Is it best practice to identify owners in strata committee minutes?

Strata committees are required to keep proper minutes of their meetings, but that does not mean they must record every comment or piece of correspondence in a way that identifies individual owners or residents.

Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the minutes of general meetings (Schedule 1, clause 22) and strata committee meetings (Schedule 2, clause 17) must be a full and accurate record of the meeting. In practice, this means the minutes should fairly record the business that occurred, including decisions made, actions agreed, and any discussion that is material to those outcomes.

There is no legal prohibition on identifying an owner by name or unit number in minutes. An owner who writes to the owners corporation is corresponding with a statutory body, and that correspondence forms part of the owners corporation’s records.

However, “full and accurate” does not mean that identifying details should be included as a matter of course.

As a general rule:

• It may be appropriate to include the person’s name if this information is necessary to explain the decision or action taken.
• If it adds nothing to the understanding of the committee’s business, it is usually better practice to refer to “an owner” or “a resident”.

Committees should also be careful where comments are informal, unsolicited, or not part of a formal agenda item. Casual questions or suggestions do not automatically need to be elevated into personalised meeting records.

Finally, committees should take care to avoid defamation. Minutes should be factual, neutral, and restrained. They should not record allegations, opinions, or emotive statements about identifiable individuals unless strictly necessary, and even then should do so cautiously and accurately.

In short, naming an owner in minutes is not automatically unlawful, but good governance calls for discretion. Minutes should record what matters — not more, and not less.