NSW Strata Building Management: A Guide for Committees and Owners
Good building management is mostly invisible. Faults get fixed before owners notice, contractors turn up, and the committee knows what's happening without having to chase anyone. When it isn't working, everyone feels it.
This guide helps NSW strata committees and owners get building management right, whether you want to improve the arrangement you have or replace it.
Key points
- Since October 2025, building managers in NSW have legal duties, including raising maintenance issues they know about or ought to know about.
- Most frustration comes from gaps in service standards, not the legal minimum. KPIs, reporting and procurement controls close those gaps.
- In many buildings, systems and records are held by the individual building manager, not the company. That's a governance risk most committees never see.
- Before switching, check whether the agreement is the real problem. A reset is sometimes the better answer.
- If you do switch, the handover is where the risk sits. Plan it before you give notice.
How to read this guide.
- Committee members: read it end to end, or start with the section closest to your situation.
- Owners not on the committee: read sections 1 to 4, then section 7.
- Mixed-use buildings sharing facilities under a strata management statement: also read section 11.
A note on accuracy. This guide reflects NSW law as at September 2026, principally the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016. It is general information, not legal advice. Your agreement, by-laws and circumstances will shape what applies to you.
1. What a building manager does, and doesn't do
A building manager looks after the physical operations and maintenance of the building. A strata manager looks after its administration. The best-run buildings are clear about where one role ends and the other starts.
| Building manager | Strata manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | The building itself: common property, plant, contractors, day-to-day operation | The owners corporation: finances, levies, meetings, records, insurance |
| Typical work | Coordinating repairs and servicing, supervising contractors, reporting faults and risks, managing access | Budgets and levy notices, AGMs, record keeping, insurance renewals, compliance coordination |
| Appointment | Written building manager agreement, authorised at a general meeting | Written agency agreement, authorised at a general meeting |
| Licence | No specific strata licence required | Strata managing agent's licence required |
The exact split depends on your agreements. What matters is that each function has an owner and nothing falls between them.
Who counts as a building manager
Not every contractor is a building manager. Electricians, cleaners, gardeners and plumbers engaged only for repairs or services are not building managers (NSW Government). A building manager is appointed under a building manager agreement and manages or controls common property for the owners corporation. The distinction matters, because the legal duties in section 2 apply to appointed building managers.
How building manager agreements work
- Appointment. By written agreement authorised by resolution at a general meeting (section 67).
- Term. An agreement signed before the first AGM ends at that meeting. Otherwise the maximum term is currently 10 years (section 68). Parliament has since passed a Bill cutting this to 3 years for new agreements, but it had not started at the time of writing (section 11).
- Ending it. In line with the agreement's own terms, authorised at a general meeting, or through the Tribunal on specific grounds (section 8).
Building management models
There's no single right model. The best fit depends on the building's size, complexity, resident expectations and budget.
| Model | How it works | Usually suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time on-site | A dedicated manager at the building during set hours, often five or more days a week | Large or complex schemes with extensive plant or amenities | Highest cost. Continuity depends on one person |
| Part-time on-site | A manager on site for set days or hours each week | Mid-sized schemes needing a regular presence | Issues arising between visits |
| Visiting or mobile | A manager who attends on a schedule and on call, often across several buildings | Smaller or simpler schemes | Visit frequency and what each visit covers |
| Remote with helpdesk | Faults logged centrally, contractors dispatched and tracked, with scheduled inspections | Schemes wanting strong tracking without paying for on-site hours | Inspection frequency and response times must be clear |
Many buildings blend models. Presence is not the same as performance. A full-time manager who doesn't track compliance or report clearly can deliver less than a well-run visiting model. Judge any model against section 2, not hours on site.
Where the building manager's responsibility ends
A building manager looks after common property, within the scope of their agreement. They are not responsible for anything that belongs to an individual lot. Most arguments about “what the building manager should fix” are really arguments about where common property ends.
- The owners corporation is responsible for common property. It must maintain and repair it under section 106.
- The building manager is responsible for the part of that work the agreement gives them. An item can be common property and still sit outside their scope.
- Lot owners are responsible for their own lot. Tenants report lot problems to their landlord or managing agent.
