Short answer
When an owner wants an EV charger in the shared car park or solar panels on the shared roof, the installation touches common property — so the owners corporation must approve it, usually alongside a by-law. The good news is that both count as sustainability infrastructure under NSW law, so the approval doesn’t need the usual 75% special resolution. A sustainability infrastructure resolution passes unless more than half the votes cast are against it — a much lower bar, deliberately set so a small number of objectors can’t block a sensible green upgrade.
The old barrier: the 75% special resolution
Anything that alters common property normally needs a special resolution — 75% approval. Running a charger’s wiring through the basement, or mounting panels and cabling on the shared roof, both count as changes to common property. In practice, reaching 75% is very hard, and for years it let a small number of owners block every sustainability upgrade a building wanted.
The shortcut: a sustainability infrastructure resolution
NSW introduced sustainability infrastructure resolutions specifically to remove that roadblock. For qualifying green upgrades — including EV charging and solar — the resolution passes unless more than one-half of the votes cast oppose it, rather than needing a 75% super-majority. That flips the maths: instead of needing to win over three-quarters of owners, a reasonable proposal now only has to avoid a majority actively voting against it.
A note on the exact section: The lower-threshold mechanism sits within the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (the sustainability-infrastructure provisions added by 2021 amendments). We have described it as the Act and NSW Fair Trading state it; confirm the precise section wording against the current Act before relying on it for a specific vote.
The conditions and terms to settle
The lower threshold comes with responsibilities. The owners corporation has to consider practical matters set out in the Act before it approves — including the cost of the works (installation, running and maintenance), who will carry them out, who will own the infrastructure, and who can use it. In practice the approval is usually paired with a by-law (often a common-property rights by-law for exclusive use) that records who installs and maintains the equipment and how any extra power it draws is metered and paid for. Exactly who bears which cost varies by building and is a matter for each scheme to set, not a fixed rule — so settle it in the approval rather than leaving it open.
So the committee’s real job
With the voting barrier lowered, the committee’s task shifts from funding and fighting over these upgrades to approving them and setting clean terms — who installs, who maintains, and how any extra power is metered and billed. For a self-managed scheme, Straita runs that whole approval: it frames the sustainability infrastructure resolution, puts it to the vote at the right threshold, and records the decision and the by-law — so an owner’s charger or solar rests on a defensible, well-documented approval.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — common property changes and sustainability infrastructure resolutions.
- NSW Fair Trading — Sustainability infrastructure in strata — installation, financing and by-laws.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes — general strata guidance.