What Does a Strata Committee Do?

A guide to the roles and responsibilities of a strata committee in South Australia, and what it means for members, owners, and tenants.

In order to manage the property for both owners and tenants, the strata corporation may nominate a strata committee to handle day-to-day tasks and ongoing management of the property. 

This guide explains the roles and responsibilities of a strata committee in South Australia and what it means for members, owners, and tenants.

What Is a Strata Committee in SA?

A strata committee is a group of individuals appointed by the strata or community corporation to make decisions on behalf of the wider group of owners. 

Rather than calling a full general meeting every time something requires attention, the corporation can delegate much of its day-to-day business to the smaller, elected committee.

In South Australia, this is formally known as the management committee. The corporation’s power to appoint a committee comes from the Strata Titles Act 1988 (or the Community Titles Act 1996, depending on the scheme). The committee is appointed by an ordinary resolution at a general meeting, and in residential schemes, members must be unit or lot owners. Terms usually run for one year, and decisions are made by majority vote.

A strata committee is generally appointed for larger strata properties involving many owners. Smaller strata corporations with 3-4 lots can also have a strata committee in place, but it’s less common. 

There is no legal requirement for a corporation to have a strata committee in place – the corporation can choose to handle all discussions and decision-making through general meetings. 

The Key Roles within a Strata Committee

In South Australia, a strata committee can have any number of members – it is up to the corporation to decide how many people sit on the committee. Whatever the size, a strata committee must always include the following three roles.

Presiding Officer

The Presiding Officer is the chairperson of the committee – they are responsible for heading meetings, facilitating discussions fairly, ensuring everyone has an equal chance to be heard, and finalising the outcome of a vote. 

The Presiding Officer cannot make decisions independently or veto the result of a vote – their responsibility is to guide the committee, not to govern it. Every member’s vote carries equal weight, and it is the Presiding Officer’s responsibility to enforce this. 

As the role that oversees how the strata is run, the Presiding Officer is usually the main point of contact for the strata manager. 

A good Presiding Officer fosters a fair and inclusive environment where owners feel that their perspectives are adequately represented and considered. 

Secretary

The Secretary is the administrative head of the strata committee.

The role of the secretary typically involves:

• Organising committee and general meetings
• Issuing meeting notices, agendas, and voting materials
• Recording and distributing meeting minutes
• Maintaining records such as the strata roll or register
• Managing correspondence with owners and external services

The Secretary handles the bulk of administrative work on behalf of the strata or community corporation, which makes organisation and attention to detail essential qualities for the elected individual. 

Treasurer

The Treasurer is responsible for handling the collective finances of the corporation – this includes preparing and managing budgets, collecting levies, and keeping accurate financial records on behalf of all owners.

The Treasurer also banks the corporation’s funds and monitors expenditure against the approved budget. This is strictly a management role – the Treasurer does not make decisions on the need for special levies or how the corporation’s funds are spent. 

Given the close involvement with the corporation’s funds, the individual nominated as Treasurer should be of good character and trustworthy, as well as comfortable working with numbers, budgets, and financial records.

One person can hold more than one of the above roles – this is especially common in smaller corporations where one person serves as the Presiding Officer, Secretary, and Treasurer at the same time. However where there are 11 or more units/lots in a community title, a person can hold a maximum of two of these roles.

Limits on the Strata Committee’s Powers

While the strata committee handles much of the corporation’s day-to-day business, the corporation ultimately decides how much authority it has by restricting its decision-making powers to certain areas. 

For example, a corporation may authorise the committee to approve routine maintenance and minor repairs up to a set dollar amount. Under this arrangement, the strata committee can handle a $500 repair on its own, but a $20,000 repainting of the building would need to go back to all owners for a vote.

In addition to these imposed limits, the strata committee also cannot make decisions on matters that require a special resolution – such as major changes affecting the scheme. These are matters that will significantly affect all owners and must be raised at a general meeting for a vote.

The committee must also keep proper records of its work. This includes minutes of its meetings and accurate accounting records of the corporation’s financial affairs, both of which support transparency and help demonstrate that decisions were made properly.

Personal Liability and Office Bearer Insurance

In South Australia, the strata committee office holders can be held personally liable for poor decisions and offences made against the Strata Titles Act 1988. 

Committee members can claim defence if they exercised reasonable care in carrying out their responsibilities or did not contribute to the offence through any intentional or negligent act (section 47)

In light of this risk, many committees protect their members with office bearer liability insurance, which covers claims arising from the decisions and actions of committee members. 

Strata committees under the Community Titles Act 1996 (s 99) are generally exempt from personal liability unless they acted dishonestly or negligently. 

Strata Committees and Strata Management Services

To offload the burden of administrative work for day-to-day management, strata committees often engage the services of a strata or body corporate manager. 

Strata management services help the corporation stay on top of its legislative and administrative obligations, but the decision making will still lie with the corporation.