Here is the quiet truth about strata committees. The people running them are volunteers, often with no background in property, law or finance, and they are handed real responsibilities almost overnight. One AGM you are an ordinary owner. The next you are helping decide how the scheme spends its money and maintains the building everyone lives in.
That gap between the responsibility and the preparation is where most committee mistakes come from. Not bad intent, just not knowing what the job actually involves. Training is how you close it. This guide explains what Archer Institute's Strata Members CPD course covers and who benefits from it.
Volunteers, but with real duties
Let us be clear about the role first. A NSW strata committee member is a volunteer. There is no salary, and this course is not a licence renewal requirement in the way that agent CPD is. But volunteering does not mean the role is casual. Committee members carry genuine duties under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, which we set out in a strata committee's legal duties.
Those duties include acting in the owners corporation's interests, keeping proper records, maintaining common property, managing the funds, and disclosing conflicts. None of that comes naturally to most people. It has to be learned. The choice is whether you learn it deliberately, or learn it the hard way when something goes wrong.
What the course covers
Archer Institute's Strata Members CPD course is built to give committee members a clear, practical grounding in the role. It covers the ground a member actually needs:
- The committee's role and duties under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.
- How the administrative fund and capital works fund work, and why budgeting for major works matters.
- By-laws, including the common flashpoints around pets, parking and renovations.
- The dispute pathway, from talking it out to NSW Fair Trading mediation to NCAT.
- Insurance basics and what the scheme must get right.
- Good governance: making sound decisions and keeping clean records.
The aim is simple. By the end, a committee member understands what the job is, where their responsibilities sit, and how to carry them well. For the bigger picture of the role, see our strata committee member guide.
Online and self-paced
Committee members have lives, jobs and families. A training course that demands a day in a room on a fixed date is a non-starter for most of them. So Archer delivers the Strata Members CPD course online and self-paced.
That means you work through it from home, in your own time, in the chunks that suit you. Start it one evening, pick it up again at the weekend, finish when you are ready. The flexibility is the point, because the people who most need this training are the ones with the least spare time.
Who benefits
The course suits more people than you might think. New committee members who have just been elected and want to start on the front foot. Existing members who have been muddling through and want to fill the gaps. Lot owners considering joining a committee who want to understand what they would be taking on. And owners who simply want to know how their scheme is meant to be run, so they can hold their committee to a fair standard.
You do not need any prior strata or legal knowledge. The course assumes you are starting from scratch, because most committee members are.
Why it is worth it for a volunteer
It is fair to ask why a volunteer should spend time on training they are not strictly required to do. The answer is that a small investment up front saves a great deal of grief later. A committee that understands the funds avoids the special-levy shock. A committee that understands by-laws handles disputes calmly. A committee that understands insurance is not left exposed on the worst day.
Good governance protects the scheme, protects the owners' money, and protects the committee members themselves. For a few hours of self-paced study, that is a strong return.
Your next step
If you are on a NSW strata committee, or thinking about joining one, give yourself the grounding to do it well. Archer Institute's Strata Members CPD course is online, self-paced, and built for volunteers. If you want to understand how CPD works more broadly across the industry, our state-by-state CPD guide sets out the wider picture, and our new committee member basics guide is a good place to start.
