Guide to strata law changes for strata committees and owners

NSW Fair Trading has investigative and enforcement powers to help ensure owners corporations meet their legal duty to repair and maintain common property.

Fair Trading can use these powers to investigate potential breaches of this duty, including being able to require documents and answers, record a person, make records and enter premises.

Where a breach is found, Fair Trading can use a range of enforcement actions available to it, including:

• seeking an enforceable undertaking – this is a formal, voluntary written commitment made by an owners corporation to address a breach of its duty to maintain and repair common property.
• issuing a compliance notice – this would require an owners corporation to do specific actions such as fix damage, meet particular standards, or use licensed professionals.
• issuing a penalty infringement notice – this is a monetary penalty (fine) if an undertaking or compliance notice is not complied with.
• applying to the Tribunal for an order – an order can require an owners corporation to stop or fix a breach of its duty, or could be for the compulsory appointment of a strata managing agent to take over management of the scheme.

Download a copy of the new Common Property Repairs and Maintenance Compliance and Enforcement Policy.    

What do strata schemes need to do?

Strata committees, strata managing agents and owners corporations must address any repairs and maintenance issues with their common property. Owners can work with their strata committee or strata manager to use the Strata building health check to support with this process.
 

There are information requirements for owners corporation levy notices to assist owners in financial hardship to get help early.

Levy notices must be provided with a Financial Hardship Information Statement or include the information from the Statement, which includes contact details for the National Debt Helpline. This is a free, confidential and independent financial counselling service.

What do schemes need to do? 

Schemes should:

• download the Financial Hardship Information Statement.
• make sure your managing agent or strata committee includes the Statement or the information from the Statement with all levy notices.
   

An owner who wishes to enter into a payment plan with their owners corporation or strata committee for overdue levies must use a new standard form:

Request for a payment plan for overdue contributions standard form.

Payment plans are only for a period of up to 12 months, but another plan may be agreed to after the previous plan ends.

A payment plan cannot cover future contributions.

New rules for considering requests

There are rules for owners corporations and strata committees around payment plans, including that they must: 

• consider a lot owner’s request to start a payment plan
• not make a resolution at a meeting to refuse all payment plans
• not charge a fee or other cost to the lot owner for making a request, for starting or continuing with a payment plan
• give a written response within 28 days to an owner requesting a payment plan
• if a request is refused, include written reasons for the refusal and how they apply to the owner’s request.

About refusals

A request for a payment plan may be reasonably refused – if starting the payment plan would result in the owner’s corporation’s capital works fund or administrative fund having insufficient funds.

You may have insufficient funds if: 

• your fund would fall into deficit, or
• there would not be enough money in the capital works fund for the owners corporation to meet its duty to repair and maintain the common property, or
• there would not be enough money in the administrative fund to pay for expenses, or
• there would not be enough money to comply with:
  • an enforceable undertaking entered into with Fair Trading,
  • a compliance notice issued by Fair Trading, or
  • another order issued under another Act.

If an owner believes a refusal of their request for a payment plan was not reasonable, steps include:

1. The owner can apply to NSW Fair Trading for mediation on the refusal.
2. The owner can apply to the Tribunal for an order that the refusal was unreasonable.
3. If the Tribunal makes the order, the owners corporation must agree to the owner’s request for a payment plan.

Other requirements

Repayments made under a payment plan must be applied first to overdue levies (oldest to newest levies), then to any interest repayments due, then to any costs for recovering the overdue contributions. This requirement applies unless a Court or Tribunal order, or the owner themselves, specifies how payments must apply.

There are also requirements for how and when owners corporations can take action on overdue levies, interest and recovery costs:

• action cannot be taken to recover overdue levies where there is a payment plan in place for those levies and the plan is being followed properly, and
• if action will be taken against an owner, the owners corporation must provide the owner at least 30 days’ notice.

What do schemes need to do?

Schemes (for example, the strata managing agent or the treasurer) should download and share the request for a payment plan form with any owners who are finding it difficult to pay their levies. Owners can also raise awareness of the above changes by discussing them with their strata managing agent and strata committee.
 

People who are not building managers

The strata laws make it clearer who is a building manager and who is not. For example, other service providers such as electricians, gardeners, cleaners or plumbers are not building managers.

Overall, a person is not a building manager if:

• they are only engaged to do one or more repair or maintenance services for the common property, and
• their terms of service are limited to carrying out the repair or maintenance (and do not include the duties of a building manager, like managing or controlling common property), and
• they are not appointed as a building manager under a building manager agreement.

New building manager duties

People who are appointed as building managers have new duties that they must follow. 
These duties are to: 

Act in the owners corporation’s best interest (unless doing so would be against the law).

Act promptly and with due diligence to do the following. 

