Strata manager responsibilities: what the role covers, state by state

01

What a strata manager is, and what each state calls one

In a strata scheme, the owners own the common property together through a corporate body with legal duties: to hold meetings, keep records, insure the building, collect levies and keep the common property in repair. Many schemes, from a block of six units to a large residential complex, pay a professional to assist with that work and to handle its day-to-day running. The professional is the strata manager, and the name changes at each border:

• New South Wales: a strata managing agent, usually called a strata manager, working for the owners corporation and its strata committee. The NSW Government's page on who's who in strata puts it simply: "A strata manager (also known as a strata managing agent) helps the owners corporation and/or strata committee with the running of the strata scheme."
• Victoria: an owners corporation manager, working for the owners corporation and its committee.
• Queensland: a body corporate manager, working for the body corporate and its committee.
• Western Australia uses strata company and strata manager, and the other states and territories have their own strata or unit titles laws of the same broad shape.

The manager acts for the owners as a body, not for any one owner, the developer or the contractors. The owners keep the legal responsibility: engaging a manager transfers the work of meeting the scheme's obligations, not the obligations themselves. The NSW Government's page on safety rules for common property makes the point directly: the owners corporation "must make sure these rules are followed. It may ask a strata manager to take on this task."

The strata manager is also a different person from the one on site. In NSW, the same page separates the two: "A strata manager keeps everything running", while "A building manager looks after common property" and is "generally the primary contact for contractors working on-site." In Queensland the on-site role is often a caretaking service contractor, and the Queensland Government's page on the role of a service contractor is explicit: "Body corporate managers are not service contractors."

02

The law in each state: licences, registration and codes of conduct

Who may act as a strata manager depends on the state, and the three largest take three different approaches.

New South Wales: a licence. Strata managers are licensed under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002, and their appointment and conduct are governed by the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. The NSW Government's page on the strata managing agent licence says the licence is needed to "carry out the functions of an owners corporation (strata schemes) or an association (community schemes)". A Class 2 licence covers "organising and conducting meetings", "property maintenance and effecting repairs" and "managing and reporting on funds, insurance and budgets", and requires a Certificate IV in Strata Community Management or specified units of the Certificate IV in Property Services, and 12 months as a registered assistant agent in strata management with logbook experience; a Class 1 licence, needed to be the licensee in charge, requires a diploma and experience at Class 2.

Victoria: registration. A paid owners corporation manager must be registered with the Business Licensing Authority. Consumer Affairs Victoria's page on contract, duties and powers lists the obligations that come with registration: lodge an annual statement, "report to the owners corporation at each annual general meeting", "have current professional indemnity insurance for no less than $2 million" and "hold all money on behalf of an owners corporation on trust". The manager's powers come from the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic), the Owners Corporations Regulations 2018 and whatever the owners corporation delegates at a general meeting.

Queensland: a code of conduct, no licence. The Queensland Government's page on the body corporate manager says: "At present, body corporate managers do not need to be licensed in Queensland. There are no formal training requirements or qualifications needed to be a body corporate manager." Instead, the code of conduct for body corporate managers and caretaking service contractors is automatically part of every engagement. Under it, a manager must have a good knowledge of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, "act honestly, fairly and professionally", act in the best interests of the body corporate where that is lawful, and not be fraudulent or misleading. Most residential schemes run under the Body Corporate and Community Management (Standard Module) Regulation 2020; check the regulation module named in the scheme's community management statement.

03

The main responsibilities of a strata manager

The exact duties are whatever the owners delegate under the agreement, within what the law allows. Across the three states, a typical strata management agreement covers the administration, the money and the compliance work:

• Meetings: notices, agendas and minutes for the AGM and other general meetings.
• Levies and money: preparing budgets for the administrative and capital works funds (NSW), the sinking fund (Queensland) or the maintenance fund (Victoria, where required), issuing levy notices, collecting arrears, paying accounts and holding scheme money in trust. In Queensland, a manager who holds the funds must prepare a reconciliation statement for all accounts within 21 days after the end of each month.
• Insurance: arranging the building and public liability cover the law requires, handling claims, and disclosing any commission.
• Records: keeping the strata roll, minutes, financial records, correspondence and other documents, and making them available for inspection. In NSW, keeping and updating records and arranging for an owner to inspect them are among the tasks a strata manager can take on.
• Repairs and maintenance: obtaining quotes, engaging contractors on the owners' instructions, following up the work, and keeping the long-term plan in view.
• Certificates and dates: issuing strata information certificates (NSW) or owners corporation certificates (Victoria) for buyers, and tracking the dates the scheme must meet, from fire safety statements to insurance renewals.
• Compliance and advice: keeping track of what the Act and regulations require of the scheme, and giving the committee members advice on procedure; the decisions stay with the owners and the committee.

