The Strata How-To Guide (New South Wales)

How to change your strata manager in NSW

The strata managing agent works for the owners corporation — not the other way around. If yours isn’t performing, here’s the process.

Step 1: Review the strata management agency agreement

Get a copy from your secretary or the agent. NSW agreements run for a fixed term of up to three years (12 months maximum for the first agreement after a scheme is established). Check:

1. The end date and any rollover provisions — if the committee lets an agreement roll over month-to-month and then decides not to re-appoint, at least one month’s written notice must be given
2. The termination clause — what notice is required and on what grounds
3. Early exit costs — some agreements impose fees for termination before expiry

The agent must give the owners corporation notice that the agreement is due to expire, between three and six months before the expiry date. If the owners corporation decides not to reappoint the agent, it must give at least three months’ written notice of that decision. Where it fails to, an agent on a three-year agreement can extend the agreement by a further three months without the owners corporation’s agreement. This is the trap most schemes fall into: the decision is made in time, but the notice is not given in time.

Step 2: Understand who decides

Only the owners corporation at a general meeting can appoint or terminate a strata managing agent — the strata committee alone cannot. The committee’s role is to recommend, run the tender, and put the motions on the agenda. Termination must be both authorised by a vote and carried out in accordance with the agreement’s own termination clause.

Step 3: Compare at least three proposals

NSW Fair Trading recommends comparing at least three proposals. Look past the headline fee to:

• The schedule of additional charges (many agents run a low base fee and recover margin through disbursements and hourly extras)
• Insurance commissions — ask each candidate what commissions or benefits they receive from insurance placed for the scheme. Under the 2025–2026 reforms, agents face stricter disclosure obligations on commissions and third-party benefits
• Who the actual portfolio manager would be and how many schemes they carry

Every term in a “standard” agreement is negotiable. Don’t disclose your incumbent’s identity or fee to quoting firms.

Step 4: Pass the motions at a general meeting

Ask the secretary to convene an AGM or Extraordinary General Meeting with the motions on the agenda. You’ll typically need two separate motions: one to terminate (or not renew) the current agent, one to appoint the new agent on the attached agreement. Both pass by ordinary resolution — a simple majority of votes cast. The draft management agreement of the preferred agency must be attached to the meeting notice.

Meeting notice requirements: at least 7 clear days for an EGM, 14 days for an AGM, plus postal allowance if any owner is served by post.

Step 5: Enforce the handover

The outgoing agent must hand over the owners corporation’s records, books and funds — and must do so promptly after the agreement ends. If records are withheld, escalate to NSW Fair Trading’s strata team; continued refusal can go to NCAT. Your incoming agent will normally project-manage the transition, notify owners, and redirect the address for service.

Realistic timeline: four to eight weeks for a clean end-of-term change, driven mostly by your agreement’s notice period.

How to put a motion on a general meeting agenda

Any lot owner can require a motion to be included on the agenda of the next general meeting.

1. Write the motion as a proposed resolution with an explanatory note — what you want the owners corporation to decide, not just the problem
2. Give it to the secretary in writing before the notice of meeting is issued
3. State the resolution type. Most decisions are ordinary resolutions. By-law changes require a special resolution (no more than 25% of votes cast against). Some matters — like terminating the scheme — need higher thresholds
4. Attach quotes for spending motions. An owners corporation must obtain at least two independent quotations before it commits to expenditure on an item or matter above the prescribed amount, which is currently $30,000. Since the December 2023 reforms this applies to every strata scheme regardless of size — the earlier position, which caught only schemes of 100 lots or more, no longer applies. Emergency expenditure is excluded. Where two quotations cannot be obtained, the secretary must add an item to the next general meeting agenda noting the matter and the reasons.

If the secretary or managing agent won’t include a valid motion, that itself is a breach you can raise with Fair Trading.

How to requisition a committee decision or a general meeting

• Committee items: write to the secretary asking for the matter to be listed at the next strata committee meeting. Owners holding at least one-third of unit entitlements can require a committee decision to be overturned by the owners corporation at a general meeting
• Forcing a general meeting: owners holding at least 25% of unit entitlements can compel the secretary to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting by written requisition — useful when a committee refuses to act

How to access strata records in NSW

Any owner (or mortgagee, or authorised agent) can inspect the owners corporation’s records — financial statements, insurance policies, agreements, correspondence, the strata roll and meeting minutes.

1. Apply in writing and pay the prescribed fee
2. Inspection must be arranged within a set period; you can take notes and, in practice, copies
3. Buyers do this via a “strata search” before purchase — as an owner, you have the same right at lower cost

Records access is one of the fastest ways to detect problems: check the insurance invoice against the broker’s disclosure to see exactly what commission is being paid, and to whom.

How to resolve a strata dispute in NSW

1. Internal first. Raise it in writing with the committee or managing agent, and propose a resolution. Keep everything in writing
2. Mediation through NSW Fair Trading. Free or low-cost, and mandatory before most NCAT applications
3. NCAT (NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal). NCAT can make binding orders across almost every strata subject — repairs to common property, invalidating meeting decisions, varying or terminating management agreements, and compulsorily appointing a strata manager where a scheme is dysfunctional
4. Special note on agents: NCAT can vary or terminate a strata management agreement on grounds including unsatisfactory performance or unfair terms — a pathway when a scheme is locked into a bad contract

Quick reference: NSW strata terminology

This guide is general information, not legal advice. The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 was substantially amended in 2025–2026 — check current requirements with NSW Fair Trading or a strata lawyer before acting on contract termination.