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I want to know if it is mandatory for Strata committees to keep minutes of their meetings. I requested that minutes be taken for strata committee meetings and was informed by the secretary that they were informal meetings and no minutes were kept, but that they would put it to the committee. A majority vote from committee members were not in favour of minutes. I found this very frustrating as there is no reference to fall back on for issues and decisions and thus allows for things to be incorrectly recalled and changed. Appreciate input about this
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LIVING IN THE PAST: A couple of readers have kindly pointed out that in my original response, I wrongly quoted the 1996 legislation. Here are the relevant references to the 2015 Act (which are more or less the same). -JimmyT
Section 17 of Schedule 2 of the Act is absolutely clear on this, minutes must be kept and displayed or distributed to owners within 7 days of the meeting.
The committee should also be issuing a full agenda 72 hours before its meetings (which owners must be allowed to attend) and should not be making any decisions that affect the scheme, owners, residents or common property in an “informal” setting.
Any decisions made that way are probably not binding, may be ignored and certainly could be challenged at NCAT. Here are the basics from the strata Act 2015.
5. Notice of meetings for [small] strata schemes(1) The secretary of the owners corporation of a strata scheme that is not a large strata scheme must give notice of a meeting to each other member of the strata committee at least 3 days before the meeting and to each owner.
(2) Notice is to be given by displaying the notice on the notice board maintained by the owners corporation or in accordance with section 263.
7. Matters that must be included in notice of meetingsThe notice of a meeting must include a detailed agenda for the meeting.
13. Non-member owner may attendAn owner or, if the owner of a lot is a corporation, any company nominee of that corporation is entitled to attend a meeting but is not entitled to address the meeting unless authorised to do so by resolution of the strata committee.
17. Minutes and other records
(1) Records to be kept
A strata committee must cause to be kept a record of its decisions, any notices given under this Schedule and full and accurate minutes of its meetings.(2) The minutes must include minutes of all resolutions passed in accordance with this Schedule.
(3) Distribution of minutes and records of motions
Within 7 days after a meeting of a strata committee or the passing of a resolution by the strata committee, the strata committee must provide copies of the minutes of the meeting or of the resolution in the following manner—(a) by giving each member of the strata committee a copy,
(b) by giving each owner a copy, if the strata scheme is not a large strata scheme,
(c) by giving an owner a copy, if the strata scheme is a large strata scheme and the owner requests a copy within the period of 7 days.
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Hi Jimmy,
If you are looking for the NSW legislative authority requiring SC minutes to be kept I believe the provision is contained in Section 17 of Schedule 2 of the Act which came into force in 2016.
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<h4>SCHEDULE 2 – MEETING PROCEDURES OF STRATA COMMITTEES</h4>
<h4>17 MINUTES AND OTHER RECORDS</h4>(1) Records to be kept A strata committee must cause to be kept a record of its decisions, any notices given under this Schedule and full and accurate minutes of its meetings.
(2) The minutes must include minutes of all resolutions passed in accordance with this Schedule.
(3) Distribution of minutes and records of motions Within 7 days after a meeting of a strata committee or the passing of a resolution by the strata committee, the strata committee must provide copies of the minutes of the meeting or of the resolution in the following manner–
(a) by giving each member of the strata committee a copy,
(b) by giving each owner a copy, if the strata scheme is not a large strata scheme,
(c) by giving an owner a copy, if the strata scheme is a large strata scheme and the owner requests a copy within the period of 7 days.”
Jimmy-T says ‘the committee should… not be making any decisions that affect the scheme, owners, residents or common property in an “informal” setting.’
Our committee of seven (yep seven! in a Sydney block of 42) almost never meet but when they do it’s at the local pub. Some owners feel uneasy about turning up to observe in a pub and just as uneasy about important decisions Strata Committee decisions made in such an “informal” setting. I won’t engage in any character assassination here.
How might we put a stop to SC meetings taking place at such a venue and make them have more, proper minuted meetings?
I remember looking into the prospects of challenging a meeting some time ago and came across the case below in the District court.
Trigas v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 10579 [2019] NSW from (27)
https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/5d747241e4b0ab0bf6071cb8
at 29. The question here is whether there can be discerned a legislative purpose to invalidate any act that fails to comply with the conditions imposed on meetings of the executive committee…
So it would seem to depend on the exact circumstances but in this case the lack of proceedures (ie no meeting notices) did not have any effect on the decisions made by the EC!
There is another case I have read at NCAT where a meeting was invalidated, but a subsequent meeting took place and corrected the problem, so whilst the lot owner won the case and had the meeting declared invalid, in the end it didnt matter anyway.
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice.
Fey Knows said: How might we put a stop to SC meetings taking place at such a venue and make them have more, proper minuted meetings?
The simplest way to do this would be to put a motion to your next AGM instructing the committee that the meetings be held in a private space – and not on licensed premises – and that proper minutes be recorded, as per the provisions of the Act, which would also allow all owners to attend.
If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.