Strata Building Management

State elective: New South Wales

Goal: apply the core lessons in NSW: your building management agreement and duties, the 2025 and 2026 reforms, by-law enforcement, capital works, defects and bonds, and the NSW regulators.

The framework

The law:

• Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (SSMA) and Strata Schemes Development Act 2015, with the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016.
• The owners corporation’s legal name is “The Owners – Strata Plan No. [number]”.
• Regulator: NSW Fair Trading (which runs free strata mediation), with a Strata and Property Services Commissioner leading the reforms. Tribunal: NCAT.
• NSW has reformed strata law in stages from 2023 to 2026. Many details below are new: check commencement dates against the current Act.

Building managers under the SSMA

The law:

• A building management agreement must be in writing. One signed by the developer before the first AGM ends at that meeting; otherwise the maximum term is 10 years. A 2026 Bill passed by Parliament would cut the maximum to 3 years for new agreements (with some classes able to have different terms by regulation). Check whether it has commenced before you sign or renew.
• Since 27 October 2025 building managers must act in the owners corporation’s best interests, carry out common property maintenance, repair and safety functions promptly and with due diligence, and disclose in writing any connection with suppliers or the developer and any financial interest in the scheme. Candidates must disclose benefits that could affect their fees.
• NCAT can vary or end a building management agreement, including where the building manager has breached a statutory duty.
• People acting voluntarily or as committee members, and tradespeople doing their own trade, aren’t building managers.

Money and spending

• The owners corporation has an administrative fund and a capital works fund, with a 10-year capital works fund plan reviewed at least every five years. From 1 April 2026 a standard form must be used when the plan is reviewed or replaced.
• Since 2024 the owners corporation must get at least two quotes from unrelated providers for proposed spending over $30,000 on common property.
• Strata managing agents can’t accept commissions or benefits unless a general meeting has approved them after full disclosure.

Who maintains what

• For most schemes registered since 1974, lot boundaries are the inner surfaces of walls, floors and ceilings.
• Many schemes have adopted the optional common property memorandum by-law, which allocates responsibility for items such as balcony doors, internal pipes and fixtures. Use it if you have one.
• Claims by owners for losses caused by the owners corporation’s failure to maintain common property can now be brought within six years (it was two) from 1 July 2025.
• Entry to lots: non-emergency entry needs the occupier’s consent, or an NCAT order if it’s refused. Entry is allowed without consent in an emergency.

By-laws and enforcement

1. Talk first and record what you see.
2. The owners corporation (by committee resolution, or the strata manager under delegation) gives a notice to comply with the by-law.
3. If the breach continues, the owners corporation can apply to NCAT, within 12 months of the notice, for a civil penalty. Penalties are set in penalty units; a repeat breach within 12 months of an earlier penalty can attract a doubled penalty without a new notice.

Pets: after Cooper v The Owners – Strata Plan No 58068 (2020), blanket pet bans are invalid, and since 2021 an owners corporation can’t unreasonably refuse to let an owner keep an animal.

Short-term rental accommodation: under SSMA s 137A, a by-law made by special resolution can ban short-term letting of lots that are not the host’s principal place of residence. Councils’ planning rules also cap non-hosted days in Greater Sydney and some regional areas.

Defects and bonds

• Statutory warranties under the Home Building Act 1989: 6 years for major defects and 2 years for other defects, from completion.
• Strata building bond: developers of new residential strata buildings of four or more storeys lodge a bond of 2% of the contract price. Building Commission NSW holds it; independent inspectors report on defects in an interim and a final inspection, and the bond can pay for defects that aren’t fixed. The process usually wraps up two to three years after completion. The planned rise to 3% has been postponed to 1 July 2028.
• Initial maintenance schedule: from 1 April 2026, developers must give one in the standard form at least 14 days before the first general meeting, and new multi-storey schemes need it certified.
• Building Commission NSW has broad powers over residential apartment buildings, including stop work and rectification orders.

Regulators and registers

Annual fire safety statement (AFSS): each year an accredited fire safety practitioner assesses every fire safety measure in the building’s schedule, and the owner issues the statement, sends it to the council and Fire and Rescue NSW, and displays it in the building. Late statements attract penalty notices from councils. Since 13 February 2026, essential fire safety measures in apartment buildings must be inspected and tested to AS 1851-2012 (unless the building has a performance solution). Diary the AFSS three months ahead.

Cooling towers (where fitted) must be registered with the council and managed under the Public Health Regulation legionella rules.

NSW checklist

• Building management agreement term and expiry checked against the current maximum
• Written disclosure of supplier connections and financial interests given to the owners corporation
• Capital works fund plan current, and in the new form when next reviewed
• AFSS due date diarised; practitioner booked
• Strata bond inspection dates (new buildings) diarised
• Common property memorandum checked (if adopted)
• Notice to comply process agreed with the committee and strata manager

On the job

Check your building management agreement against today’s maximum term and the October 2025 duties, and write (or update) your disclosure letter to the owners corporation. Then find the date of your last AFSS.

Sources

• NSW Government, Changes to strata scheme laws
• Grace Lawyers (2026), What NSW strata managers need to know about the 2023 to 2026 reforms
• Coleman Greig (2026), NSW strata reforms 2026
• LookUpStrata (2026), NSW building management agreements: the 10-year term limit
• NSW Government, Notice to comply with a by-law
• NSW Government, Strata building bond and inspections scheme
• NSW Government, Fire safety statements FAQ; Fire and Rescue NSW, Lodge a fire safety statement; Building Commission NSW, Responsibilities of building owners under AS 1851-2012
• NSW Government, Categories and classes of building and trade work

General education, not legal advice. Strata law is different in every state and territory and it changes often (NSW and Victoria both changed theirs in 2025 and 2026), so check the current Act and your own agreement, and get advice before acting on anything here.