Short answer
In an NSW strata scheme, the owners corporation is every lot owner together — it holds ultimate authority and makes the big decisions (budgets, levies, by-laws) at general meetings. The strata committee is a small group the owners elect to handle day-to-day running between meetings, within its powers. The committee acts for the owners corporation and answers to it — the owners corporation can direct it or replace it.
The owners corporation
Every owner of a lot is automatically a member of the owners corporation. It’s the body legally responsible for the scheme — its finances, common property, insurance and obligations. Its big decisions are made collectively at general meetings (the AGM and any EGMs): setting the budget and levies, changing by-laws, appointing or removing a managing agent.
The strata committee
The committee is a smaller group elected by the owners corporation to run routine matters between general meetings, so not every decision needs a full meeting. Its decisions generally count as decisions of the owners corporation — but only within its powers, and the owners corporation can overrule or restrict it.
What only the owners corporation can decide
Some things can’t be left to the committee — they must go to a general meeting of all owners. Budgets and levies, by-law changes, and appointing or terminating a managing agent are decisions for the owners corporation, not the committee alone.
Either way, the admin still has to happen
Whether a task belongs to the owners corporation or the committee, someone has to actually do the work — issue the levies, send the notices, keep the records. You’re a self-managed strata: Straita does that work and tells you what needs to happen next; the owners and committee just approve the decisions that are theirs to make.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — the owners corporation, the strata committee and their functions.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — roles in running a scheme.