How do you set up a committee meeting?
Posted 08 November 2024
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The secretary can call a meeting at any time. Any other member of the strata committee can call a strata committee meeting if they are requested to do so by not less than one-third of the strata committee members.
A request for a strata committee meeting does not have to be in writing (although it normally is). A written request for a strata committee meeting should:
- Be addressed to the secretary or if the secretary is unreasonable, addressed to another strata committee member;
- State the names of the strata committee members who are making the request;
- Outline the proposed matters or motions for consideration; and
- Either nominate or request that the secretary nominate a suitable date, time, and venue for the strata committee meeting.
The meeting must be held:
- In the case of a large strata scheme (i.e. over 100 lots), not later than 28 days after the request is made, or
- In the case of any other strata scheme, not later than 14 days after the request is made.
Ratification
In situations where a small and/or urgent decision needs to be made for the owners corporation, and the formal requirement may cause an undue delay or expense, the strata committee in making such decision, may by circulated emails make an informal decision to provide approval on a matter (so long as this is a decision that would otherwise be within the committee’s power to make), provided that the strata committee will still go back to ratify (i.e. formalise) the decision at a formal meeting in order to avoid the risk of potential personal liability.
In order to effectively ratify a decision, a motion such as the one below where a committee meeting is ratifying a decision should be included in the agenda as follows:
| “MOTION //INSERT NUMBER//
The Committee// RESOLVES to ratify the decision to //insert details of informal decision //.” |
Notice must be given to all lot owners and strata committee members advising the date, time, and venue for the strata committee meeting and contain a detailed agenda.
As an example, provided below is a sample notice of a strata committee meeting:
In addition to the above, there are specific rules for the time between giving the notice and the time of the meeting.
3 clear days notice
For notice of meetings for large strata schemes, the secretary of the owners corporation must give notice of a meeting to each other member of the strata committee (including any tenant member) at least 3 days before the meeting and to each owner. Notice is to be given in accordance with section 263 of the SSMA and by displaying the notice on the notice board (if any) maintained by the owners corporation.
For any other strata schemes, the secretary of the owners corporation 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. Notice is to be given by displaying the notice on the notice board maintained by the owners corporation or in accordance with section 263 of the SSMA.
If service by post, service of the document:
- may be effected by properly addressing, prepaying and posting a letter containing the document, and
- in Australia or in an external Territory – is generally taken to have been effected on the seventh working day after the letter was posted, and
- in another place–is generally taken to have been effected at the time when the letter would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post.
(see section 76 of the Interpretation Act 1987 for details)
The table below shows how to calculate the earliest day for scheduling the meeting based on different service options.
| Days |
Service by post within Australia |
Service by hand delivery or displayed on noticeboard (where applicable) |
Service by email |
| Tuesday 1 March |
Notice posted |
4.00pm – Notice delivered/ displayed |
4.00pm – notice sent by email |
| Wednesday 2 March |
Working Day 1 |
Clear Day 1 |
Clear Day 1 |
| Thursday 3 March |
Working Day 2 |
Clear Day 2 |
Clear Day 2 |
| Friday 4 March |
Working Day 3 |
Clear Day 3 |
Clear Day 3 |
| Saturday 5 March |
Not a working day |
Earliest date for meeting |
Earliest date for meeting |
| Sunday 6 March |
Not a working day |
|
|
| Monday 7 March |
Working Day 4 |
|
|
| Tuesday 8 March |
Working Day 5 |
|
|
| Wednesday 9 March |
Working Day 6 |
|
|
| Thursday 10 March |
Working Day 7 – Deemed delivery |
|
|
| Friday 11 March |
Clear Day 1 |
|
|
| Saturday 12 March |
Clear Day 2 |
|
|
| Sunday 13 March |
Clear Day 3 |
|
|
| Monday 14 March |
Earliest date for meeting |
|
|
Paper-based meeting – fastest committee meeting possible
A strata committee can hold a paper-based meeting (i.e. no physical meeting) and the motion that is proposed for the meeting will still be considered validly passed if it meets the requirements in clause 9, Schedule 2 of the SSMA, summarised as follows:
(a) notice was given of the meeting, either by:
- for a large scheme, placing it on the notice board and serving it pursuant to section 263 of the SSMA; or
- for a small scheme, placing it on the notice board or serving it pursuant to section 263 of the SSMA; and
(b) the motion was approved in writing by a majority of the members of the committee (other than the tenant member).
Essentially, a motion is passed upon a majority returning a vote in favour of a given motion, regardless that the proposed date for the meeting has not yet occurred.
With respect to quorum, clause 12(3) of Schedule 2 of the SSMA relevantly states that a “person who has voted, or intends to vote, on a motion or at an election at a meeting by a permitted means other than a vote in person is taken to be present for the purposes of determining whether there is a quorum.”
It is a technical process to use the above correctly. As such, it is important that a strata committee obtains legal advice before proceeding.
This is an extract from our Strata Committee Manual.
To access more information, please fill in the below form to download our Strata Committee Manual for free.
