NSW: Do small strata schemes still need a treasurer and secretary?

Question: We are a complex of 7 units. We have a managing agent and the committee is made up of all lot owners. Do we need a Treasurer and Secretary?

Answer: It is therefore important that the owners corporation appoint office bearers

Under section 41(1) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) “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”. The keyword here is “must”.

When appointing a strata managing agent, a lot of Owners Corporations will delegate powers and duties to the strata managing agent in accordance with Part 4 of the Act.

Under section 54 of the Act an Owners Corporation can delegate some or all of the office bearers’ (secretary, treasurer, chairperson) functions to the strata managing agent.

However:

1. This does not remove the obligation to appoint office bearers in the first place.
2. The agency agreement with the strata managing agent may not cover all of the office bearers duties.
3. There may be circumstances in which the owners corporation does not want its managing agent to act as an office bearer (for example, arranging a meeting to terminate their services, which requires a secretary to prepare the agenda and a chairperson to chair the meeting).
4. There may be circumstances when the managing agent chooses not to exercise their delegated authority (for example, payment of very significant invoices).
5. Not having elected office bearers can point to dysfunction of an owners corporation (which can be used when seeking orders for the compulsory appointment of a strata managing agent in accordance with section 237 of the Act).

It is therefore important that the owners corporation appoint office bearers, even if it does choose to delegate its functions to the strata managing agent.

This post appears in the July 2021 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.

Tim Sara
Sara Strata
E: tim@sarastrata.com.au
P: 04 8500 7960