Proxy Voting in Strata Meetings: How It Works and How It's Abused

Across Australia

Proxy rules are not uniform. NSW has detailed proxy limits and forms. Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania, ACT and NT each set their own rules for voting papers, representatives, company nominees, electronic attendance and meeting procedure.

Before relying on a proxy, check your local legislation and the meeting notice. A valid proxy in one state can be defective in another if the form, timing, lot entitlement or authority is wrong.

What matters first

• A proxy is useful democratic machinery until it becomes vote collection by stealth.
• The risk is highest in disengaged buildings with low attendance and contentious spending decisions.
• Transparency before the meeting is the best defence.

A proxy is useful when it carries an owner's instructions. It becomes a governance problem when it is collected as a blank cheque.

Proxy voting exists for a good reason: not every owner can attend every meeting. But in practice, proxies have become one of the most contentious aspects of strata governance. Stories of individuals collecting dozens of proxies to push through self-interested decisions are disturbingly common.

The 2025 NSW reforms addressed some of the worst abuses, but understanding how proxies work remains essential for every owner.

Proxy voting sits at the heart of strata democracy, and at the heart of its most common dysfunction. It's one of the levers most often abused by people working against the wider owner body, which makes it central to any honest discussion of strata committee governance.

How Proxy Voting Works

A proxy is a written authorisation allowing another person to attend and vote at a strata meeting on your behalf. It is not a transfer of ownership. You remain the lot owner. The proxy only exercises the vote you would have had, and only for the meeting or period the form covers.

In NSW, the appointment rules sit in Schedule 1 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, not in section 26 of the Act (that section is about the initial period). The practical rules are:

• Any lot owner can appoint a proxy for a general meeting
• The appointment must be on the NSW Fair Trading approved form, dated and signed
• In a large scheme (more than 100 lots, excluding utility and parking lots), the form must reach the secretary at least 24 hours before the meeting. That is a hard 24 hours, not close of business the Friday before
• In any other NSW scheme, the form can be given at or before the meeting
• You can direct the proxy on specific resolutions, or give them discretion
• A directed vote that is not followed is invalid
• The appointment covers the specified meeting and any adjournment of that meeting
• An appointment generally needs to be renewed after 12 months or two AGMs, whichever is longer

1. 01
   Owner appoints a proxy
2. 02
   Approved form signed
3. 03
   Lodged before the deadline
4. 04
   Proxy votes on resolutions
5. 05
   Recorded in the minutes

Directed or open

This is the most important choice on the form.

A directed proxy tells the holder how to vote on named motions: for, against, or abstain. Use this whenever the agenda is already in the meeting pack. If the proxy then votes the other way, that vote should not be counted.

An open (or general) proxy lets the holder decide. That is convenient if you trust them and the meeting is likely to amend motions from the floor. It is also how blank-cheque farming works. If you cannot attend and do not know the resolutions yet, a safer default is: vote against anything I have not specifically approved, and do not vote on amendments I have not seen.

Who Can Be a Proxy?

Any adult can usually be appointed. They do not need to be an owner. You can appoint a partner, family member, neighbour, friend or, in some states, a professional. The useful test is not status. It is whether they will follow your instructions and whether they already hold too many proxies.

Some people should not hold your proxy, even if the form allows it:

• The strata manager, if the meeting will decide their reappointment, fee or extra services
• A committee member pushing a related-party contract
• Anyone who has already collected a stack of forms from other lots
• Anyone who will not tell you afterwards how they voted

Queensland is stricter than NSW here. On the Standard and Accommodation modules, a body corporate manager or their associate cannot be appointed as a proxy at all.

If you attend in person, your own vote usually takes priority. In Queensland and WA this is explicit: if the owner is present, the proxy does not vote unless the owner consents at the meeting (QLD) or the owner must vote personally (WA). Do not assume a posted proxy still controls the lot if you walk into the room.

Proxy, nominee, attorney, voting paper

Owners mix these up, and chairs sometimes count the wrong instrument.

