Can an unapproved strata committee contract be ratified?

NSW

Committee & Governance

This article discusses ratifying an unauthorised strata committee contract at a later meeting.

The Strata Committee accepted a $13,000 contract for landscaping work without approval. Can the contract be ratified? If so, how?

The Strata Committee accepted a $13,000 offer from a landscaper to carry out landscaping work without informing anyone and without minuting the deal. The contract involved altering common property without the owners corporation approval.

When this became known, the strata committee broadcast that it had renegotated the deal so that none of the work involves common property. We are not certain that the renegotiation took place. We'll have to check with the contractor.

However, we still have an unapproved $13,000 contract. Can the contract, in its renegotiate or previous format form, be ratified? If so how?

A decision of the strata committee can generally be ratified by a later meeting of either the strata committee or by the owners corporation at a general meeting.

A decision of the strata committee can generally be ratified by a later meeting of either the strata committee (if the decision is within its power) or by the owners corporation at a general meeting. In this case, if the common property was altered not in the course of repairs then I suggest a general meeting be called to ratify the decision and to enable the owners corporation to approve the change to the common property.

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Published: 6 Apr 2026

Last Updated: 7 Jul 2026

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Answer by

Allison Benson

Benson Legal Pty Ltd

Allison is the principal of Benson Legal, having formerly been a co-founder and co-principal at Kerin Benson Lawyers since 2014.

Benson Legal commenced on 1 June 2026 where Allison and her team continue to provide advice on, and to act in relation to, strata and community title and building and construction matters.

Allison is a Fellow of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers and regularly presents training sessions for other lawyers and writes for the NSW Law Society Journal.