Primary-source analysis of Australian strata reforms — NSW disclosure penalties, the SCA NSW insurance commission ban, Queensland's BCCM reforms, Form 33, Building Reg Reno, and what bodies corporate legally must do with maintenance quotes.
Changing your body corporate manager, lodging motions, raising issues with the committee, accessing records and disputing decisions — the processes QLD owners search for most.
Changing your strata manager, putting motions on the agenda, requisitioning a general meeting, accessing records and taking disputes to NCAT — the full owner’s toolkit.
Changing your OC manager (the committee can usually do it), lodging motions, the five-tier system, records access and VCAT’s Owners Corporations List.
Changing your strata manager, what the council of owners can decide, motions and resolution types, records access, and why SAT is now the one-stop dispute forum.
Two parallel regimes, who can actually appoint a manager, motions and resolution types, records access, and why SA disputes go to the Magistrates Court.
Why the written agreement is everything in Tasmania, who can resolve to change managers, model by-laws, records access, and the Recorder of Titles dispute route.
What a list can't tell you is the only thing that matters when the contractor is working on common property: whether this business is licensed for the work, insured for the site, and quoting against the same scope as everyone else.
SCA NSW phased out strata manager insurance commissions. What an insurance commission actually is, how the reform works, and how QLD compares.
Tabled. Recorded. Accessible. The three legal requirements every quote must satisfy under the BCCM Act — and the five ways most schemes get this wrong.
Since 11 December 2023, section 102 of the SSMA requires all owners corporations — not just 100+ lot schemes — to obtain two independent quotes for expenditure of more than $30,000.
From 3 February 2025, penalties up to 500 penalty units for breaching new disclosure obligations. What changed, what's now disclosable.
How Victorian owners corporations change managers under the OC Act 2006: the 3-year contract cap, void rollover clauses, tier-based notice limits, the 28-day records handover, and pre-December-2021 contract traps.
How Queensland bodies corporate change managers under the BCCM Act: engagement terms, ordinary resolutions, remedial action notices, notice deadlines, and handover of records.
The AGM timetable working backwards: the motion invitation before EOFY, 21 days' notice, the three-month deadline, quorum rules and the statutory motions.
How a NSW strata scheme uses a dilapidation report to protect the building when major construction starts nearby — timing, consent conditions, who pays, and what to record.
How NSW owners corporations change strata managing agents: section 50 term limits, the 3-month non-reappointment notice, ordinary resolutions, the 2025 reforms, and NCAT termination powers.
Which rulebook your corporation runs by, who makes the decisions, where your fees go, when the meetings happen, and what say you actually have.
The default committee limit, the per-proposal rule, the statutory-order exceptions, and how the committee limit interacts with the two-quote requirement.
From 1 March 2021, new BCCM regulation modules required disclosure of the actual monetary amount of any commission or benefit. Not just a percentage.
The major spending limit explained: how the default limit works, the GST trap, the project-splitting prohibition, and the five mistakes schemes make.
Which rulebook your scheme runs by, who makes the decisions, where your levies go, when the meetings happen, and what say you actually have.
The NSW Productivity and Equality Commission's 2026 strata commissions report found a strong case for restricting commissions, with four reform options and $300M+ in projected benefits.
Which rulebook your scheme runs by, who makes the decisions, where your levies go, when the meetings happen, and what say you actually have.
NSW has no default strata committee spending limit — no formula like Queensland's. Here's where the real limits on committee spending actually come from, and what your scheme should set.
Three quotes for the same job — $8,000, $14,000, $31,000 — and nobody can explain the gap. The gap is almost never about price. It is about scope.
Water is the number one source of QLD strata disputes. Who pays depends on the source, the maintenance obligation, and the insurance — the membrane rule and the pipe test explained.
How a Queensland body corporate uses a dilapidation report to protect the building when major construction starts nearby — timing, who pays, and what to record.
The Form 33 excludes defects, unfixed liabilities, disputes and orders — everything a buyer is actually afraid of. Where it points is the body corporate's records.
The body corporate maintains common property, owners maintain their lots — but the real answer depends on the survey plan type: building format or standard format.
The three-year cap on engagements, the three fee streams to read for, commission disclosure, and the questions worth asking before the AGM votes.
Section 50 term limits, the three-month notice window, the additional services schedule where the real cost lives, and the disclosures NSW law now requires.
Disclosure became law in February 2025, SCA (NSW) began phasing out commissions in 2026, and a legislated sector-wide ban is still a government decision to come.
Blanket "no pets" by-laws are invalid, the committee has 21 days before a pet is deemed approved, and the grounds for refusal are a closed list.
The first 48 hours of a claim, who pays for what insurance doesn't cover, and the emergency expenditure pathway when urgent repairs exceed the committee's limit.
The like-for-like test, the three improvement approval limits, and the once-a-year ordinary resolution rule that catches committees mid-year.
Even a unanimous vote can't authorise body corporate funds for owners' maintenance — the lawful structures are supply-of-services agreements and cost recovery.
Shared-wall buildings sit on the body corporate's policy at full replacement value; stand-alone buildings are the owner's own responsibility to insure.
Service contractors, letting agents and caretaking service contractors; the 10 and 25-year term caps counting every option; and the top-up voting mechanics.
The four termination pathways, the remedial action notice process step by step, and why contractual disputes go to QCAT rather than the Commissioner's office.
Self-resolution in writing, conciliation, then adjudication through the Commissioner's office — and the complex disputes that go to QCAT instead.
From 1 August 2025, Form 33 replaced the section 206 statement and Form 13 certificate. What's in it, what happens if it's wrong, why records matter.
Annual reporting relief for 50,000 sole traders, passive fire upskilling extended to May 2030, and QBCC digital modernisation from 1 February 2026.
The process for changing strata managers in QLD, NSW and Victoria: term limits, resolutions, notice deadlines and records handover compared side by side, with full state guides for committees.
Spending limits, by-law rights, disclosure obligations — the rules shift more often than most committees realise. Leave your email and postcode, and we'll let you know when body corporate legislation changes in your state, along with practical guides for dealing with it.
No spam — relevant updates for your state only. Unsubscribe anytime. See our Privacy Policy.