If your strata scheme in NSW has a building manager, the role has changed.
Since the reforms that started on 27 October 2025, building managers are no longer seen as just the person who helps keep the site running day to day. NSW has introduced clearer duties around acting in the owners corporation’s best interests, identifying safety and maintenance issues, disclosing benefits and relationships, and lifting the overall level of accountability in strata management.
For strata committees, this matters because the standard you should expect from your building manager is now higher. The conversation is no longer only about whether the foyer looks tidy or whether contractors have been called. It is now also about governance, transparency, disclosure, and whether the manager is properly bringing risks to the committee’s attention.
At BMA, we see these changes as a positive shift for well-run buildings. They reward proactive management, stronger reporting, better contractor controls, and clearer communication between the building manager, strata committee and owners corporation. BMA’s own service model already leans heavily on systems, reporting, contractor verification, KPI oversight, and transparent operations.
What changed in NSW
NSW Fair Trading says the reforms that began on 27 October 2025 included additional building manager duties relating to safety, repair and maintenance, disclosure, and acting in schemes’ best interests, as well as requirements for building manager candidates to declare benefits that may affect the fees charged to owners corporations. The same reform package also created a new ground to seek a Tribunal order to change or end a building management agreement.
Just as importantly, NSW says these reforms were designed to increase oversight of building managers and strengthen the repair-and-maintenance framework in strata schemes. NSW Fair Trading now has stronger investigative and enforcement powers to help ensure owners corporations meet their duty to repair and maintain common property.
The key duties committees should now expect
The first duty is simple in wording, but significant in practice: a building manager must act in the owners corporation’s best interest, unless doing so would be against the law. That means the committee should expect decisions and recommendations to be made for the scheme’s benefit, not for the convenience of a supplier, a developer connection, or a hidden commercial arrangement.
The second key duty is that a building manager must act promptly and with due diligence to bring maintenance, repair, or safety issues on common property to the owners corporation’s attention. Importantly, NSW says this includes not only issues the manager actually knows about, but also problems the manager ought to be aware of, such as overdue regular maintenance. The manager must also propose how the issue should be addressed.
The third area is contract-related disclosure. If a building manager recommends a contract and will receive a benefit from it, they must give written notice stating who will provide the benefit and either the value of that benefit or how it will be calculated. If the proposed contractor is connected to the building manager, that relationship must also be disclosed in writing.
The fourth area is broader relationship and financial interest disclosure. A building manager must promptly notify the owners corporation in writing if they are connected with a supplier of goods or services for the scheme, connected with the original owner or developer, or hold a direct or indirect financial interest in the scheme.
What this means in practical terms for committees
For committees, these reforms raise the bar on what “good service” looks like.
You should now expect your building manager to do more than react to complaints. You should expect them to identify risks early, escalate them properly, and put clear recommendations in front of the committee before minor issues become expensive ones. A lift repeatedly failing, fire safety servicing falling behind, an access control issue, a persistent leak, or a contractor underperforming should not sit quietly in the background.
You should also expect more transparency around contractors and procurement. If your building manager is recommending a particular supplier, the committee should be comfortable asking whether there is any referral fee, commercial benefit, prior relationship, or connected-party issue. The reforms do not just allow that question. They now make disclosure a legal expectation.
Committees should also expect better records. If a building is being run properly, there should be a trail showing what was identified, when it was reported, what solution was recommended, what quotes were obtained, what was approved, and what was completed. That is where systems matter. BMA’s own scopes and proposals repeatedly emphasise BuildingLink or MYBOS-style reporting, contractor compliance checks, maintenance logs, work orders, onboarding checklists and KPI tracking because buildings run better when the records are clear.
What committees should review now
The first thing to review is the building management agreement itself. NSW says owners corporations should read the contract carefully, because even if a manager says the agreement uses “standard terms,” the terms can be negotiated. If the options for ending the agreement seem unreasonable, the owners corporation may consider applying to the Tribunal.
Committees should also review whether the building manager is actually operating with a structured process for:
- inspections and issue reporting
- repairs and maintenance escalation
- contractor selection and verification
- disclosure of benefits and relationships
- monthly reporting and meeting preparation
- communication with owners and residents
Those expectations are not theoretical. They align closely with the way stronger schemes now need to operate. BMA’s own scope examples include contractor licence and insurance checks, SWMS collection, work orders, asset registers, site inspections, by-law monitoring, statutory certification scheduling, and regular reporting to the committee and strata manager.
When a committee should be concerned
A committee should be cautious if the building manager regularly recommends the same contractors without proper explanation, avoids written recommendations, provides weak maintenance reporting, fails to flag obvious common-property risks, or cannot clearly explain how issues are tracked from inspection through to completion.
NSW now makes clear that owners corporations can end a building manager agreement at a general meeting, and can also apply to the Tribunal to change or end the agreement on certain grounds, including where the building manager acts unlawfully in the role, such as breaching a duty under strata law.
That does not mean every disagreement becomes a legal issue. But it does mean committees now have clearer grounds to expect professionalism and to act where that standard is not being met.
The BMA view
At BMA, we believe the 2025 NSW reforms move the industry in the right direction.
A building manager should not just be visible onsite. They should be accountable, structured, transparent, and proactive. They should know the building, understand the risks, use proper systems, manage contractors carefully, and communicate clearly with the strata committee and owners corporation. That is the standard modern strata schemes should expect. This approach reflects the way BMA describes its own operating model: no secret commissions, no contractor payments, transparent systems, regular inspections, contractor verification, strong communication and senior management support.
Final word
The new NSW building manager duties are not a minor compliance update. They change what strata committees should expect from the role.
Committees should now expect a building manager who acts in the scheme’s best interests, identifies safety and maintenance issues early, puts forward practical solutions, discloses benefits and relationships, and operates with proper records and accountability. NSW has made that direction clear, and the better-run buildings will be the ones that adapt early.
