Short answer
Yes. If a strata managing agent isn’t performing or has acted improperly, the owners corporation (or an owner) can raise it and, in appropriate cases, apply to NCAT. The Tribunal can make orders about a managing agent — and in serious cases can order the appointment of a strata managing agent to take over running the scheme.
Managers are accountable
A strata managing agent works under an agreement with the owners corporation and is licensed and overseen by NSW Fair Trading. That means there are two layers of accountability: the owners corporation can direct, discipline or replace a manager under the agreement, and where there’s a genuine problem the Tribunal can step in with binding orders.
When NCAT gets involved
The Tribunal can hear matters against a managing agent — for example, failure to perform, misconduct, or a dispute over the terms or operation of the agreement — and make orders the manager must follow. As with most strata disputes, Fair Trading mediation is often a sensible first step before a formal application, and for many matters attempting it is expected.
Compulsory appointment in serious cases
Where a scheme is failing or can’t manage itself, the Tribunal has a stronger power: under section 237 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 it can order the appointment of a strata managing agent, and can hand that agent some or all of the functions of the owners corporation, committee or office-holders. This is the same power behind compulsory strata management — a serious remedy for a dysfunctional scheme, not an everyday step.
The record that backs your case
An application against a manager stands or falls on evidence — what was agreed, what was and wasn’t done, and when. A self-managed scheme running on Straita, or one keeping its own records alongside a manager, holds that dated trail of decisions, correspondence and money movements in one place, so if a manager’s performance ever has to be challenged the facts are already in order.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — section 237 — orders for appointment of a strata managing agent.
- NCAT — NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal — applications about managing agents.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — strata managing agents and disputes.