The registered strata plan defines each lot. Broadly, everything else is common property (NSW Land Registry Services). NSW Fair Trading's guidance on strata repairs and maintenance explains how to check who is responsible for a repair. Typical positions:
| Item | Typically | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Structure: foundations, roof, external and structural walls, slabs | Common property | |
| Lobbies, stairs, corridors, lifts, car park areas | Common property | Unless a car space is part of a lot |
| Gardens, pools, gyms and shared facilities | Common property | |
| Fire systems serving the building | Common property | |
| Pipes, wires and drains serving more than one lot | Common property | Including those inside a lot's walls or floor |
| Windows, glass and lot entry doors | Often common property | Depends on the plan and by-laws |
| Balcony slab and waterproofing membrane | Usually common property | Tiles on top can differ |
| Internal non-structural walls, floor coverings, paint, kitchens and fixtures | Lot owner | |
| Pipes and wiring serving only one lot, within that lot | Lot owner | Check your plan |
| Appliances, hot water systems and air conditioners inside a lot | Usually lot owner | Can vary with location and by-laws |
By-laws can change the answer. A common property memorandum adopted by by-law can reallocate specific items (section 107; clause 27, Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016). Common property rights by-laws and approved renovations can also shift maintenance to an owner.
The grey areas are usually leaks, consequential damage and access. The source of a leak decides who pays, and an owner can claim foreseeable losses where common property wasn't maintained (section 106(5)). If an item is unclear, check the plan, the by-laws and the agreement, and ask your strata manager before work starts.
2. What good looks like
Good building management has two layers: the legal minimum every appointed building manager must meet, and the service standard a well-run building should expect. Most frustration comes from gaps in the second.
The legal minimum
Since 27 October 2025, appointed building managers in NSW must:
- Act in the owners corporation's best interest, unless that would be unlawful.
- Raise maintenance, repair and safety issues promptly, including ones they know about, such as a lift outage, and ones they ought to know about, such as overdue lift servicing.
- Propose how to fix them. Flagging a problem is not enough.
- Disclose benefits in writing when recommending a contract, including who provides the benefit and its value.
- Disclose connections and financial interests, including links to suppliers or the developer.
Source: section 70A of the Act sets the best-interests duty, and clauses 17E to 17G of the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016 set the other four. See also the NSW Government guide to strata law changes.
The second duty is the one to notice. “Ought to know” means a building manager can't wait to be told. Tracking what's due is part of the job.
The service standard
| Area | Adequate | Good |
|---|---|---|
| Fault response | Responds when chased | Agreed response times by urgency, met and reported |
| Visibility | Committee finds out when something goes wrong | Regular report of open jobs, completed work and upcoming items |
| Compliance | Knows the AFSS is due | Tracks every statutory date and holds the evidence |
| Contractors | Calls whoever is available | Scopes, compares, verifies and confirms completion |
| Records | Invoices and emails | A searchable history of every asset, job and cost |
| Planning | Reacts to failures | Uses data to inform the 10-year plan and budget |
The simplest test: do we know what's happening in our building without having to chase anyone?
The KPIs that matter
KPIs turn “we feel it isn't working” into facts both sides can see. These are the measures well-run buildings track:
- Response time by priority: emergency, urgent, routine
- Completion time by priority
- Planned maintenance completed on schedule
- Statutory compliance met on time, with evidence
- Repeat faults on the same asset
- Open job ageing
- Contractor compliance: licences and insurance current
- Planned versus reactive spend
- Reporting delivered complete and on time
- Resident issues and time to respond
The right targets depend on your building's age, complexity and management model. A target that's reasonable for a 20-lot walk-up is wrong for a 300-lot tower with a pool and retail below. Setting them well means benchmarking against comparable buildings, not picking numbers from a template. Once set, watch the trend rather than any single month.
Procurement controls
Procurement is where most of the owners corporation's money leaves the building. Good building managers run controls that make every dollar traceable, competitive and approved.
The legal baseline. Under section 102 of the Act, the owners corporation must obtain at least two independent quotations for expenditure above the amount prescribed by the Regulation, currently $30,000 (clause 25, Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016). “Independent” means the quoting parties aren't connected. If two quotes can't be obtained, the reasons must be noted at the next general meeting. Large schemes also can't spend more than 10% above an AGM estimate without general meeting approval, except for certain emergencies.
