Strata Quorum Calculator NSW: Work Out If You Have Enough Owners to Vote

In NSW, quorum for a general meeting is satisfied when at least one-quarter of the people entitled to vote are present in person or by proxy, OR the owners of at least one-quarter of the total unit entitlement are present — whichever is the lesser. If you can answer “yes” to either, you have quorum.

That’s it. The rest of this post unpacks the corner cases.

This trips up most first-time secretaries. Not every lot owner is entitled to vote at every meeting. Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), an owner is entitled to vote if:

1. They are recorded on the strata roll as the owner of a lot, and
2. They are financial — their levies are paid up, or arrears are below the threshold that disqualifies voting, and
3. Their voting rights aren’t otherwise suspended (e.g. by a tribunal order)

If a lot has joint owners (very common), the owners can collectively cast one vote — they need to agree among themselves, or nominate one to vote on behalf of the others. If a lot is owned by a company, the company nominates a representative who votes on its behalf.

If an owner is unfinancial — typically more than the prescribed period in arrears (currently around 90 days for most schemes) — they can attend the meeting and speak, but they cannot vote. They do not count toward quorum either.

This last point matters. If your scheme has 22 lots but 6 are in heavy arrears, your effective universe for quorum is 16 lots, not 22. Quorum is calculated against the people entitled to vote, not against the total roll.

Let’s use a realistic example.

Your scheme:

• 22 lots total
• 20 lots are financial (2 are unfinancial)
• Total unit entitlement = 2,200
• The 20 financial lots represent 2,000 unit entitlement (the 2 unfinancial lots = 200 UE)

Test 1 — Headcount. 25% of 20 financial owners = 5. So you need 5 owners present in person or by proxy.

Test 2 — Unit entitlement. 25% of 2,000 financial UE = 500 UE. So you need owners representing at least 500 UE.

You meet quorum if either test passes. So 4 owners with 600 UE between them = quorum (UE test passes). Six owners with only 400 UE = also quorum (headcount test passes). The “whichever is the lesser” wording in the Act means you only need one of the two — not both.

A proxy is a written authorisation for one person to vote on behalf of another. Under NSW law, a proxy can attend a meeting and their lot counts toward both quorum and voting outcomes — provided the proxy form is valid and lodged correctly.

If 3 owners turn up in person, each holding 1 proxy, you effectively have 6 lots represented for quorum purposes. This is how poorly-attended meetings still validly transact business.

A few constraints worth knowing:

• A single person can hold a maximum of a small number of proxies (for most schemes it’s 1 proxy per 20 lots, or 5% of lots, whichever is greater)
• Proxy forms must be lodged before the meeting begins
• A proxy form lapses after a defined period (typically the duration of the meeting or 12 months)
• Owners can revoke a proxy at any time before the vote

If you’re hoping proxies will save your quorum, collect them early. Don’t rely on proxy forms turning up on the night. (Full detail in our proxy voting guide.)

This is the single most useful piece of strata knowledge for committee secretaries: if quorum isn’t met within 30 minutes of the scheduled start time, the meeting is adjourned for 30 minutes, then any number of owners present forms quorum.

In practice this means:

• Meeting scheduled for 6:30pm
• 6:30pm — only 2 owners present, quorum not met
• Chair waits and acknowledges quorum not met at 7:00pm
• Meeting adjourned for 30 minutes
• 7:30pm — meeting reconvenes with whoever is present (could be 2, could be 4)
• Quorum is now whoever is in the room. Meeting proceeds normally.

The adjournment and the 30-minute wait must be recorded in the minutes, including the reconvened start time.

This rule stops schemes being held hostage by owners who simply don’t turn up. Without it, persistent non-attendance could effectively block all decisions. With it, the scheme can always make progress — provided proper notice was given.

Two-lot schemes

Two-lot schemes have special rules under Section 18 of the Act. If both lots agree, they can opt out of some general meeting requirements entirely. Worth a separate conversation with NSW Fair Trading if your scheme has only two lots.

When a lot owner is also a committee member

The same person can wear two hats but only votes once at a general meeting. Committee membership doesn’t double up your voting power.

Tenants

Tenants can attend general meetings and speak (if the scheme has more than half tenant-occupied lots, they can nominate a tenant representative). But tenants do not vote, and they do not count toward quorum.

Joint owners

Joint owners of a single lot share one vote. They count as one for headcount purposes. If they disagree, the vote isn’t cast — they need to resolve it among themselves before the meeting.

Mortgagee voting

In rare cases (typically when an owner is significantly in arrears on their mortgage), a mortgagee can exercise the owner’s voting rights. This is highly unusual at a routine AGM and almost always announced in advance through legal channels.

Everything above relates to general meetings (AGMs and EGMs of the whole owners corporation). Committee meetings have their own quorum rule: quorum is a majority of committee members (e.g. 3 of 5, 4 of 7). The 25% rule doesn’t apply — that’s a general meeting concept.

The 30-minute adjournment safety net also doesn’t apply to committee meetings. If quorum isn’t met, the committee meeting is simply postponed.

Practical workflow for the secretary:

1. Before the meeting — print your attendance/voting register with every financial lot listed and its unit entitlement
2. At the start — mark each lot as present (in person), proxy, or absent as people arrive
3. At the scheduled start time — count present + proxy lots and their combined UE
4. Quorum met? Chair confirms aloud: “I confirm quorum is met with [N] lots representing [N] unit entitlement.”
5. Quorum not met? Chair states this aloud, notes the time, and waits 30 minutes
6. After 30 minutes — the meeting reconvenes with whoever is present
7. In the minutes — record either the initial quorum confirmation OR the adjournment and reconvened start

Always confirm quorum out loud and ensure it appears in the minutes verbatim. Resolutions made at a meeting where quorum wasn’t confirmed in the minutes are easier to challenge later.

The pattern of how AGM decisions get overturned at NCAT (opens in a new tab) usually involves one of these:

• Counting unfinancial owners toward quorum. They don’t count. Recalculate using only financial owners.
• Not recording quorum in the minutes. Even if quorum was met, if it isn’t in the minutes the meeting’s validity becomes contestable.
• Skipping the 30-minute wait. Some chairs declare “no quorum, meeting cancelled” the moment 6:30 rolls around. You must wait 30 minutes before adjourning.
• Including tenants in quorum count. Tenants don’t vote. They don’t count.
• Counting late-arriving proxies. Proxy forms must be lodged before the meeting starts. A proxy that arrives at 6:35pm for a 6:30 meeting is usually invalid.

Manual quorum tracking on a paper register works fine for small schemes. For larger schemes, or when you want a defensible audit trail, software helps. In Stratasphera, the attendance screen automatically:

• Shows every financial lot with its unit entitlement
• Flags unfinancial lots so you don’t accidentally count them
• Calculates both the headcount test and the UE test in real time as you mark attendance
• Records the quorum confirmation in the minutes automatically
• Tracks proxies separately and applies them to the right lots

If quorum isn’t met at the scheduled start, the system holds a 30-minute timer and prompts the chair to reconvene at the right moment. The minutes capture all of this without manual intervention.

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