Question: What’s the process for an owner to join the strata committee?
Answer: In NSW, committee numbers are capped at nine, so a new member may need to wait for a casual vacancy.
This is a great question, and one which comes up more than you’d think.
It’s an encouraging sign, because if someone wants to actively participate on the committee,
- experience tells us that’s not always the case in strata, where apathy can unfortunately be a common occurrence, and therefore
- it’s highly recommended to harness that interest.
Strata legislation is different in each State and Territory. In several jurisdictions, there is a cap on committee numbers. In NSW, 9 is the maximum number of committee members (fun fact: the maximum number in Queensland is 12 in some situations). There is a good reason for that cap. Too many people on a committee can make it practically very challenging to get people together for a meeting, keep track of action items and for the chair to appropriately manage processes.
When there’s no scope to increase or adjust numbers on the committee, we think it’s a great idea to find a role for the enthusiastic, prospective committee member. Acknowledge and thank them for their interest. Let them know that while there’s no capacity at the moment, as in, literally, they can’t do it, you’d like to have them involved. Find out what their interests are and maybe what they can bring to the table. If they have expertise in, say, communications, could they be engaged to assist with newsletters or similar? Even if they’re not a committee member, there’s usually nothing stopping a committee from having a volunteer owner to help out on things. If you’re matching their skills with the committee’s needs, it might be a good idea to do a brief committee skills audit while you’re at it, to see what other areas the committee could benefit from others’ input.
For the prospective committee member, it’s a good idea to check previous AGM minutes for details about the committee numbers. Then, assuming there’s no scope to join at that time, they can flag their interest at that early stage and perhaps provide a brief CV or an overview of what they’d bring to the table and how they’d contribute.
The important thing to remember is that even though legislation might say the new person can’t be on the committee right now, there are many things they could potentially do to contribute to the committee’s work. And then when a spot on the committee becomes available, it becomes a no-brainer as to who would fill that spot. Succession planning in strata is an often-overlooked part of good governance.
Chris Irons
Owners Corporation Network of Australia Ltd.
E: chris.Irons@ocn.org.au
Hi Anne, the reference to ’12’ is in relation to layered schemes.
Once a committee is formed at the AGM, then that’s the committee that stays until the next AGM, unless a committee member ceases to be eligible (e.g., they sell their lot), in which case a casual vacancy is created and must be filled. It doesn’t automatically go to the next person or whoever has registered – the committee can decide who to fill the vacancy.
A BMS and its BMG is a completely different and complicated kettle of fish. Neither is regulated under strata legislation!
Hi Chris, interested to know what type of buildings in Qld have 12 committee members? my understanding is there are 7 committee members and anyone wanting to be on the Committee needs to register before the end of the building financial year and Owners vote at the AGM and the Committee operates until the next AGM.
In Qld if there is a BMS, there is a BMG representative for each ‘entity’, as in the Precinct where I am.
I believe that in NSW there is not an annual requirement to nominate and members stay on until the decide to leave? as you are the ex Commissioner please correct me if I have this wrong.