If someone in your building has floated the idea of selling the whole strata scheme to a developer, or knocking it down and rebuilding, you might assume that decision rests entirely with a handful of owners or the strata committee. It doesn’t. Under NSW’s strata renewal laws, that conversation has a formal starting point — and it begins with a strata renewal committee.
Here’s when one can be formed, what it’s allowed to do, and what protections are in place for owners who aren’t on board.
What is a strata renewal committee?
A strata renewal committee is a group elected by the owners corporation to investigate and develop a formal strata renewal plan — the document that sets out the terms of a proposed collective sale or redevelopment of an entire strata scheme. It’s a separate body from your regular strata committee, created specifically to manage this one process, and it only exists because the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 (NSW) created a legal pathway for owners to collectively sell or redevelop their building.
Before this legislation, getting every single owner in a strata scheme to agree to sell was often the only way to close it down — meaning one holdout could block the entire building indefinitely. The renewal process changed that by setting a defined, transparent path forward.
When can a strata renewal committee be formed?
A strata renewal committee can only be formed after a formal proposal has already been put to the owners corporation — it isn’t something a few owners can set up informally over a hallway conversation.
The process runs in three stages:
1. Someone submits a strata renewal proposal. Any person, including an existing lot owner, can put forward a proposal to sell or redevelop the scheme. This proposal goes to the strata committee for initial consideration.
2. The owners corporation has 30 days to weigh it up. Once a proposal is submitted, the owners corporation has a set window to decide whether the idea has enough merit to justify further investigation.
3. A resolution establishes the committee. If the owners corporation decides the proposal is worth pursuing, it must pass a resolution — by simple majority vote — to formally establish the strata renewal committee and elect its members. Only at this point does the committee exist and start work.
In short: a strata renewal committee can be formed once a majority of owners vote to investigate a proposal further. It cannot be formed before a proposal exists, and it cannot bypass a vote of the owners corporation.
What the committee does once it’s formed
The committee’s job is to turn a proposal into a fully developed strata renewal plan that owners can actually vote on. The legislation is specific about what that plan must include, because owners are being asked to make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives based on it. A compliant plan generally must contain:
- A general overview of the proposal and who is putting it forward
- A full and frank statement from the proposed purchaser or redeveloper about their intended use of the site
- Details of payments owners will receive, and timeframes for vacating units
- An independent valuer’s report covering the market value of the building at its highest and best use, and the compensation value of each individual lot
That independent valuation is a critical safeguard — it stops a plan from being pushed through based on a lowball internal estimate.
The support threshold — and what happens if not everyone agrees
Once the plan is finalised, it goes to a vote of all lot owners. Support from owners representing at least 75% of lots (excluding utility lots like car spaces or storage) is required for the plan to proceed. That’s a high bar deliberately: it needs to reflect genuine, broad consensus rather than a bare majority.
Even with 75% support, the process doesn’t end there. The plan must then go to the NSW Land and Environment Court for approval. The Court checks that the legislation was followed correctly and that the plan was developed in good faith — and it can reject a plan that wasn’t. For owners who voted against the plan, the Court also ensures they receive no less than the compensation value of their lot, calculated using the same principles that apply to compulsory land acquisitions — covering not just market value but reasonable costs like legal fees, stamp duty, and relocation expenses.
What this means if you’re a homeowner in a strata scheme
If you ever receive notice that a strata renewal proposal has been lodged in your building, it’s worth understanding exactly where things stand. A proposal being submitted is not the same as a committee being formed, and a committee being formed is not the same as a plan being approved. Each stage requires its own vote, its own scrutiny, and — ultimately — court oversight before anything is finalised.
If you have questions about a proposal in your scheme, or want to understand your rights and options at any stage of the process, your strata manager can walk you through exactly where things stand and what happens next.