Instrument	What it is	Typical use	Watch for
Proxy	A person votes in the room as if they were you	You cannot attend	Caps, form defects, blank instructions
Company nominee	The individual a corporate owner authorises to vote as the company	Company-owned lots	This is not a proxy and is not always subject to the same cap
Power of attorney	A broader legal authority that may include voting	Absent owners, estates, overseas owners	NSW still restricts how many lots an attorney can vote for
Voting paper / pre-meeting vote	You lodge a written or electronic vote on the printed motions	QLD standard practice; growing elsewhere	Cannot usually cover floor amendments

If a company owns the lot, appointing a company nominee is usually cleaner than handing a neighbour a proxy. From 2 March 2025, NSW removed company nominees from the old clause 25A concentration rules that still apply to powers of attorney. A company can now appoint one nominee across the lots it owns, instead of manufacturing a separate nominee for each lot. That closed an impractical workaround. It did not give a natural person a free pass to farm owner proxies.

Queensland owners often do not need a proxy at all. A written voting paper, handed only to the secretary before the meeting starts, is usually safer. The proxy cannot withdraw that vote. If the motion is later amended from the floor, a pre-lodged yes is generally treated as a no on the amended motion.

How many proxies one person can hold

This is the rule chairs forget to apply, and the rule that later unwinds close votes.

Jurisdiction	Usual cap	Other limits that matter
NSW	1 proxy in a scheme of 20 lots or fewer; 5% of lots if larger (round down)	Approved form. 24-hour lodge in schemes over 100 lots. Co-owner proxies for the same lot sit outside the cap
Victoria	1 lot owner if 20 or fewer occupiable lots; 5% if larger	Prescribed form. Names an individual. Cannot be transferred. Lapses after 12 months. Managers cannot require a proxy or vote on their own appointment if they are not a lot owner
Queensland (Standard / Accommodation)	1 proxy if fewer than 20 lots; 5% of lots if 20 or more	Manager or associate cannot be a proxy. No proxy vote on manager / contractor / letting-agent engagement or committee election. Ends at the end of the financial year unless shorter
Queensland (Small Schemes / Commercial)	Number cap often does not apply	Still check the module. Written votes remain the cleaner option
WA	No universal numerical cap	Must be in writing. Owner present must vote personally. A proxy with a financial interest in goods or services cannot vote on that motion unless the instrument authorises it and says how
SA	No statutory numerical cap	Appointment generally lasts a maximum of 12 months. One vote per lot is the usual starting point
Tasmania, ACT, NT	Check the local Act and scheme rules	Forms, lodging times and manager restrictions differ. Do not import the NSW 5% rule

Worked NSW examples: 12 lots, one proxy. 48 lots, two proxies. 60 lots, three. 200 lots, ten. The chair should do this arithmetic before the first motion, not after someone objects to the result.

The cap is on proxies held, not on lots the person already owns. Owning five lots and holding three extra proxies is not the same thing as holding three proxies. Company nominees, co-owners voting their own lot, and valid attorneys sit in different columns. Count each category separately.

How the vote is counted

A proxy only helps if the lot was entitled to vote in the first place.

Unfinancial owners. In most jurisdictions, a lot that owes levies or a body corporate debt cannot vote on ordinary business. Queensland is explicit: a lot in debt cannot vote on motions (other than a resolution without dissent) or on committee elections. A proxy from an unfinancial lot is usually worthless. Check the roll before the meeting, not after.

Quorum. Proxies normally count toward quorum. That is one reason farming works: a small group can open the meeting with a bag of forms and then control it. If quorum is only reached because of proxies that later fail a validity check, the meeting itself can be challenged.

One lot, one vote, until it isn't. Many ordinary resolutions start as a show of hands: one vote per lot. A poll can switch the count to unit entitlements. A directed proxy should say how to vote on both the show of hands and any poll. If the form is silent, the holder may use their discretion on the poll even when you thought you had locked the vote.

Co-owners. Joint owners generally share one vote. If they disagree, the vote is often not counted unless a poll is demanded and entitlements decide it. Giving two different people proxies for the same lot is a common way to waste the vote.

Amendments from the floor. An open proxy can vote on a rewritten motion. A directed proxy and a pre-meeting voting paper usually cannot. If a faction wants to dodge directed votes, they amend the wording in the room. Ask the chair to put the original motion first, or to record that directed proxies and voting papers cannot support the amendment.

The Problem: Proxy Farming

"Proxy farming" is the practice of systematically collecting proxy forms from owners who don't intend to attend meetings. It's often done by committee members, building managers, or real estate agents who have ready access to owners.

