Frequently Asked Questions

We are based in Bankstown in south-west Sydney but look after buildings as far away as Lithgow, NSW. Get in touch for a free quote to find out if we can manage buildings in your area too.

Yes, we do! We're proud to be at the forefront of the Australian strata industry when it comes to the adoption of tools that make our client's lives easier. This makes it easier for you to fill in forms, and requests, join online meetings, and pay and check invoices with just a click of the button.

They are the same body. When a strata plan is registered, the owners of the lots automatically constitute a body corporate under the name "The Owners - Strata Plan No" followed by the scheme%27s registered strata plan number (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), s 8(1)). In NSW that body is called the owners corporation. In Queensland and several other states the everyday term is body corporate, so owners who have moved interstate often use the two interchangeably. Every owner is automatically a member. There is nothing to join and no way to opt out.

The owners corporation has the principal responsibility for managing the scheme, including its finances, its records, maintenance of common property, and insurance (s 9).

See also: Key Duties of an Owners Corporation in NSW.

The owners corporation must properly maintain the common property and keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair, and must renew or replace fixtures and fittings in the common property (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 106(1) and (2)). This duty is not discretionary, and it does not depend on whether the scheme has budgeted for the work.

If an owners corporation breaches that duty, an owner can recover reasonably foreseeable loss as damages for breach of statutory duty (s 106(5)). The time limit runs from awareness, not from the damage: an owner cannot bring that action more than 6 years after the owner first becomes aware of the loss (s 106(6)).

Where responsibility for a particular item is unclear, many schemes adopt the common property memorandum prescribed by the regulations (s 107).

See also: Repairs and Maintenance in Strata: Who Pays in NSW?

Every owners corporation must establish both (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, ss 73(1) and 74(1)). Broadly, the administrative fund covers recurrent day-to-day costs, and the capital works fund covers major expenditure such as painting, roofing and replacing plant. The Act sets out what may be paid into and out of each fund (ss 73 and 74), and estimates for both must be prepared before contributions are set (s 79).

There is one narrow exception. A two-lot scheme need not establish a capital works fund if it resolves unanimously not to, the two buildings are physically detached, and no part of a building sits outside the two lots (s 74(5)).

See also: What Do Strata Levies Pay For?

Yes. An owners corporation must prepare a plan of anticipated major expenditure to be met from the capital works fund covering a 10-year period, starting from its first annual general meeting, and must prepare a further plan for each following 10-year period (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 80(1) and (2)). The plan must be reviewed at least once every 5 years (s 80(3)).

The plan has to be in the form prescribed by the regulations, and must set out the proposed work, the timing and anticipated cost, and the source of funding (s 80(4)). Note that the form itself sits in the Regulation rather than the Act, so check the current prescribed form before preparing one.

See also: Why Every NSW Owners Corporation Needs a 10-Year Sinking Fund Plan

An unpaid contribution bears simple interest at 10% per year until it is paid, unless the regulations set another rate (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 85(1)). There is a one-month grace period: no interest is payable if the contribution is paid within one month of becoming due (s 85(2)). An owners corporation can also resolve that a particular contribution bears no interest (s 85(3)).

An owners corporation and an owner may agree a payment plan for overdue contributions. A plan is limited to 12 months, though a further plan can be agreed after it (s 85(5) and (5AA)). An owners corporation cannot pass a blanket resolution refusing to enter payment plans at all (s 85(5AB)), although it may refuse a particular request where that refusal is reasonable (s 85(5A) and (5AC)).

See also: What strata levies pay for, and what happens if they go unpaid

Some of it, yes. Cosmetic work to common property in connection with your lot needs no approval at all (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 109(1)). The Act's examples include hanging hooks, nails and screws, installing or replacing handrails, painting, filling minor holes and cracks in internal walls, laying carpet, installing built-in wardrobes, and internal blinds and curtains (s 109(2)). You still have to repair any damage you cause to common property, and have the work done competently (s 109(3)).

Cosmetic work does not cover structural changes, anything altering the external appearance of the lot, waterproofing, plumbing or exhaust work, reconfiguring walls, or work needing approval under another Act (s 109(5)). That work falls into the next two categories.

