Short answer
A strata committee has a legal maximum size and the owners choose how many members to have up to that limit — a smaller committee is allowed, and very small schemes can run more simply. The owners set the number at the annual general meeting, and the elected members then choose the office holders from among themselves.
Setting the number
The owners corporation decides how many committee members there will be, up to the legal maximum, as part of the AGM. The maximum was raised to 15 members by the 2023 strata law changes (it was previously nine), so a scheme can now have a larger committee if the owners want one. Most schemes choose far fewer than the maximum — enough people to share the load without becoming unwieldy.
A large strata scheme (broadly, one with many lots) must have a committee of at least three members. Smaller schemes have more flexibility, and in a two-lot scheme the arrangement is simpler again.
Choosing the office holders
Once the members are elected, they select the chairperson, secretary and treasurer from among themselves. Those three offices can be held by three different people or, in a small scheme, doubled up — see can one person hold more than one committee role. Committee size is about how many people are elected; office holding is a separate step that happens afterwards.
Right-sizing the committee without the guesswork
Deciding the number, running the nominations and recording who holds which office all have to be done correctly for the committee to be validly formed. Straita handles the AGM mechanics — the number resolution, the nominations, the election record and who ended up in which office — so a self-managing committee gets the size and structure right without second-guessing the rules.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — number of members of the strata committee and large-scheme minimum.
- Serving on a strata committee (NSW Government) — committee make-up and office holders.