Strata AGMs Explained: What Every Owner Should Do Before, During and After
Most strata owners treat their Annual General Meeting the way they treat their car registration — a mildly annoying annual obligation that gets ignored until the last minute. The difference is that your AGM directly determines how much you'll pay in levies, whether your building gets maintained, and who controls decisions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Here's how to actually make your AGM work for you.
What Happens at an AGM
The Annual General Meeting is the one time each year when all lot owners come together to make decisions about their building. Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), the AGM must be held within specific timeframes and must cover certain agenda items.
Mandatory Agenda Items
Every AGM must address:
- Confirmation of the previous meeting's minutes
- Election or re-election of the strata committee
- Appointment of officer-bearers (chair, secretary, treasurer)
- Approval of the annual budget for the administrative fund
- Approval of the annual budget for the capital works fund
- Tabling of the annual financial statements
- Appointment of an auditor or decision to waive audit requirements
- Review of insurance arrangements
- Environmental sustainability (from 1 July 2025, this is now a mandatory agenda item)
Before the AGM: Your Preparation Checklist
The work you do before the AGM determines whether you attend as an informed participant or a passive bystander.
Read the Financial Statements
At least 14 days before the AGM, you should receive the agenda and supporting documents, including financial statements for both the admin fund and capital works fund. Look for:
- How much was spent versus what was budgeted
- Whether the capital works fund balance is tracking to the 10-year plan
- Any large, unusual or unexpected expenses
- Whether insurance costs have changed significantly
Review the Proposed Budget
The proposed budget for the coming year sets your levies. Before you vote on it, check whether it accounts for known upcoming costs, whether the capital works contribution is adequate, and whether there are areas where costs seem too high or too low compared to previous years.
| What to Check | Why It Matters | Red Flag |
|---|---|---|
| Admin fund surplus/deficit | Shows whether current levies are covering costs | Persistent deficits mean levies are too low |
| Capital works fund balance | Indicates long-term financial health | Balance well below the 10-year plan projection |
| Insurance costs year-on-year | Often the single largest cost driver | Increase above 10% without explanation |
| Management fee changes | Should be competitive for your building type | Large increases or long-term contracts without benchmarking |
| Special levy history | Frequent special levies signal poor planning | More than one special levy in 3 years |
Check the Motions
Any special resolutions (requiring 75% of votes) or ordinary resolutions being proposed will be on the agenda. Read them carefully. Common motions include by-law changes, approval for major works, appointment of managing agents and approval of contracts.
Prepare Your Questions
Write down specific questions you want answered. Committee members are far more likely to give straight answers to precise, documented questions than to vague concerns.
During the AGM: How to Participate Effectively
Arrive on Time and Stay Until the End
Quorum is typically 25% of unit entitlements (or at least one-quarter of the total number of lots). If there's no quorum within 30 minutes, the meeting may be adjourned. Your attendance helps ensure business can be transacted.
Vote on Everything
You have a vote on every resolution. Use it. Abstaining is not neutral — it effectively helps whichever side has the most active voters. If you disagree with a proposed budget because it underfunds maintenance, vote against it and say why.
Ask Your Prepared Questions
This is your opportunity. Ask about the capital works fund projection, question any large contracts, and request explanations for budget line items that seem unusual. The minutes must record that questions were asked, creating a paper trail.
Under the 2025 Reforms: Meeting Conduct
From July 2025, chairpersons must follow formal conduct rules, including following the agenda, maintaining order and encouraging owners to discuss items in a fair, constructive and open manner. If your chair is steamrolling through the agenda or shutting down legitimate questions, they may be breaching their statutory obligations.
After the AGM: Follow-Up Actions
Get the Minutes
Minutes should be prepared and available within 14 days. Review them to ensure they accurately reflect what was discussed and decided. If they don't, raise the issue with the secretary.
Monitor Committee Actions
The decisions made at the AGM should translate into action. If the AGM approved a budget for painting and the painting hasn't been scheduled six months later, follow up. Request updates on capital works projects. Check whether the committee is spending within the approved budget.
Track Your Building's Financial Health Over Time
One AGM in isolation doesn't tell you much. But tracking your building's financial trajectory over three to five years reveals patterns: whether levies are keeping pace with costs, whether the capital works fund is growing or shrinking, and whether the committee is delivering on its commitments.
The Sustainability Agenda Item
From 1 July 2025, every AGM in NSW must include a discussion of environmental sustainability. This means the committee must present data on common property energy and water consumption and expenditure, and the capital works fund plan must include estimates for sustainability infrastructure such as solar panels, EV charging and energy-efficient lighting.
This isn't just a box-ticking exercise. It's an opportunity for owners to push for investments that can reduce long-term costs — LED upgrades, solar installations and smart metering often deliver payback within two to five years while also reducing levies.
Proxy Voting: Use It Wisely
If you can't attend, don't waste your vote. Appoint a proxy you trust and give them clear instructions on how to vote on each resolution. Under NSW law, you can appoint any adult as your proxy — they don't need to be an owner in the scheme.
Be wary of "proxy farming" — where individuals collect proxies from multiple owners to gain disproportionate influence at meetings. The 2025 reforms have placed new limits on how many proxy votes one person can exercise.
How UnitBuddy Helps
UnitBuddy provides benchmarking data that lets you walk into your AGM with confidence. Compare your building's levies, insurance costs, maintenance spending and capital works funding against similar buildings in your area — so you can ask informed questions and vote on budgets backed by evidence, not guesswork.
Your AGM isn't just a meeting — it's your shareholders' meeting for an asset worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prepare for it like one.