Short answer
No. The strata committee cannot change by-laws on its own. Making, amending or repealing a by-law is a decision for the whole owners corporation — it requires a special resolution at a general meeting, followed by registration of the change with NSW Land Registry Services before it takes effect. The committee can propose a change and put it to the owners, but it cannot enact one.
Why the power sits with the owners
By-laws bind every owner, tenant and occupier in the scheme, so the law places the power to change them with all the owners rather than the smaller committee. That is a deliberate protection: a rule that everyone must follow should be decided by everyone, at a general meeting where owners get notice and a vote, not by a handful of committee members between meetings.
What the committee can do
The committee is not powerless here — it is the engine that gets a change to the owners. It can draft a proposed by-law, put it on the agenda for a general meeting, explain why it is needed, and recommend it. What it cannot do is skip the vote. Once the owners pass the special resolution, the change still has to be registered before it is enforceable.
The one thing to get right
The two steps that catch schemes out are the resolution type and registration. A by-law change needs a special resolution — a general committee majority or an ordinary resolution is not enough — and it has no legal force until it is registered with NSW Land Registry Services, which must be done within the time the Act allows. Miss either and the “new by-law” is not enforceable. (See how to make or change a by-law.)
Running the change cleanly
The committee’s real job is to steer a proposed by-law through the proper process without a misstep. A system such as Straita helps a self-managed committee do exactly that — draft the motion, give owners proper notice, record the special resolution, and hold the registered by-law afterwards — so a change the committee proposed is one the scheme can actually rely on.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — by-law changes by special resolution and registration with the Registrar-General (s 141).
- NSW Government — Strata by-laws (Fair Trading) — the process to change a by-law.