Guide · 4 min read · Alan Hunter, Class 1 Strata Manager · updated 15-09-2026

Do two-lot strata schemes still need an AGM?

Under the 2026 reforms a two-lot "small strata scheme" no longer needs an annual general meeting or a committee — decisions are made by written resolution of both owners. What still has to happen each year, and what to do until the new rules start.

Short answer: once the small-scheme rules commence, no. Until then, technically yes — and there's a simple way to handle the gap.

The current rule

Every owners corporation in NSW must hold an annual general meeting within one month of the end of its financial year (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 18 and Schedule 1). A two-lot duplex is an owners corporation like any other, so on paper the two owners have been required to give notice, meet, adopt a budget, confirm the insurance and record minutes every year. Almost none do. There is no fine for skipping it, but the decisions that should have been made at that meeting — the budget, the insurance, the capital works fund choice — end up never being made or recorded at all.

The new rule

The Bill before Parliament inserts a new s 7A creating the "small strata scheme": a scheme with two lots and no strata committee. For a small strata scheme:

• no annual general meeting is required;
• no strata committee or office-bearers are required;
• any decision the owners corporation needs to make is made by a written resolution signed by every owner — in practice, both of you;
• the record of each written resolution must be kept with the scheme's records (s 180(1)(b1)).

That is the whole governance model. Two signatures, kept on file.

What still has to happen every year

Removing the meeting does not remove the decisions the meeting was for. Each year both owners still need to agree, in writing, on:

1. The budget — what the scheme expects to spend (insurance premium, any shared maintenance, our fee) and how it's split. The Act requires contributions to be determined and levied in proportion to unit entitlement (ss 79, 81, 83(2)).
2. The insurance — that the building policy is in the owners corporation's name, for full replacement value, with $20 million public liability (ss 160–164).
3. The capital works fund — either to keep one, or to resolve under s 74(5) not to, and meet capital costs as they arise.

Anything else — a repair, a by-law, appointing or changing a manager — is a written resolution as and when it comes up.

What to do until the new rules start

The Bill has passed the Legislative Assembly and is before the Legislative Council; it starts on a date to be proclaimed. Until then, where the Act still requires a meeting, the cleanest approach is a very short one: a notice, a 10-minute video call or even a paper meeting both owners sign, and minutes recording the three decisions above. Duplex Strata runs that for its schemes at no extra charge, and switches to written resolutions the day the new section commences.

Do we need minutes if we never meet?

Under the new rules, the signed written resolution is the record — there are no minutes because there is no meeting. Keep every signed resolution with the strata records; a buyer's conveyancer and a Section 184 certificate will draw on them.

Can one owner make decisions alone?

No. In a two-lot scheme every decision needs both owners. If you can't agree, the options are mediation or, as a last resort, an order from the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Does the 1 October 2026 date mean the meetings rule has changed?

No — 1 October 2026 is when two-lot schemes stop lodging the annual Strata Hub report. The small-scheme (no meetings) rules start separately, on proclamation.