If you sit on a strata committee in NSW, the 10-year capital works fund plan is no longer something that should sit in the background and get looked at only when levies are under pressure.
From 1 April 2026, NSW requires all new and revised 10-year capital works fund plans to be prepared in a mandatory standard form. NSW Fair Trading also says the plan can now be built through the Capital Works Fund Planner in Strata Hub, which is designed to help schemes create a compliant plan.
That may sound like an administrative change, but it is much more than that. For owners corporations, this reform is really about forcing better long-term planning, clearer forecasting, and more disciplined conversations around future major works. For committees, it means a vague or outdated reserve forecast is no longer good enough.
At BMA, we see this as a practical shift in how buildings should be managed. Good building management is not just about fixing today’s issue. It is about helping the committee see what is coming next, what it is likely to cost, and how to prepare for it properly. That aligns with BMA’s existing service approach, which already includes long-term maintenance planning, budget input, asset registers, preventative maintenance schedules, contractor oversight and regular reporting.
What is a 10-year capital works fund plan?
A 10-year capital works fund plan is the scheme’s forward plan for major common property expenditure. NSW says the purpose of the capital works fund is to ensure enough reserves are built up to cover future major payments, and that the 10-year plan must be considered at each AGM and reviewed at least every five years.
In plain English, it is the document that should help answer questions like these:
When are the lifts likely to need major work?
What about membranes, painting, roofs, pumps, fire systems, paving, façades, security systems or plant replacement?
How much should the scheme be setting aside now so owners are not hit with avoidable financial shocks later?
That is why this document matters. Without a realistic long-term plan, many buildings drift into a cycle of underfunding, deferred maintenance and sudden levy pressure. NSW’s 2026 reform is clearly aimed at lifting the standard of that planning.
What changed on 1 April 2026?
The key change is straightforward: all new and revised 10-year capital works fund plans must now be in the prescribed standard form. NSW Fair Trading says this directly, and the requirement is also reflected in the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016, which prescribes the official form published in the NSW Government Gazette.
NSW also says the first 10-year plan for a new strata scheme starts from the first AGM and must consider the initial maintenance schedule prepared by the developer and handed over at that first AGM. That means there is now a tighter link between developer handover, initial maintenance planning and the owners corporation’s long-term capital forecast.
For committees, that means two practical things.
First, if your plan is being updated after 1 April 2026, it needs to be compliant with the new form. Second, if your building is newer, the committee should be looking closely at the initial maintenance schedule because it now feeds directly into the first long-term capital planning cycle.
Why NSW introduced a standard form
The biggest problem with older capital works planning was inconsistency.
Some plans were detailed and useful. Others were little more than rough estimates. Some were easy for committees to understand, while others were too generic, too optimistic or too disconnected from the actual building. A standard form pushes schemes toward a more consistent structure, which helps committees compare periods, understand assumptions, and track whether the plan still reflects reality. This is an inference from the reform structure and Fair Trading’s rollout of both the prescribed form and the digital planner designed to produce a compliant version.
In practice, this should help committees ask better questions.
What assets are included?
What timeframes are being assumed?
What inflation or cost assumptions sit behind the forecast?
Are upcoming works being reflected early enough?
Does the plan actually match what the building manager, strata manager and contractors are seeing onsite?
What committees should now expect
A good 10-year capital works fund plan should no longer be treated as a document prepared once and forgotten.
Committees should now expect a plan that is actively used to support budgeting, levy planning, maintenance decisions and risk management. NSW recommends yearly reviews, even though the plan must be reviewed at least every five years, because annual review helps schemes set budgets and levies more effectively.
That means committees should expect:
a clearer link between inspections and future capital forecasts,
better visibility around major asset replacement cycles,
a more realistic discussion about reserve funding,
and more disciplined annual review.
This is where building management should add value. BMA’s own operating material already points in this direction, with scope items around asset and maintenance registers, preventative maintenance logs, budget preparation, contract review, reporting and long-term maintenance programs for common property.
What this means for older buildings
For older schemes, the reform is especially useful.
Many mature buildings are carrying more plant, more ageing components and more remedial pressure than they were a decade ago. Yet plenty of committees still rely on old assumptions or undercooked forecasts. A standard form will not solve underfunding by itself, but it should make weak planning more visible. That is the real benefit.
If a building has ageing membranes, outdated services, lift renewal pressure, façade issues, fire compliance costs or waterproofing risk, the committee needs those issues reflected in the 10-year plan early, not after the quotes arrive. NSW’s overall repair and maintenance reform agenda points toward earlier planning and stronger maintenance accountability, which makes a realistic capital works plan even more important.
What this means for new buildings
For newer buildings, the 1 April 2026 reforms create a stronger handover pathway.
The first 10-year plan must consider the developer’s initial maintenance schedule. NSW also says that, for multi-storey schemes, the initial maintenance schedule must be prepared in the standard form and independently reviewed and certified, along with the initial levy estimates, before the first AGM.
This matters because many problems in strata start early. A new building may look fresh, but if its first maintenance schedule is weak or its levy assumptions are unrealistic, the owners corporation can begin life with a funding gap. The 2026 reforms are clearly trying to reduce that risk by improving the quality of the documents coming into the first AGM.
The BMA view: capital planning should connect to operations
At BMA, we believe capital planning should never sit separately from the way a building is actually managed.
A committee gets real value from a 10-year plan only when it is connected to inspections, maintenance records, contractor input, asset tracking and budget discussions. Otherwise, it becomes theoretical.
That is why BMA’s management framework already leans into operational reporting, contractor review, budget input, work order systems, asset registers and long-term maintenance planning. Those are the building blocks that help turn a required plan into a useful one.
A strong building manager should be helping the committee identify what the building is likely to need next, not just what it needed last week.
Practical questions every committee should ask now
If your scheme already has a 10-year plan, now is the time to ask:
Is our current plan in the new standard form?
When was it last properly reviewed?
Does it reflect the actual condition of the building?
Does it line up with known future works?
Are levies and reserves tracking against the likely expenditure?
If the building is new, has the first plan properly considered the initial maintenance schedule?
Those are not technical questions for someone else. They are core governance questions for every committee in NSW after 1 April 2026.
Final word
The 1 April 2026 change to 10-year capital works fund plans is one of the most practical NSW strata reforms for committee members.
It does not just create a new form. It raises the expectation that owners corporations plan ahead more seriously, understand their future liabilities more clearly, and connect maintenance planning to real financial forecasting.
For committees, that is a good thing.
The buildings that will handle future capital costs best are usually not the ones with the lowest levies today. They are the ones with the clearest plan.
