In New South Wales, all meetings are required to have a quorum present. Whether the meeting is for an Annual General Meeting (AGM), Strata Committee Meeting (SCM), or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), a quorum must be achieved.
What is a quorum?
Under NSW legislation and the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the requirements for a quorum vary depending on the type of meeting. It is also important to remember that although tenants can attend meetings, they are not eligible to vote and so do not count towards establishing a quorum.
General Meetings (AGM or EGM):
- At least 25% of eligible voters are present in person or by proxy; OR
- A sufficient number of eligible voting owners and holding which makes up 25% or more of the scheme’s total unit entitlement
For example, if the total unit entitlement is 10, a quorum can be achieved with three or more eligible voters.
Strata Committee Meetings (SCM)
- At least 50% of members if there are two or more members on the body corporate committee
For example, if the strata committee has four members, only two member is necessary to achieve a quorum.
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Why is achieving a quorum important?
It is crucial to determine a quorum prior to the start of your meeting as a lack of quorum means that any decisions or motions you make will not be considered and any elections will not be held.
What happens if we cannot establish a quorum?
For General meetings, If there is no quorum after 30 minutes of the meeting commencement, the Chairperson may adjourn the meeting for at least seven days, or, under the new strata laws, the chairperson may declare those persons present to constitute a quorum, meaning that the meeting can go ahead.
This was a new change under the strata laws to try and ensure more meetings could be held even if a quorum wasn’t present. If, at the rescheduled meeting, a quorum still cannot be established, the meeting may go ahead. At this point, the Chairperson may state that the quorum is made up of the owners and proxies who are present and eligible to vote.
For Committee meetings, if there is no quorum, the meeting needs to be adjourned and rescheduled to a later late.
In instances where people start to leave the meeting and a quorum is lost, the meeting needs to be adjourned until a later date.
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