The law sets a minimum for large spends. Good controls cover every spend, including:
- Written delegated spending limits and quote thresholds
- One written scope for every contractor quoting
- A verified contractor panel, reviewed regularly
- Written conflict and benefit declarations
- An approved work order before any work starts
- Approval for variations beyond an agreed margin
- Invoices matched to order, quote and completion evidence
- Separation between who orders work and who approves payment
- A defined emergency protocol, reported the next business day
Red flags: one contractor gets almost every job; jobs split to sit under thresholds; competing quotes from connected businesses; verbal approvals; invoices for work nobody remembers approving.
3. Systems, data and governance
The systems behind building management decide what anyone can see, prove and hand over. Get them right and the committee has oversight. Get them wrong and the building's history can sit with one person.
Why systems matter
A building runs on several systems: job logging and work orders, compliance tracking, access control and fobs, CCTV, plant controls and document storage. Together they hold the evidence of how the building is managed.
That evidence matters more than it used to. Fair Trading can now require owners corporations to produce documents and answers when investigating repair and maintenance failures, and owners have six years to claim for losses (NSW Government). KPIs mean nothing without reliable data behind them.
The biggest risk: access held by the individual, not the company
In many buildings, systems are set up around the individual building manager rather than the building management company. The logins, job history, contractor contacts and often the admin rights for access control sit with one person. The company the owners corporation contracted with may have no consolidated view of what's happening in its own building.
This creates a governance gap:
- No supervision. The company can't see response times, open jobs or repeat faults, so it's harder to supervise performance. Problems surface only when the committee complains.
- No independent check. Nobody above the individual sees which contractors are used, how work is priced, or whether connections have been disclosed.
- Single point of failure. When that person takes leave or leaves, knowledge and records can go with them.
- Weak evidence. If a claim or Fair Trading inquiry arises, the owners corporation may struggle to produce a complete record.
- Lost oversight. The committee is told what the individual chooses to report, with no way to verify it.
The owners corporation is paying a company for building management. It should get the company's oversight, not only one person's effort.
Other system risks
- Data ownership. If the agreement doesn't say the owners corporation owns its building data, getting it back can be hard.
- Locked-in platforms that can't export records in a usable format.
- Fragmented records across personal email, phones and spreadsheets.
- Shared logins with no audit trail.
- Unknown admin rights for access control, CCTV and plant.
- Resident information in access logs and footage, which must be handled securely.
Questions to ask your building management company
- Which systems hold our building's jobs, compliance records and contractor information?
- Are they company accounts, or held by our building manager personally?
- Who in your company reviews our building's performance data, and how often?
- Can the committee see that data directly?
- Who owns the data, and how would we get it if the agreement ended?
- Who holds admin access to our access control, CCTV and plant systems?
If the answers are unclear, treat that as a finding in itself.
4. Is it the building manager, or the agreement?
Before deciding a building manager has to go, check whether the arrangement set them up to succeed. Sometimes the fix is a clearer agreement, not a new provider.
Many agreements were written years ago, by a developer or a previous committee, for a building that has since changed. They often describe duties loosely, say little about reporting, and leave authority unclear. A building manager working to a vague brief can look like poor performance when the gap is in the brief.
| Signs the problem is the agreement | Signs the problem is performance |
|---|---|
| It doesn't define what “done” looks like, how quickly, or how the committee is told | Clear, agreed tasks are repeatedly missed or late |
| No spending limits, so every job waits, or none do | Issues they should have known about surface through owner complaints |
| Nobody on the committee has read it recently | Records of work, costs or compliance can't be produced |
| The building has changed and the agreement hasn't | Recommended contractors come with undisclosed connections |
| Building and strata manager each think a task is the other's | Written concerns have been raised, and nothing changed |
A quick test. Pick three recent problems. For each, ask: did the agreement clearly make this the building manager's job? Did they know, or should they have? What happened, and how long did it take? If the answers point to the agreement, see section 8 on resetting it. If they point to repeated failures on clear duties, you have the start of a case.
Raising concerns with your building management company
Most concerns can be resolved directly if they reach the right person in the right way. The owners corporation is the client, so formal concerns should come from the committee or through the strata manager. Owners should report day-to-day faults through the usual channel and take broader concerns to the committee (section 7).
