be elected as a Secretary?
Thank you for advising
SSM Act 2015
41 Strata committee to appoint officers
(1) The members of a strata committee must, at the first meeting of the strata committee after they assume office as members, appoint a chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the strata committee in accordance with this Act.
(2) The chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the strata committee are also, respectively, the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the owners corporation.
(3) A person may be appointed to one or more of the offices of chairperson, secretary and treasurer.
(4) Nomination for election as an officer of the owners corporation may be made before or at the meeting at which the election is held.
(5) The regulations may provide for the procedures for nomination of officers of the strata committee.
Ann,
We have a committee of 9 members who are all appointed to roles of responsibility related to the management of our complex. Eg. Responsibility for maintenance of pool, spa etc or cleaning contractor. The SC have also appointed non SC members to roles of responsibility (eg, fire safety systems), effectively increasing the number (by default) to 10 members without the 10th person being nominated and voted onto the SC. This person is the husband of the Treasurer of the SC. I would question if this is legal?
See my comment above
Hi. In regard to the answer for the first question, would the removal of the previous strata committee at the EGM be deemed improper since there was no quorum in the committee atvthat time?
Concurrently, is the appointment of the new strata manager at the same EGM legally valid?
Finally, since the 2 new committee members were not appointed at an EGM, but were instead nominated by the committee (which didn’t have quorum then), would their appointments then be considered legally invalid too?
I am not entirely sold on the quality of this answer as it is possible for both a tenant and a landlord to end up on the executive committee and to hold the positions of Chair and Secretary.
At no point is it clear the landlord (owner) is nominating the tenant and if the tenant is nominated by another owner, who them-self is not running for election, then the scenario could play out and they both can end up on the SC. I see the author of the answer would be aware of this.
I’m not entirely sure what the ‘strata’ is doing in having the Strata Committee (no longer the EC) address such a proposal.
I think the question is vague and shows some degree of naivety and i think the answer is a little narrow.
‘Joe Average’ walks away from this Q&A thinking the tenant and owner cannot be on the SC but in fact there is a way they can.
This response has been received from Leanne Habib, Premium Strata:
Noted your comments to the subject Q& A and provide the further following comments:
Section 31 SSMA 2015 clearly states: “Persons who are eligible to be appointed or elected to strata committee
(1) The following persons are eligible for appointment or election to the strata committee of an owners corporation:
(a) an individual who is a sole owner of a lot in the strata scheme,
(b) a company nominee of a corporation that is a sole owner of a lot in the strata scheme,
(c) an individual who is a co-owner of a lot or a company nominee of a corporation that is a co-owner of a lot in the strata scheme, if the person is nominated for election by an owner who is not a co-owner of the lot or by a co-owner of the lot who is not a candidate for election as a member,
(d) an individual who is not an owner of a lot in the strata scheme, if the person is nominated for election by an owner of a lot who is not a member, or is not seeking election as a member, of the strata committee.
The response prepared above operates on the assumption that it is the owner nominating his own tenant. That is a fair assumption. Why would another owner want to nominate someone else’s tenant? That stated, if you could find another owner who did want to nominate the other owner’s tenant (and if all the other pre-conditions were satisfied) you could arrive at a situation when the landlord and tenant of the same lot were on the strata committee.
Trust the above provides further clarification.
The above just verifies what i said.
And why would another owner want to nominate someone else’s tenant?
I can think of a number of reasons.
I am not an owner or a tenant but i am the Chairperson at one SP.
Why would an SP want a complete stranger as their Chair?
I am a little confused about the answer to the question put forward. The question was “The tenant and owner of the same unit want to hold positions of chairman and secretary of the executive committee. Is this permissible and/or advisable?” Correct me if I am wrong, but it is permissible on the basis that the initial election to the committee for both owner & tenant was done in accordance with the Act where the owner nominated themselves to be a committee member and the tenant was nominated by another owner who was not seeking election to the committee. The context of the question appears to ask whether the Owner & tenant of the same lot can be office bearers (Chairman & Secretary) if elected to the Strata Committee in accordance with the Act. To add further, this appointment as Office Bearers does need to be formally voted on at a Strata Committee meeting where the motion to elect Office Bearers has been placed on the agenda.
Hi Anthony Montibeler
Thank you for your question. We have received the following reply back from Leanne Habib, Premium Strata:
In short, a tenant and landlord can only be appointed officers of the strata committee if a third party lot owner nominates the tenant and the landlord nominates himself if eligible to self-nominate.
In practice, the rules on eligibility are to stop eg husbands, wives and related parties from dominating the strata committee, so in my view it would be unlikely for a lot owner (who is otherwise eligible for nomination) to surrender his own right to be on the strata committee in favour of a tenant whose landlord is also on the committee. But as mentioned in an earlier post (below) if you could find another owner who did want to nominate the other owner’s tenant (and if all the other pre-conditions were satisfied) you could arrive at a situation when the landlord and tenant of the same lot were on the strata committee.
Further I confirm the election of the strata committee must take place at the Annual General Meeting, however the election of office bearers is conducted at a Strata Committee Meeting. Generally the first Strata Committee meeting held after the Annual General Meeting.