• Bring the owners corporation’s attention to any maintenance, repair or safety issue with the common property that the manager is aware of. This includes both a problem that the building manager becomes aware of (e.g. a lift outage), as well as a problem that the building manager ought to be aware of (e.g. that the regular maintenance of the lift is overdue).
• Propose to the owners corporation how a problem should be addressed. For example, recommending a plumber comes to repair a persistent leaking pipe.

Give written notice of benefits and connections when suggesting a contract for goods or services

• If the building manager will receive a benefit in relation to the contract, the written notice must include the person who will provide the benefit, and the monetary value of the benefit or the method of calculating the value.  
• If the person the contract would be with is connected with the building manager, the written notice must include the nature of the relationship between the building manager and that person.

Disclose any relationships and financial interests 

• A building manager must promptly give written notice to the owners corporation if the building manager:
  • is connected with a supplier of goods or services for the strata scheme. The notice must include what goods and/or services are provided by the supplier, and the nature of their relationship to the building manager.
  • is connected with the original owner (e.g. developer or builder) of the strata scheme. The notice must include the nature of the relationship between the building manager and the original owner.
  • has a direct or indirect financial interest in the strata scheme. The notice must include the nature of the financial interest.  

Rules for building manager candidates

A person who wants to be appointed as a building manager must give written notice to the owners corporation if the candidate may receive a benefit that affects the fees that they will charge in the building manager agreement.

A benefit includes a referral fee, commission or a direct or indirect benefit. For example, this would include telling the owners corporation that the candidate expects to receive a referral fee from the cleaning company they will nominate after they are appointed as building manager.

The notice must be given when the owners corporation is considering the agreement.  

This will give owners corporations a clearer picture of why the candidate’s costs may be more or less than another candidate, making it easier for the owners corporation to compare services.

Tribunal orders

In addition to existing reasons, owners corporations have an additional ground they can use to apply to the Tribunal to change or end a building manager agreement.

The new ground is where the building manager acts unlawfully in their role. For example, breaching a duty under the strata laws.

This new ground also applies to strata management agreements for a strata managing agent.

What do schemes need to do? 

Schemes with a building manager should check in with them to make sure they are aware of their new duties.

Schemes that are looking to hire a building manager should confirm that candidates will give written notice of future benefits that affect their fees.
 

Currently, all strata schemes must prepare a 10-year capital works fund plan (10-year plan) to plan and budget for costs arising from the repair, maintenance or replacement of major capital works items of common property.

From 1 April 2026, owners corporations will need to update their 10-year plan to a new standard form when they are:

• reviewing an existing 10-year plan, or
• preparing a new 10-year plan to replace an existing plan that’s already been in place for 10 years.

Owners corporations that have an existing 10-year plan in place but are not yet reviewing or replacing that plan will not have to change to the standard form.

The standard form for the 10-year plan is now available so that owners corporations will have time to start using it before 1 April 2026, if they wish to.

What do schemes need to do?

Owners corporations should familiarise themselves with the standard form 10-year plan once it is available.

Owners corporations should ensure that on or after 1 April 2026, any 10-year plan that is prepared or reviewed will use the new standard form.
 

Currently, the original owner of a scheme is required to prepare an initial maintenance schedule (IMS) and provide this to the owners corporation at least 14 days ahead of the first annual general meeting AGM of the owners corporation.

From 1 April 2026, all IMS must be prepared using a new standard form.

The standard form is now available. This will allow all original owners to ensure that the IMS for schemes with AGMs on or after 1 April 2026 are prepared using the standard form.

Requirements for multi-storey schemes

For the original owner of a new multi-storey scheme, additional requirements will apply.

The original owner will need to engage an independent surveyor to review and certify that the IMS was prepared using the standard form.

The independent surveyor will also need to review the initial levy estimates prepared by the original owner and certify that they meet the expected expenditure for the year following the first AGM, based on expenses provided by the original owner.

Then the original owner of the multi-storey scheme will need to, at least 14 days before the first AGM, deliver the evidence to the owners corporation to show that:

• the initial maintenance schedule was prepared using the standard form
• the estimates of contributions to the administrative fund and capital works fund meet the expected expenditure for the year ahead (based on the expenses provided by the original owner)
• the person who reviewed and certified the initial maintenance schedule is an independent surveyor
• the person who reviewed and certified the estimates of contributions to the administrative fund and capital works fund is an independent surveyor.

The evidence for this can include a written statement or other document to the owners corporation confirming how these requirements have been met.

A multi-storey scheme will have more than two storeys above ground level, with lots allocated one on top of another. For example, multi-storey schemes include apartment blocks.

An independent surveyor is a person who is not connected to the original owner, and who is:

• a member of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors and holds the designation Certified Quantity Surveyor, or
• a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Chartered Quantity Surveyor.

Substantial penalties apply where an original owner does not meet these new obligations.