- 1. Log the issue through the agreed channel
- →
- 2. Raise it in writing with the building manager
- →
- 3. Escalate to the company's account manager
- →
- 4. Meet company leadership and agree an action plan
- →
- 5. Formal notice under the agreement
- →
- 6. External options: Fair Trading or NCAT
- Log it through the channel the agreement sets. If an issue is never logged, it's hard to hold anyone accountable.
- Raise it in writing with the building manager: what happened, which duty or standard it relates to, what you expect, and by when.
- Escalate within the company. Write to the account or operations manager. Many committees skip this step, yet it often fixes what the on-site person can't, such as staffing, cover or contractor issues.
- Meet company leadership. Present your record and agree a written action plan with measures and dates.
- Formal notice. If the plan isn't met, check the agreement's breach and dispute terms, and get advice before acting.
- External options. Report a suspected breach of statutory duty to NSW Fair Trading, or seek Tribunal orders (section 8).
How the model changes the approach. With a full-time on-site manager, informal lobby conversations rarely reach the company, so put important concerns in writing. Part-time arrangements need a clear process for issues between visits. Visiting models should produce a report after every visit. With a remote helpdesk model, the ticket data is your evidence, and if the committee can't see it, that's a concern in itself.
5. How good building management saves money
A good building manager should pay for a meaningful part of their own fee through better decisions. The savings rarely come from cutting corners. They come from spending at the right time, on the right work, at the right price.
| Lever | What it means | Where the money goes when it's missing |
|---|---|---|
| Triaging work orders | Confirming what the problem is, whose it is and how urgent it really is before anyone is dispatched. Bundling minor jobs into one visit | Wrong trade first, after-hours rates for routine jobs, owners corporation paying for lot-owner work |
| Planned over reactive | Servicing by how critical and worn each asset is, and fixing the root cause of repeat faults | Call-out premiums, damage while faults go unfixed, the same fault paid for three times |
| Proactive procurement | A calendar of every contract expiry, market testing before renewal, reviewing terms, no undisclosed commissions | Contracts rolling over for years at prices nobody has tested |
| Getting full life from assets | Deciding on condition, not age alone, whether to repair, refurbish or replace | Replacing plant years early, and inflated capital works estimates |
| Warranty and defect recovery | Tracking warranty dates and flagging possible defects early (section 13) | Owners paying for work a builder or manufacturer should cover |
| Energy and water | Monitoring common property use, and fixing lighting, plant settings and hidden leaks | Utility bills nobody reviews |
| Invoice checking | Matching each invoice to the order, the quote and evidence of completion | Overcharging, duplicate billing and unfinished work paid in full |
| Using the data | Recording every job against its asset to reveal what really drives cost | Decisions based on the loudest complaint, not the evidence |
Two cautions.
- Extending asset life has limits. The owners corporation must keep common property in good and serviceable repair under section 106. Safety-critical items such as fire systems must never be run past what is safe and compliant, and any decision to defer should be evidence-based and recorded.
- Cheapest today can be dearest over ten years. Deferred maintenance can lead to Fair Trading compliance notices, owner claims and bigger repair bills. The right measure is total cost over the life of the building.
Sustainability also has a formal place now. Owners corporations must consider common property energy and water use and spend at every AGM (NSW Government).
6. For committee members: making the case
A strong case is built on a record, not a feeling. Document what happened, give the building manager a fair chance to respond, and keep the discussion on performance rather than personalities.
- Start a simple log. For each issue: the date, what happened, whether it was within the agreement, when the building manager knew or should have known, what they did, and how long it took. Attach emails, photos and invoices. A few weeks of consistent notes carries more weight than years of general frustration.
- Raise it in writing, following the escalation steps in section 4. Many problems improve once expectations are stated plainly. If they don't, you have evidence concerns were raised and not addressed.
- Bring it to the committee as a performance review, not an accusation. Present the log and the response. Some colleagues may be closer to the building manager than you are, so let the evidence carry the argument.
- Agree the next step: monitor for a set period with agreed measures, reset the agreement, seek advice on ending it, or prepare a motion for a general meeting. Appointing or ending a building manager agreement requires a resolution of the owners corporation.
Keep your own position sound. From July 2025, committee members must act honestly and fairly, and use information from their role only as the law allows. A calm, documented, evidence-led process meets that standard and protects you if the matter becomes contested. Involve your strata manager early.