Some decisions stay with the owners whatever the agreement says. In NSW, the Government's page on appointing strata managers and other workers lists what "A strata manager can't" do: "change by-laws; remove a strata committee member; hire a building manager; set levy amounts; make a decision on a payment plan request; make a decision on a request to waive interest." In Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria's guidance on working with your owners corporation manager says delegation must be in an approved form or instrument, and cannot include "functions or powers requiring a special or unanimous resolution" or "matters requiring decision of the owners at a general meeting."

04

Maintenance, safety and the people on site

The duty to repair common property is where a paper trail matters most. The guide to strata maintenance covers the duty itself; this section covers how the manager's part in it usually works.

1. Plan. Help the committee in maintaining the scheme's long-term plan, and schedule the recurring services: fire systems under AS 1851, lifts, pools, gutters, cleaning and gardens.
2. Engage. Obtain quotes, check licences and insurance, and put contracts in place on the committee's instructions. In NSW, since 3 February 2025, a strata manager must give the owners corporation written notice before entering into a contract on its behalf where, for example, they will use a related supplier, and must write to the owners as soon as practicable after becoming aware of any connections or interests they have in the scheme.
3. Receive reports. Take faults from owners, residents, on-site staff and contractors, and route each one.
4. Follow through. Chase the work until it is done, and check the invoice matches it.
5. Keep the record. File certificates and service reports where owners can find them.

Safety sits across all five steps. The NSW Government's page on safety rules for common property says: "If the strata scheme is mixed-use, or if the owners corporation has any direct employees, work health and safety (WHS) laws can also apply." Even where they do not, it recommends a general safety audit to manage risks such as trip hazards and a lack of safety signage, and it sets out the rules the owners corporation must obey: window safety locks, pool and spa registration and inspection, notice before pesticides are used and, from 13 February 2026, fire safety systems inspected, tested and serviced in line with AS 1851. Victoria has its own Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 rather than the model WHS laws, so a scheme there with employees works under OHS law.

On site, the work is often done or overseen by someone else. In NSW, reforms that took effect on 27 October 2025 gave building managers duties to act in the owners corporation's best interest, to bring any "maintenance, repair or safety issue" to its attention and to "propose to the owners corporation how a problem should be addressed", according to the NSW Government's guide to strata law changes. In a Queensland scheme with a body corporate caretaker, the caretaking service contractor maintains the common property under their own agreement. The strata manager makes sure everyone knows who reports what to whom.

05

Contracts, disclosure and what owners can ask for

Owners pay for the strata manager through their levies, and each state gives them ways to see what they are paying for.

The agreement and its term. In NSW, a strata manager appointed at the first annual general meeting is limited to 12 months; after that, according to the NSW Government, "strata management agreements can go for up to three years." The draft agreement of the preferred agent must be attached to the AGM agenda, and "If the fees are expected to be more than $30,000, the secretary must attach two independent draft management agreements." From 1 July 2025, a NSW agreement cannot require the owners corporation to pay for the agent's professional indemnity liability, or cap the agent's liability at a set amount, unless it is covered by an approved professional standards scheme. In Victoria, a manager must be appointed in writing or with the approved contract of appointment, without terms that let only the manager end or renew it. In Queensland, a manager engaged where there is a committee may be engaged for no longer than three years.

Commissions and connections. Every state requires disclosure. In NSW, the Commissioner for Fair Trading's statement of regulatory intent on disclosure obligations for strata managing agents (October 2025) explains that under section 60 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 the agent must report at the AGM the commissions and training services received in the past 12 months and expected in the next 12, and that since 3 February 2025 any commission or training that has not been approved needs approval by resolution in a general meeting. Since the same date they must also disclose connections with suppliers or the developer, and itemise the commission and broker fee in insurance quotes. In Victoria, a manager must disclose in writing to the chairperson any commission, payment or other benefit; in Queensland, the Government's page says a manager who receives "a commission, payment or other benefit" must disclose it to the body corporate.

Reports. A Victorian manager reports to each AGM, and Consumer Affairs Victoria's rules of professional conduct suggest recording certificates issued, correspondence from owners, requests to see records and any commission received. In NSW, since 1 July 2025, strata managers must report to the owners corporation every six months on the work they have done.

Changing manager. In NSW, removal takes a majority vote at a general meeting and written notice to the manager. In Victoria, once an appointment ends, the manager has 28 days to return all funds and records to the owners corporation.