What do schemes need to do?

Original owners (usually the developer or builder) should begin using the standard form when it is available, so that schemes with their first AGM on or after 1 April 2026 have their IMS prepared in the required form.

Owners corporations, lot owners and strata managers for a new scheme that will have its first AGM on or after 1 April 2026 should familiarise themselves with the standard form so they can easily check it has been used once the changes start.

Original owners, lot owners, and any strata managing agent for a new multi-storey scheme should also discuss the need for the IMS and initial levy estimates to be reviewed and certified by an independent surveyor.

Original owners of a multi-storey scheme with their first AGM on or after 1 April 2026 should also allow plenty of time in advance to:
•    engage an independent surveyor,
•    have the surveyor review and certify the IMS and initial levy estimates, and
•    provide the required evidence to owners corporations at least 14 days before the AGM.
 

A strata information certificate (‘Section 184 Certificate’) provides information about a lot within a strata scheme, including financial details. These certificates are typically requested by a potential buyer as part of the sale of a lot.

From 1 April 2026, these certificates need to include information about exclusive supply networks (often referred to as an embedded networks) and the nature of the service provided by these networks.

An exclusive supply network is a privately owned network that supplies multiple lots within a site with electricity, gas, hot and cold water, internet access, or other utilities.

An updated standard form for the information certificate will be made available on the nsw.gov.au website ahead of 1 April 2026. A link to the certificate will be included on this page.

What do schemes need to do?

Owners corporations and strata managing agents are encouraged to look at the updated standard form information certificates when it is available so they are familiar with what changes will be needed from 1 April 2026.
 

To refuse an owner’s request for a minor renovation, the strata committee needs to provide the reasons in writing within three months of receiving the request. If it fails to do this, the minor renovation is automatically approved.   

This only applies if there is a by-law that allows the strata committee to decide on minor renovation requests. For more information about renovations, visit the strata renovation rules page.

Owners corporations must keep a record of any minor renovations approved for a period of 10 years. 

Previously, some schemes had by-laws (strata rules) that ban sustainability infrastructure from being installed if it negatively impacts the external appearance of common property or the owner’s property. 

These by-laws are now banned unless the building is heritage-listed or in a heritage conservation area. 

The owners corporation must also consider sustainability at each AGM. An item must be included on the AGM agenda to consider environmental sustainability within the scheme, including consideration of the common property annual energy and water consumption and expenditure. 

Owners corporations must also consider costs for sustainability infrastructure, such as electricity meters, solar panels and sustainable building materials, when preparing estimates for the capital works fund each year.

This includes costs for the installation, replacement or repair of any sustainability infrastructure, fixtures or fittings.

From 1 July 2025 unfair contract terms are banned in standard form contracts for the supply of goods or services to an owners corporation. 

Examples of contracts for the supply of goods or services:

• strata management contracts
• building management contracts
• cleaning or gardening contracts.

A standard form contract is where a business uses a pre-written contract where the owners corporation can’t change any or a majority of the contract terms. They can only take it or leave it.

The change will apply to contracts entered into on or after the start date for the new laws, or existing contracts renewed or varied on or after the new laws start.

What are the banned terms?

An unfair term:

• causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations
• is not reasonably necessary to protect the interests of the party that would benefit from the term, or
• would cause financial or other loss to a party if applied.

Examples of terms that may be unfair are terms that:

• allow one party (but not the other) to avoid or limit their responsibilities under the contract
• allow one party (but not the other) to end the contract
• penalise one party (but not the other) for breaching or ending the contract
• allow one party (but not the other) to change the terms of the contract.

The unfair contract term law does not apply to terms that:

• are specifically required or permitted by another law
• set out the upfront price to be paid, or
• define the main subject matter of the contract.

What can you do if you think a term is unfair?

If you think a term in your contract is unfair, you should first try and resolve the issue with the business. Lean more about what you can do if you think a contract term is unfair.

Further guidance on unfair contract terms is available on the Contracts page of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website. 

It is now easier for an owner or the owners corporation to make changes to common property to enable a person with a disability to have access to their property or common property. Instead of a special resolution, only a majority vote is needed.

New duties for strata committees now include that its members must: 

• behave honestly and fairly when carrying out their role
• not behave in a way that would unreasonably affect another person’s use or enjoyment of their property or the common property
• comply with their obligations under the strata laws
• only use or disclose information you receive as a committee member (including information about an owner), if you are allowed to under the law or need to as part of carrying out your role.

New duties for the chairperson now include: 

• follow the agenda at meetings
• maintain order at meetings  
• encourage owners to discuss items on the agenda in a fair, constructive and open manner. 

Learn more about strata committees.

If an owner or other person has damaged common property and the owners corporation has taken legal action against them, the owners corporation cannot delay making repairs to the common property if a delay would affect a person’s access or use of the common property or a lot.