Committee case template: a one-page structure for presenting performance concerns. Download the toolkit here.
7. For owners not on the committee: getting heard
You don't need a committee seat to influence how your building is managed. You have real rights, and the most effective approach is usually to work with the committee rather than around it.
Start with the committee. Raise your concern with the chair, secretary or strata manager in writing. Be specific about what happened, when, and how it affected you or the building. Ask other owners whether they've seen the same. A pattern reported by several owners is hard to overlook.
Know your rights.
- Read the agreement. The building manager agreement is an owners corporation record. Ask the strata manager how to inspect it.
- Attend committee meetings. Owners may attend, but may speak only if the committee allows it (Schedule 2 of the Act).
- Put a motion to a general meeting by giving written notice to the secretary before the closing date for motions (Small Myers Hughes). This is how owners can ask the owners corporation to review or end a building manager's agreement.
- Request a general meeting. Owners holding at least one-quarter of total unit entitlements can request one, and the secretary must call it as soon as practicable and within 14 days (section 19 of the Act).
- Complain to Fair Trading if you believe a building manager has breached their legal duties (NSW Fair Trading).
What works: specific, written, evidence-based concerns, support from other owners, and offering to help.
What rarely works: general complaints, confrontations in the lobby or group chat, and bypassing the committee without trying it first.
If building management matters to you, consider standing for the committee at the next AGM. Most committees welcome an owner willing to take on a specific area.
8. Fix or switch
Replacing a building manager is sometimes the right call, but it isn't the only one. Choose the path that solves the actual problem at the lowest risk to owners.
| Situation | Better path |
|---|---|
| Duties unclear, reporting absent, authority vague | Reset the agreement |
| Building has changed and the agreement hasn't | Reset the agreement |
| Clear duties repeatedly missed after written concerns | Consider switching |
| Undisclosed connections or benefits | Seek advice; consider switching |
| Agreement term ending soon | Review the market before renewing |
Resetting the agreement
Agree clearer terms with your current building manager: defined duties, response times, reporting, spending authority and records. Put the changes in writing and have them properly authorised. A reset is also a good moment to remove one-sided clauses, because the ban on unfair terms in standard form contracts applies to existing contracts varied or renewed from 1 July 2025 (NSW Government).
Ending the agreement
- Under its own terms. Many agreements include termination provisions. Ending it this way must be authorised at a general meeting.
- Through the Tribunal. NCAT can vary or end a building manager agreement on specific grounds. These have long included unsatisfactory performance, failure to make required disclosures, and harsh or unreasonable terms (Bannermans Lawyers). Since October 2025, they also include a building manager acting unlawfully, such as breaching a statutory duty (section 72(3)(g) of the Act).
Get advice before acting. Ending an agreement early can expose the owners corporation to a claim for the balance of the contract if handled badly. The cost of advice is small relative to that risk.
Timing matters. If the agreement expires soon, the simplest path may be a proper selection process and not renewing. Start early. Once you allow for the general meeting, a good process takes months, not weeks.
9. Choosing a building manager
The best selection processes start with your building's needs, not the providers' brochures. Write the scope first, then judge every candidate against it.
Write your own scope
Proposals vary widely in what they include. The Owners Corporation Network recommends developing your own list of duties so every candidate responds to the same brief. A good scope of works defines the assets and systems covered, routine duties, response times and after-hours cover, compliance tracking, contractor management, spending authority, reporting, records, resident matters, planning input, disclosures, exit obligations, and who does what between the building manager, strata manager and committee.
Getting the detail right for your building is where most scopes fall short.
Scope of works template: the full template, with the questions to answer under each heading. Download the toolkit here.
Questions to ask every candidate
- How would you learn this building in your first 90 days?
- What will the committee see each month? Can we see an example report?
- How do you track compliance dates and prove each was met?
- How do you select, supervise and check contractors, and what are your procurement controls?
- Are your systems held at company level? Can the committee see the data directly?
- Who will actually manage our building day to day, and who covers when they're away?
- What records will we hold, and in what format, if the agreement ends?
- Can we speak with two committees you currently work with?
Disclosures and pricing
A candidate must give written notice if they may receive a benefit, such as a referral fee or commission, that affects the fees they will charge (NSW Government). If a lower fee relies on contractor referral income, compare the total cost.