The NSW Government announced on 8 November 2025 that strata reforms had begun with new powers for NSW Fair Trading, with penalties of $11,000 to $22,000 for building managers who breach the new duties.

06

Where the record fails, and what SiteClara does about it

A strata manager may look after dozens or hundreds of schemes and visit each one a few times a year. Between visits, what they know about the building comes from contractors' invoices, the building manager's emails and owners' complaints. The cleaner's sheet in the bin room is signed for the week on Monday. A resident mentions a broken car park light to the caretaker in passing, and it is never written down. When an owner asks at the AGM whether the cleaner really comes three times a week, the answer is an invoice, not a record of the work.

SiteClara puts a printed QR poster at each location in a building, such as a lobby, a lift landing, a bin room, a car park level, a pool gate or a plant room door, with an optional NFC tag behind it. The cleaner, caretaker or building manager scans the code or taps the tag on their own phone, with no app to install, sees the checks due there, and marks each one done or says what stopped them, with a photo when one is asked for. A fault or hazard found on a round, such as a propped fire door or rubbish in a stairwell, goes onto the team's list of open jobs, grouped by building and floor, until someone closes it, and a supervisor can escalate it to the building manager.

Each day the contractor's supervisor reviews what was reported, completed and still open, and approves a report that goes to the nominated contacts, such as the strata manager, the next morning.

07

Questions people ask

What can owners do about a bad strata manager?

Start with the committee, then the regulator or the owners' vote. In NSW, the Government's page on strata complaints suggests speaking to the strata committee first; if that does not resolve it, the owner or the committee can complain to NSW Fair Trading, with "evidence showing how they have potentially breached the rules of conduct." To end the appointment, the NSW page on appointing strata managers and other workers says the management contract sets out when and how the agreement can end, that the motion to remove the manager needs a majority vote at a general meeting, and that the owners corporation must then write to the manager; a dispute over the agreement's terms can go to the Tribunal. In Queensland, the Government's page on the body corporate manager says a manager who fails to perform their duties is first served a remedial action notice giving at least 14 days to fix the problem; if they do not, the body corporate can end the engagement by ordinary resolution at a general meeting.

Do strata managers have a duty of care?

State law sets out conduct duties for strata managers. In Queensland, the code of conduct in every engagement requires a body corporate manager to "act honestly, fairly and professionally in doing their job" and to "act in the best interests of the body corporate (if lawful to do so)", according to the Government's page on the body corporate manager. In NSW, a strata manager's licence carries rules of conduct, and the NSW Government's page on strata complaints says NSW Fair Trading will "assess the matter and decide if laws have been breached." Whether a manager owes a duty of care in negligence in a particular case is a question for legal advice.

Who is responsible for windows in strata?

In NSW, windows and window locks are on the owners corporation's side of the repairs list on the Government's page on strata repairs and maintenance. The NSW page on safety rules for common property adds that "The owners corporation must pay to install and repair window locks, unless otherwise agreed in your strata by-laws", and that a lock is needed where the lowest part of the window is within 1.7 m of the inside floor and that floor is 2 m or more above the ground outside.

Is strata responsible for gutter cleaning?

In NSW, yes: the Government's page on strata repairs and maintenance puts the roof and gutters with the owners corporation, which must "repair and maintain" the common property. The strata manager usually arranges the contractor on the committee's instructions and keeps the service reports.

Who is responsible for the ceiling in strata?

In NSW, the same page on strata repairs and maintenance gives the ceiling, except painting, to the owners corporation, unless the problem comes from changes the owner has made; changes an owner has made to the ceiling are the owner's to repair.

08

Where to read more, and a list to take away

The official pages are short and worth reading for the state where the scheme is:

• New South Wales: who's who in strata, appointing strata managers and other workers, the guide to strata law changes and the strata managing agent licence.
• Victoria: Consumer Affairs Victoria on working with your owners corporation manager and the manager's contract, duties and powers.
• Queensland: the Queensland Government on the body corporate manager and the role of a service contractor and letting agent.

If you are appointing a strata manager, or reviewing the one you have, check that:

• they hold the licence or registration the state requires, and the insurance that goes with it;
• the written agreement lists each service, the fee, what counts as extra, the term and how either side can end it;
• commissions, training services and connections are disclosed in writing and reported at the AGM;
• the capital works or maintenance plan is in date and reported on at the AGM;
• fire systems, lifts, pools and other statutory services are scheduled, and their certificates filed;
• owners, residents, the building manager and the caretaker have one place to report a fault, and each fault is tracked to the fix;
• a handover to a new manager would include the maintenance history and open jobs, not only the accounts.