Question: A committee member wants a cheaper, non-compliant safety fence for our common property. How do I raise a motion for a compliant one instead?
I’m an owner and strata committee member for a four-lot strata scheme. We recently voted for a risk assessment on a safety fence issue on our common property. I’d like to know how to raise a motion at a general meeting for an appropriate safety fence, when another committee member wants a cheaper option that doesn’t adequately meet our responsibilities under WHS or strata legislation.
Answer: A motion should require a compliant fence, not just a choice between two options.
An owner may submit a written motion requiring a compliant fence be included on the agenda of the next general meeting under clause 4 of Schedule 1 to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) (SSMA). The motion should be sent to the secretary and strata managing agent before the meeting notice is issued. You may issue an accompanying explanatory note.
The motion should not simply ask owners to choose between a “cheap” and a more expensive fence. It should require the owners corporation to adopt a solution that is demonstrably suitable for the identified risk and compliant with all applicable legal, technical and approval requirements.
Once a professional risk assessment identifies a safety risk on common property, the owners corporation should respond reasonably and on proper evidence. Under section 106 of the SSMA, the owners corporation is required to properly maintain common property and keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair. It must also renew or replace common-property fixtures and fittings where required.
Cost remains a relevant consideration, but it should not override safety or compliance. The owners corporation is not necessarily required to approve the most expensive proposal. However, any less expensive alternative should be supported by a suitably qualified professional confirming that it adequately controls the identified risk and satisfies the applicable standards, planning requirements and building requirements.
Does the motion require a special resolution?
That depends on the nature of the work. Where the proposal involves repairing, renewing or replacing an existing common-property fence with a substantially equivalent compliant fence, it may fall within the owners corporation’s maintenance and repair obligations under section 106.
However, if the proposal involves installing a new fence, materially changing the appearance, configuration or structure of the common property, or adding something that did not previously exist, a special resolution under section 108 may be required.
The meeting notice should identify the correct resolution threshold before it is issued. Where there is uncertainty, the motion can be expressly drafted as a special resolution to avoid the work later being challenged as an unauthorised alteration to common property.
Practical approach
The strongest motion establishes an objective compliance threshold rather than prescribing a particular product solely on price. Owners may legitimately compare different quotations, materials and designs, but every option under consideration should first satisfy the same professionally prepared scope.
If another committee member proposes a cheaper fence, ask that the proposal be referred to the risk assessor or another appropriately qualified professional for written confirmation that it provides an equivalent and adequate safety outcome. If that confirmation cannot be obtained, the cheaper proposal should not be approved merely because it reduces the immediate cost.
The minutes should record the risk assessment, the professional recommendations, the alternatives considered and the reasons for the owners corporation’s final decision.
This creates a clear record that the owners corporation considered the known risk and made an evidence-based decision rather than choosing an option solely because it was cheaper.
This post appears in the September 2026 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Abe Ayoubi
W: Senior Strata Manager (NSW)
E: abe.strata@gmail.com
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