In New South Wales, the owners corporation is comprised of all the owners within the strata scheme, and is responsible for a number of matters including common property maintenance and repairs, strata scheme insurance, and finance management.
However, another responsibility of the owners corporation is record keeping as established under The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) and Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 (NSW). We recognise these things can be confusing, which is why we’ve put together this handy checklist of records you must keep as a member of the owners corporation.
What are the recording requirements?
According to the Department of Fair Trading NSW, the following records must be kept:
Strata roll
Format: Electronically or in writing
In order to service notices, the strata roll must include:
- Owner’s name and address/email OR
Property manager’s name and address - Tenants’ names and addresses/emails
You must record the following information:
- The strata plan number
- The address of the building
- The name of the original owner and an Australian address
- The name of the strata managing agent (if one exists) and an Australian address
- The total unit entitlements for the scheme and each lot
- Insurance details
- The by-laws
Record keeping
Format: Electronically or in writing
You must record all details of:
- Notices given
- Any orders (enforcing a particular ruling on a matter under strata laws) handed down from
- the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, or a public authority, local council or a court
Furthermore, your records must include:
- The date and manner of service of a notice and the part of the strata scheme it is about
- The date for obeying the order
- The date the order was obeyed
Financial records
Format: Electronically or in writing
The owners corporation is required to keep accounting and financial records and statements including:
- Consecutively numbered receipts
- Statement of deposits and withdrawals for the account of the owners corporation
- Cash record
- Levy register
How long must records be kept for?
The following information must be kept for at least seven years:
- Strata roll
- Information about the strata scheme, including:
- Insurance
- The original owner of the scheme
- Any strata manager appointed and by-laws
- Notice and minutes of meetings of the owners corporation and strata committee
- Financial statements and accounting records
- Authorisation for proxies delivered to the owners corporation
- Voting papers for motions put forward for consideration, as well as for electing officers to a strata renewal committee, as part of the process involved in a collective sale of a strata scheme
- Signed agreements with a strata managing agent or building manager, and records provided to them
- Details of motions passed
It is also important to remember that any owner or mortgage may ask to inspect the records as long as they pay a prescribed fee.
Looking for reliable and responsive strata managers? Get in touch with our professional strata management team to see how we can help you.