Pricing is commonly a fixed fee for a defined scope, a time-based rate, or a mix, with extra charges for out-of-scope work. Ask what's included, what triggers an extra charge, and whether any margin is added to contractor invoices.
Agreement terms worth negotiating
- A shorter initial term with a review point, rather than the maximum allowed.
- Service standards and KPIs written in, with regular reporting.
- Clear termination rights for both parties.
- Records and data belong to the owners corporation, exportable in a usable format at any time. Systems held at company level, with committee access (section 3).
- A handover obligation at exit, so the next transition is clean.
10. Changing over cleanly
The biggest risk in changing building managers is not the decision. It's the handover. A structured transition protects the building, keeps contractors working and gives the new manager a fair start.
- Decision and advice
- →
- General meeting resolution
- →
- Notice to outgoing manager
- →
- Handover of records and access
- →
- First 90 days
What has to change hands
A clean handover covers four areas:
- Records: the agreement, asset register and service histories, open jobs and warranty claims, and compliance records.
- Access and systems: keys, fobs and their register, system logins and admin rights, and the on-site fire safety logbook, which must be kept as a physical record (NSW Government).
- Contracts and contractors: service contracts and renewal dates, contacts and after-hours numbers.
- Knowledge: recurring faults, known issues and the things you only know from being there.
The last is the hardest to transfer, and the most often lost. Where systems were held by the outgoing individual rather than their company (section 3), expect gaps and plan for them.
Handover checklist: the full item-by-item checklist. Download the toolkit here.
The first 90 days
A good incoming building manager should spend the first month learning the building and confirming immediate risks. The second should go on stabilising reporting and contractor arrangements, and the third on presenting condition findings and priorities to the committee. If you're not seeing that progression, ask why.
Planning a change? The order of steps, and what to secure before notice is given, decide how smooth the transition will be. Talk to PlaceHQ about a transition plan for your building.
11. Mixed-use buildings and Building Management Committees
In many newer and mixed-use developments, your owners corporation is not the only body managing the building. A Building Management Committee (BMC) coordinates the facilities you share with other schemes or owners. Building management works here only if everyone knows which body is responsible for what.
What a strata management statement and BMC are
Where a building is divided into separate parts, such as apartments above retail or offices, a strata management statement (SMS) sets the rules for shared facilities: car parks, foyers, loading docks, fire systems, lifts and central plant. The SMS is made under the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 and must set out how shared costs are apportioned.
The BMC administers the SMS. Members typically include each owners corporation and other owners of parts of the building. An owners corporation is represented by a person it appoints by special resolution or by-law, who is treated as the owners corporation while acting in that role (Schedule 4).
| Your owners corporation | The BMC | |
|---|---|---|
| Manages | Common property within your scheme | Shared facilities across the development |
| Rules | Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and your by-laws | The strata management statement |
| Costs | Your levies | Shared costs apportioned under the SMS |
| Building management | Your building manager, if any | The BMC's building manager or agent, if appointed |
Some developments have one building manager for everything, others have separate arrangements. Either can work. Ambiguity about who instructs whom does not.
Common problems
- Unclear responsibility. A shared-system fault goes to a building manager with no authority over it.
- Competing priorities between residential, retail and commercial members.
- Cost apportionment disputes over facilities some owners rarely use.
- Shared systems out of view. Fire, access and plant are often controlled at BMC level, and the governance risks in section 3 apply with extra force.
- Compliance coordination for shared parts of the building.
If you're your owners corporation's BMC representative
You act for your owners corporation, not yourself. Read the SMS closely. Agree with your committee how you'll vote on significant matters, and report back after every BMC meeting. Map every shared facility to who maintains it, and make sure BMC capital costs flow into your own 10-year plan. Ask for the BMC's service reports, compliance records and KPI data, as you would from your own building manager.
Reforms to watch
The Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill, introduced in November 2025 and since renamed the Miscellaneous Bill 2026, makes further BMC changes. As introduced, these include requiring the owners corporation's representative to be a committee member voting on written directions, a 5-year maximum term for BMC-appointed agents, stronger record-keeping, and five-yearly reviews of shared cost allocations (Bugden Allen Group Legal). The same Bill cuts the maximum term of a building manager agreement from 10 years to 3.