The dangers are significant. A single individual holding ten or fifteen proxies can effectively control the outcome of any resolution. This can be used to block necessary levy increases, push through favourable contracts with related parties, prevent the removal of underperforming committee members, or approve changes that benefit a minority of owners at the expense of others.

Farming shows up most often on a short list of motions: manager reappointment, insurance broker or premium, capital works and levy increases, related-party maintenance contracts, committee elections, and removal of a committee member. If those items are on the agenda and one person arrives with a stack of forms, treat that as a process problem, not a personality clash.

Developers and original owners use the same machinery during handover. If unsold lots plus collected owner proxies are being used to lock in a long management or caretaker contract, read what you can do when the developer still controls the committee.

Proxy Farming Tactic	How It Works	Why It's Harmful
Door-knocking before meetings	A committee member visits units to collect blank proxies from disengaged owners	Owners don't know how their vote will be used
Pre-filled proxy forms	Forms are distributed with voting directions already completed	Owners may sign without understanding the resolutions
Managing agent collection	The strata manager collects proxies on behalf of a committee faction	Conflicts of interest: the agent may benefit from certain outcomes
Investor block coordination	One investor or agent coordinates proxies across multiple lots they manage	Rental investors may prioritise short-term cost savings over building health
Lobby-table collection on the night	Blank forms are handed out at the door and signed under time pressure	No time to read the pack; easy to exceed the cap unnoticed
Reusing last year's form	An old general appointment is treated as still live	May be expired, undirected, or written for a different meeting

What the 2025 Reforms Changed

The Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025, and related 2025 commencement dates, tightened the NSW machinery around proxies rather than inventing the 5% cap from scratch. The cap itself was already in Schedule 1.

Limits on Proxy Accumulation

A person can hold only one proxy in a scheme of 20 lots or fewer, and no more than 5% of lots in a larger scheme. The reforms made the limit harder to ignore and harder to route around with informal arrangements. Excess proxies should simply not be counted. If they are counted and they change the result, the resolution is exposed.

Company Nominee Reforms

Previously, a company that owned several lots often needed a separate nominee for each lot, which was both impractical and a loophole. From 2 March 2025, the old concentration rule in clause 25A no longer applies to company nominees. It still applies to powers of attorney. Corporate owners can now appoint one nominee cleanly. Natural persons collecting owner proxies remain capped.

Form, timing and disclosure

The approved form still has to record the date and let the owner give voting instructions. Large schemes still face the 24-hour lodging rule. Disclosure around who holds which proxies has been tightened so a chair can be asked, before the first vote, to confirm the register against the statutory cap.

Other states did not copy the NSW package. Victoria already had a similar 5% structure and a 12-month lapse. Queensland already banned manager proxies on the main modules and blocked proxy votes on manager engagement and committee elections. WA still has no number cap. Do not assume a 2025 NSW change applies to a Melbourne or Brisbane building.

How to fill the form so it actually works

Most invalid proxies fail on paperwork, not politics.

• Use the current approved or prescribed form for your state. A manager's letterhead version is fine only if it is that form
• Date it. An undated form is ineffective in NSW
• Name an individual, not "the chair", "the manager" or a company
• Identify the lot, scheme and meeting (or the period, if your state allows a standing appointment)
• Direct the votes you care about. Leave discretion only where you genuinely want it
• Nominate an alternate if the first person is already at the cap
• Lodge it with the secretary, not with the person who asked you to sign it, unless they are only carrying it to the secretary
• Keep a copy. If the form disappears between the lobby and the minutes, you need evidence
• If you later attend, tell the chair you are voting in person so the proxy is not double-counted

Do not sign a form that already has someone else's name, directions or a date you did not write. Cross out unused instruction boxes rather than leaving them ambiguous.

How to Protect Your Building

If You Can't Attend: Direct Your Proxy

Never sign a blank proxy form. Always specify how you want your proxy to vote on each resolution. If you don't know the resolutions in advance, instruct your proxy to vote "against" anything you haven't specifically approved. This prevents your vote from being used for purposes you didn't intend.

