straita

Strata Managers

Can a strata scheme self-manage?

Short answer

Yes. In NSW there is no law that forces a strata scheme to appoint a strata managing agent — appointing one is optional, at any scheme size. A self-managed scheme carries out its own administration (collecting levies, paying bills, arranging insurance, holding meetings and keeping records) through its elected committee and office holders. In this way, it keeps the management fee it would otherwise pay. It suits engaged schemes with willing, capable people — and increasingly, committees can do it with a software platform handling the work rather than by hand.

Yes. The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) sets out what an owners corporation must do to run a scheme — but it does not require the owners corporation to hire a strata managing agent to do it. Appointing an agent is a decision the owners corporation can make (by resolution at a general meeting), not an obligation it must meet.

NSW Fair Trading treats self-management as a normal, supported choice — many two-lot schemes, for instance, are self-managed.

Who does the work in a self-managed scheme?

The owners corporation acts through its strata committee and the office holders it elects — usually a secretary (notices, records, correspondence), a treasurer (levies, payments, the two funds) and a chairperson (running meetings). The jobs a managing agent would do don’t vanish when there’s no agent; they’re carried out by these volunteers. What makes that sustainable is having a good support system — such as Straita — that guides the committee through every step needed to meet compliance and run the scheme well.

Does scheme size matter?

There’s no size cap on self-management, but size changes the workload. Small schemes (say 2–20 lots) with simple finances and a couple of engaged owners are the classic self-managers. Larger or more complex schemes — big budgets, major capital works, live disputes — carry more administrative and compliance load. Self-management is still perfectly legal for them, but it needs more capable systems to support it. All self-managed strata schemes benefit from the structure and guidance of a system such as Straita — an automated system that supports the committee through every step of self-management and legal compliance.

What does self-management save — and what does it cost you?

The obvious saving is the management fee (see how much a strata manager costs). The work behind it is real — statutory deadlines, correct levy calculation, insurance, proper financial records and meeting procedure all still have to be done, and done right. The honest question isn’t “can we self-manage?” — you can — it’s whether you have the right system carrying the load. With a system such as Straita tracking every deadline and running the routine, that work stops resting on one volunteer and becomes genuinely manageable.

What self-management needs to work

Self-management works when the routine is genuinely covered — the levies, the deadlines, the records, the meetings. The schemes that come unstuck are the ones trying to carry all of it in one person’s head or a spreadsheet. That’s exactly the gap a system such as Straita fills: it does the work and tells the committee what needs to happen next, so nothing slips and control stays with the owners. For genuinely exceptional situations — a scheme in serious dispute, or a major project like building remediation — targeted professional help for that one issue still makes sense, alongside the system that runs everything else.

The modern way: self-managed, with the work done for you

This is what’s changed. You no longer have to choose between paying a managing agent and drowning in spreadsheets. You’re a self-managed strata — Straita does the work (levies, meetings, key dates, compliance, records and money) and tells you what needs to happen next. The committee just approves the decisions. You keep the control and the savings; the admin runs itself.

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