The Bill had passed both Houses of Parliament by May 2026 (LookUpStrata). As at October 2026, none of these changes had started. Check the NSW Government guide to strata law changes for start dates before relying on them.
12. When the committee isn't working: section 237 appointments
Sometimes the problem is not the building manager but the governance above them. When a committee is deadlocked, divided or unable to make decisions, NCAT can appoint a strata managing agent to take over some or all of its functions.
What it allows. Under section 237 of the Act, the Tribunal can order a strata managing agent to exercise the functions of the owners corporation, and all or some of the functions of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or committee. The Tribunal sets the terms, including payment and duration. Before the appointment ends, the agent must hold a general meeting and return the records.
When it can be ordered. The grounds include that management of the scheme is not functioning, or not functioning satisfactorily, or that the owners corporation has failed to comply with an order under the Act. NSW Fair Trading can also seek a compulsory appointment as an enforcement step where an owners corporation fails to repair and maintain (NSW Government).
Warning signs:
- The committee can't reach quorum, or meetings repeatedly fail.
- Factions block every decision, including essential repairs.
- Owners refuse to fund work the owners corporation is legally required to do.
- Tribunal orders or compliance notices are being ignored.
- Committee members act in their own interest rather than the scheme's.
What it means for building management. A dysfunctional committee is hard on any building manager: conflicting instructions, stalled approvals, urgent work left waiting. An appointed agent may take over the functions that direct the building manager, depending on the order, which can unblock maintenance stuck for months.
Is it the right step? It's a significant intervention, and owners pay for it. It works best as a reset to restore basic function. Before applying, owners should usually try Fair Trading mediation and get legal advice on whether the evidence meets the grounds. The best prevention is clear processes, documented decisions and a maintenance plan that doesn't depend on any one person.
13. Newer buildings: defects and your building manager
In a newer building, defects are the builder's and developer's responsibility, but only if the owners corporation acts in time and with evidence. Warranty deadlines are fixed, and missing one can move the cost onto owners.
The main protections are the statutory warranties under the Home Building Act 1989, generally six years for major defects and two years for other defects (PBL Law Group), and, for residential buildings of four or more storeys, the Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme.
Maintenance or defect? This distinction decides who pays. Builders will often argue a failure is a maintenance issue. The owners corporation's best answer is a record showing the item was maintained properly from day one.
The building manager's role. A good building manager is often the first to see a defect emerge. They should log defects separately from routine faults, track warranty deadlines, preserve evidence before repairs, and flag patterns to the committee early. In a newer building, this can be worth more to owners than any other part of the service.
How close are your warranty deadlines? Many committees only find out after the two-year window has closed. A PlaceHQ appraisal maps your building's warranty timeline and the records you'll need. Schedule a call today to learn more.
14. Tools and next steps
This guide explains what good building management looks like. Applying it to your building takes your agreement, your records and your data side by side.
Free tools
- Scope of works template: the full template, with the questions to answer under each heading.
- Committee case template: a one-page structure for raising performance concerns.
- Handover checklist: the item-by-item checklist for any changeover.
Building management appraisal
For a deeper look, PlaceHQ can review your agreement, systems, records and spend, benchmark them against comparable buildings, and show you where the gaps and savings are.
How PlaceHQ works with strata committees
PlaceHQ works alongside strata committees and strata managers to keep buildings well run. We focus on the physical side of the building: knowing what's there, what condition it's in, what's due, and what's been done. Committees get clear reporting, so they know what's happening without having to chase anyone.
PlaceHQ · Smarter property performance · www.placehq.com.au · (02) 8197 9610
Sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, including sections 19, 67, 68, 70A, 72, 102, 106, 237 and Schedule 2
- Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016, including clauses 17E to 17G, 25 and 27
- Strata Schemes Development Act 2015, Schedule 4
- Guide to strata law changes for strata committees and owners, NSW Government
- Safety rules for strata common property, NSW Government
- Strata complaints, NSW Government
- NSW Building Manager Guide 2026, Owners Corporation Network
- Building Management Agreements, Bannermans Lawyers
- Strata reform continues in New South Wales, Bugden Allen Group Legal
- Will the new 3-year building management cap affect your agreement?, LookUpStrata
This guide provides general information only and is not legal advice. Before acting on any matter covered here, get advice from a strata lawyer about your building's circumstances.
