Directory · New South Wales · Strata
The strata managing agent, and what owners can ask of one
- Owners corporation · all the owners
- Strata committee · elected each AGM
- Strata manager · does what is delegated
In New South Wales, the person who helps owners run a strata scheme day to day is the strata manager, whose formal title is strata managing agent. It works for the owners corporation and its strata committee, on whichever jobs the owners corporation decides to give it. There is no legal requirement to employ one. Most schemes do, because the people on the strata committee are volunteers.
This is a guide to that role and to the rights owners hold around it, written and published by Dotto from NSW Fair Trading’s strata pages and the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s. Each article below is one line on the board.
The directory
Seven lines · read in any order
- 01What a strata managing agent doesThe role, its limits and the licence
- 02The management agreement and its termAppointment, renewal and ending it
- 03Levies and the budgetBudgets, notices and payment plans
- 04The AGM and votingNotice, agenda, proxies and resolutions
- 05Getting strata recordsWhat is kept, who may look, the fee
- 06Commissions and disclosuresWhat an agent must tell the owners
- 07When owners disagreeMediation, complaints and the Tribunal
Pinned beside the board
Five rules from NSW Fair Trading’s strata pages that the articles keep returning to.
- Once a year
Every strata scheme’s owners corporation has to meet at least once a year. That meeting is the annual general meeting.
- Up to three years
After the first AGM, a strata management agreement can run for up to three years.
- Every six months
A strata manager records the jobs it does for the owners corporation and must hand those records over every six months.
- Seven years
Financial records and the scheme’s communications must be kept for seven years.
- Free mediation
NSW Fair Trading offers a free mediation service for strata disputes.
Who is who in the building
Buying into a strata scheme makes an owner part of its owners corporation, which is made up of all the owners; selling ends it. At each annual general meeting the owners corporation elects a strata committee, which can make smaller, day-to-day decisions for it.
The strata manager sits beside both. Fair Trading describes it as the role given the most authority of the three managers owners deal with: unlike a building manager or a property manager, it can enforce by-laws and has access to the owners corporation’s funds. Fair Trading’s Strata search page says managing agent details have moved into Strata Hub; owners can also ask their strata committee.
Where the official word is kept
Every article names the NSW Fair Trading or Tribunal page it was read against, and the footer of each page lists them. The articles explain how the rules work; they don’t say what any particular scheme or owner should do. A solicitor can advise on a particular scheme, and the Tribunal itself notes that it cannot give legal advice.
NSW Fair Trading answers questions about strata on 13 32 20, 8:30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.