For example, if an owners corporation sues an owner for causing a large crack in the stairs to the lobby with their motorbike, this damage affects a person's use of the stairs. So, the owners corporation cannot delay getting this repair done.

Other changes include:

• An owner has six years (up from two years) to bring any damages claims against the owners corporation if they have failed to maintain and repair common property.
• If the owners corporation passes a special resolution to change common property, it must state if the owners corporation or lot owner is responsible for the ongoing maintenance.
• When preparing the first 10-year plan, the owners corporation must consider the initial maintenance schedule which is prepared by the developer and given to the owners at the first AGM.  

Learn more about repairs and maintenance including repairs to common property and the repairs process.

What if there’s a delay in a common property repair that’s a safety risk or affects a person's use or access?

If the owners corporation delays a common property repair because they have taken legal action against an owner or other person for causing damage which poses a safety risk or affects a person's use or access, you can: 

1. Contact your strata manager or strata committee and let them know about the new law.
2. Contact NSW Fair Trading for further assistance if needed, including for free mediation.

A strata resident (e.g. tenant, owner) only needs to provide one form of evidence about their assistance animal if requested. The expanded list of evidence the person can choose from includes:

• an animal identity card, pass or permit from an assistance animal training organisation
• evidence the animal has completed a training program that meets the standards of Assistance Dogs International
• evidence from an Australian government agency that the animal has been accepted as an assistance animal, for example transport pass/permit, government issued access card
• evidence the local council recognises the animal as an assistance animal
• a dog badge, medallion, harness, cape, coat or vest supplied by an assistance animal dog training organisation
• written statement from a registered health practitioner that the animal is an assistance animal. The
• health practitioner must hold a general or specialist registration under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) 2009, for example in one of the following health professions:
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practice
  • Chinese medicine
  • medical
  • nursing
  • occupational therapy
  • pharmacy
  • physiotherapy
  • psychology.  

Learn more about pets in strata.

Inspection of records is important to help maintain accountability and enable prospective owners to get more information about the scheme before they buy.

The fees for inspecting strata records (online or in person) increased on 1 July 2025. The increase does not apply to existing owners within the scheme. Fees (including GST) increase from:

• $31 to $60 for the first hour
• $16 to $30 for each half hour after the first hour.

The new laws will also require electronic access to records to be through secured means.

Learn more about record keeping requirements. 

Strata managing agents must report every six months to the owners corporation on the work that they do on behalf of the owners corporation. For example, chairing an AGM and organising repairs to common property. 

Terms in strata management contracts are banned that:

• require an owners corporation to pay for the agent’s professional indemnity liabilities, or
• limit an agent’s liability to a specific amount, unless the agreement is covered by an approved professional standards scheme.

If a strata managing agent has breached a duty delegated to them by the owners corporation, the agent has a defence against any prosecution for the breach if:

• the owners corporation caused the breach, and
• the agent took all reasonable steps to prevent the breach.

Learn more about agency agreements.
 

An exclusive supply network (sometimes called an embedded network) is a private network for the supply of services such as electricity, hot and cold water, gas, and other utilities. 

An agreement for the supply of electricity through an exclusive supply network entered into on or after 1 July 2025, expires: 

• at the first AGM if the agreement was made before the meeting, or
• three years from the start date of the agreement. 

The new laws have been clarified so that the same rule applies to all utility agreements the owners corporation enters into, including embedded network utility agreements. This includes utilities such as waste removal, air conditioning, stormwater retention and filtration, sewage, recycling and electric vehicle charging.

For more information, visit the Managing strata finances or Your strata levies, finances and insurance pages.

Penalties on developers apply if: 

• they do not hold the first AGM on time, or
• fail to provide certain documents to owners 14 days before the meeting. 

A penalty of up to $11,000 can apply to a breach, plus $220 for each day the meeting is not held within two months of the ‘initial period’ or the documents are not given to owners 14 days before the meeting.
 

Legal services

An owners corporation must approve obtaining legal services at a meeting of the owners corporation. There are some exceptions, such as for non-urgent legal services less than $3,000.  
The owners corporation’s approval can be obtained for costs to a maximum amount or an unlimited amount for the legal services. 

Uncollected goods

The Uncollected Goods Act 1995 now includes goods left behind on an owner’s property. 
This means the owners corporation needs to seek consent from the owner before taking any action to remove abandoned or uncollected goods from the lot. 

Common property rights by-laws

1 July 2025 changes extend the consent required of an owner before a by-law is made that grants rights or special privileges over common property. For example, allowing a specific owner to have exclusive use of a portion of the common property. These by-laws now require the owner’s consent before amending or revoking the by-law. The owner’s consent cannot be unreasonably refused.
For more information, visit the Strata abandoned goods page.