Those are minor renovations, and they need approval by an ordinary resolution at a general meeting. A special resolution is not required (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 110(1)). The Act's examples include renovating a kitchen, changing recessed light fittings, installing wood or other hard floors, installing or replacing wiring, cabling, power or access points, and reconfiguring walls (s 110(3)).

Before seeking approval you must give the owners corporation written notice with details and plans, the duration and times of the work, who is carrying it out and their qualifications, and how rubbish will be managed (s 110(4)). Approval can carry reasonable conditions, but cannot be unreasonably withheld (s 110(2)).

One qualification is often stated too broadly. A scheme's by-laws may delegate this function to the strata committee (s 110(6)(b)). Where that delegation exists, approval is taken to be given if the committee has not both refused and given written reasons within 3 months of the request (s 110(6A) and (6B)). A scheme without that delegation gets no deemed approval, so do not assume that three months of silence is consent.

Work that is neither cosmetic nor a minor renovation, such as adding to or altering common property or erecting a new structure on it, requires a special resolution specifically authorising it (s 108(1) and (2)).

See also: Renovating a Strata Apartment

Not outright. A by-law, or a decision made under a by-law, has no force or effect to the extent that it would unreasonably prohibit keeping an animal on a lot (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 137B(1)). Keeping an animal is taken to be reasonable unless it unreasonably interferes with another occupant's use and enjoyment of their lot or the common property (s 137B(2)).

A blanket no-pets by-law is therefore unenforceable to that extent. An owners corporation is also taken to have given permission where it made a decision in contravention of s 137B(1)(b), or where a decision was required and it failed to make one within a reasonable time (s 137B(5)).

See also: Pets in Strata: What NSW Owners and Tenants Need to Know

A special resolution is passed at a properly convened general meeting where not more than 25% of the value of votes cast are against it (Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, s 5(1)). Votes are valued by unit entitlement, not one vote per lot (s 5(2)). A unanimous resolution is one where no vote at all is cast against (s 5(3)). Anything that does not require a special or unanimous resolution passes on a simple majority (s 5, note; Schedule 1, clause 14).

Two lower thresholds are worth knowing. For a sustainability infrastructure resolution or an accessibility infrastructure resolution, the test is fewer than 50% of the value of votes cast against (s 5(1)(b)).

See also: Understanding Ordinary, Special and Unanimous Resolutions

Yes, under a separate Act and a court-supervised process. Collective sale and renewal sit in Part 10 of the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 (NSW), not the Management Act. The owners corporation puts a strata renewal plan to owners by special resolution (s 172(5)). The plan needs the support of the owners of at least 75% of the lots in the scheme, counted by number of lots and excluding utility lots such as car spaces and storage (s 154, definition of "required level of support"). The plan must then be approved by the Land and Environment Court (ss 178 to 183).

Note the contrast with the previous question. This 75% is a count of lots, whereas a special resolution is measured by unit entitlement. They are different tests.

Part 10 commenced on 30 November 2016. It applies automatically to schemes registered on or after that date. A scheme in existence before then is covered only if its owners corporation resolves that Part 10 applies (Schedule 8, Part 2, clause 8(1)), and once passed, that resolution cannot be revoked (clause 8(6)).

Yes. The Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW) received assent on 2 March 2025, and its provisions have commenced in stages across 2025 and 2026. See NSW Fair Trading for the commencement dates.

Changes now in force include the 6-year limitation period for maintenance claims running from awareness of the loss (Management Act s 106(6)), the 12-month cap on payment plans for overdue levies (s 85(5AA)), and the requirement that the 10-year capital works plan use the prescribed form (s 80(4)).

Two things owners ask about are not yet law: mandatory strata committee member training, which NSW Fair Trading expects later in 2026, and the Fair Trading and Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, which passed both Houses of Parliament in August 2026 but is awaiting assent with nothing commenced. Treat advice based on either as premature.

See also: NSW Strata Law: Owners Corporations, Strata Committees, Meetings and Reforms