If your state offers a voting paper or electronic pre-meeting vote, use that for the printed motions and keep any proxy narrow: attendance, quorum, and amendments only. Read the AGM pack before you sign anything. A proxy given before you have read the budget is not participation. It is a donation of your vote.

If You're on the Committee: Monitor Proxy Patterns

If the same person consistently holds a large block of proxies, raise the issue at the meeting. The chair should verify that all proxies comply with the accumulation limits and are in the approved form.

Do this before the first substantive vote:

• Table a list of lots, holders and whether each form is directed
• Recite the scheme's lot count and the resulting cap
• Set aside excess, late, undated, unsigned or wrong-form appointments
• Confirm unfinancial lots will not be counted
• Record objections in the minutes, even if the chair overrules them

A secretary who "holds the forms for convenience" should not also be the person deciding their validity if they are a candidate or a contractor on the agenda.

If You Suspect Abuse: Challenge It

If you believe proxy votes have been collected improperly (through coercion, deception, or by exceeding the legal limits), you can challenge the validity of those proxies at the meeting. Do it when the proxies are accepted, not after the motion you care about has already been declared carried.

Ask for the forms to be produced. Check the date, signature, approved form, lodging time and instructions. Ask whether the holder is over the cap. Ask whether the lot is financial. If the chair refuses to inspect them, have that refusal minuted.

If the challenge is unsuccessful and the suspect votes change the outcome, apply to the tribunal for an order invalidating the affected resolutions: NCAT in NSW, VCAT in Victoria, the Commissioner's Office then QCAT in Queensland, SAT in WA. You will need the notice, agenda, minutes, roll and the proxy forms. Tribunal applications are slow and expensive compared with stopping a bad count in the room. That is why the objection has to happen live.

Owners can also put a motion on the next agenda requiring proxies to be published to owners before the meeting, or requiring electronic attendance so fewer people need to give their vote away.

The Digital Proxy Question

Some strata schemes are beginning to adopt electronic meeting platforms that allow online voting. While NSW legislation still requires proxy appointments to be in writing on the approved form, electronic attendance and pre-meeting voting reduce the need for traditional proxies. An owner who can vote on a phone does not need to hand a neighbour a blank form.

Queensland already treats written and electronic voting papers as first-class votes when the body corporate has authorised electronic voting. A proxy cannot withdraw that vote. That is the model other states are drifting toward: vote the motion yourself, remotely, and only use a proxy for the parts of the meeting a paper cannot cover.

Digital systems do not remove abuse on their own. They only help if lodgement times, caps and eligibility are checked before the meeting, and if the voting record shows which proxies were accepted and why.

Practical Tips for Owners

If you receive a proxy form from someone you don't know or didn't request, be cautious. Read the resolutions before you sign. If you're uncomfortable giving someone your proxy, attend the meeting yourself, even briefly. And if you do appoint a proxy, check in with them afterward to confirm how they voted.

Other habits that stop quiet capture:

• Ask the secretary, in writing, how many proxies each person holds before a contentious AGM
• Compare the attendance list in the minutes with the voting numbers. A 40-lot building that records 28 votes and 6 people in the room should show 22 proxies
• Do not give a standing proxy to the manager "just in case"
• Investors: instruct the managing agent in writing. A rental agent collecting owner proxies for a levy freeze is a conflict, not a service
• After the meeting, read the minutes for the proxy register and the exact wording of any amendment. If your directed vote was used on a different motion, write to the secretary immediately

Using UnitBuddy for this

Informed owners make better voters. UnitBuddy gives every lot owner the financial transparency they need to participate meaningfully in strata governance, whether in person or by proxy.

• Financial transparency: access clear, real-time breakdowns of your building's income, expenses, and fund balances so you can evaluate motions with confidence
• Committee accountability: track decisions, votes, and spending history so you know whether your committee is acting in the building's best interest
• Informed voting: understand the financial impact of proposed resolutions before you cast your vote or appoint a proxy

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Proxy voting is a tool for participation, not a weapon for control. Use it wisely, and don't let anyone else use yours without your informed consent.

Further reading

• NSW: How the 5 percent proxy rule works in NSW strata — via LookUpStrata
• QLD: Proxy Votes — should you give your voting right to someone else? — via LookUpStrata
• QLD government: general meeting voting, including proxy restrictions
• Victoria: voting by proxy for owners corporation managers