The Essential Documents Every Self-Managed Scheme Must Keep on File

Ask a self-managed committee where their by-laws are and you'll get one of two answers. The good schemes point you to a folder — physical or digital — where the by-laws, the current insurance certificate, the roll of owners and every set of minutes live, in order, accessible to the whole committee. The struggling ones go quiet, then start ringing around: "the last treasurer had them", "they might be in the old manager's system", "I think they're in someone's email". The difference between those two schemes isn't money or size. It's whether anyone ever decided which documents matter and where they live. This guide is that decision, made for you: the records a self-managed scheme is legally required to keep, where each one needs to sit, and how long to hold it.

Why this matters more than it looks

Record-keeping sounds like the dullest job on the committee, right up until the moment a record is missing. Then it becomes the most important thing in the scheme. A missing certificate of currency stalls a unit sale. A by-law nobody can produce can't be enforced. A roll of owners that's out of date means levy notices go to the wrong address and the money never arrives. And every one of these landmines detonates at the worst possible time — mid-sale, mid-dispute, mid-handover.

There are three reasons the law and good practice both insist on this:

• Owners have a right to inspect. In every state, an owner (and usually a prospective buyer) can ask to see the scheme's records. If you can't produce them, that's not just awkward — in most jurisdictions it's a breach.
• The scheme has to function without any one person. Committees turn over. The treasurer who holds everything in their head or their inbox is a single point of failure. Records exist so the scheme survives a resignation.
• Disputes and sales run on documents. By-law enforcement, insurance claims, conveyancing, tribunal matters — all of them are won or lost on whether the paperwork exists and can be found.

The core documents, and where each must live

Below are the records essentially every self-managed scheme must keep. The exact list and the retention period vary by state (see the callouts), but this is the national spine — get these right and you've covered the great majority of the obligation.

1. The by-laws (rules)

The by-laws are the scheme's rulebook — pets, parking, noise, renovations, use of common property. You must keep a current consolidated copy: the original registered by-laws plus every amendment made since, ideally combined into one clean document rather than a stack of change notices.

Two things trip schemes up. First, an unregistered by-law change may not be enforceable — in most states a by-law change only takes legal effect once it's registered with the land titles office. Keep both the resolution that passed the change and the registration confirmation. Second, you must be able to hand the current by-laws to a new owner or a prospective buyer on request. If your "current" by-laws are three amendments out of date, you can't enforce the rules you think you have.

2. The certificate of currency (insurance)

The certificate of currency is the one-page proof that the scheme's building insurance is in force — insurer, policy number, sum insured, expiry date. You need the current certificate on file at all times, because it gets asked for constantly: by owners, by buyers' conveyancers, by lenders financing a purchase, and by anyone making a claim.

Keep the full policy document too, not just the certificate, and keep the valuation the sum insured is based on. When the certificate expires, replace it immediately — a lapsed or missing certificate is one of the most common reasons a strata sale stalls. For the wider picture of what the policy must cover, see Strata insurance explained.

3. The roll of owners (strata roll / register)

The roll is the master list of who owns what: each lot, its owner, their contact and service-of-notice address, lot (unit) entitlements, and any mortgagee or agent noted for service. This single document underpins almost everything else — it's who you levy, who you notify of meetings, and who gets to vote and by how much.

It has to be kept current. Owners change; addresses change. When a lot sells, the new owner's details go on the roll promptly, because a levy notice or meeting notice sent to the old owner is, in practice, no notice at all. Treat the roll as a living record the whole committee can access, not a spreadsheet on one person's machine.

4. Minutes and the minute book

Minutes are the legal record that a decision was actually made. Keep the minutes of every committee meeting and every general meeting, in order, permanently. They're what proves a levy was struck, a budget adopted, a by-law changed, a major spend approved — and without them, those decisions are contestable.

Notices and agendas belong here too: keep the notice of each meeting and evidence it went to owners the required number of days beforehand. Minutes that hold up are a discipline of their own — see How to prepare for your first AGM as treasurer for what a general meeting's paperwork needs to contain.

5. Financial records

The money side has its own set: the levy (contributions) register (what was levied on each lot, when it was due, what's paid, what's outstanding), receipts for money in, records and authorisation for money out, bank statements, and the financial statements prepared for each AGM. Most states require these kept and made available to owners, and the practical test is simple — could a new treasurer reconstruct the scheme's financial position from the records alone? If setting these up from scratch, our banking and records guide walks through it.

6. Contracts, warranties and building records

Everything that binds the scheme or documents its physical asset: current contracts (cleaning, gardening, any service agreements), warranties on major works, the maintenance plan or capital works forecast, compliance certificates (fire safety, pool, lifts as applicable), and — if you have them — the original building plans and any defect reports. These are the records a future committee will thank you for and can never recreate.

What the states require

The obligation to keep records is universal, but the exact list and the retention period are set by each state's Act. The specifics below are the common ones; always confirm against the legislation that applies to your scheme.

South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory each impose their own version of the same duty: keep the roll/register, minutes, financial records, by-laws and insurance details, make them available to owners, and register by-law changes with the relevant titles authority to give them effect. Retention periods differ — confirm the specifics under your scheme's Act.

Where these documents should actually live

Knowing the list is half the job; the other half is storage that survives a committee handover. The failure mode is always the same — records scattered across one person's inbox, a home filing cabinet, an old strata manager's portal, and three different USB sticks. Fix it with three rules:

• One home, controlled by the committee — not an individual. A shared drive or a purpose-built system the committee owns, not a personal Gmail or a treasurer's laptop. When the treasurer resigns, the records must not resign with them.
• The current version is obvious. For by-laws and the certificate of currency especially, it must be instantly clear which is the live document. Date and version everything; archive superseded copies rather than deleting them.
• Accessible on request, fast. You'll be asked for the certificate of currency and the by-laws more than anything else, often on a deadline (a sale settling). If producing them means a scavenger hunt, the system has failed.

The single best test of your record-keeping: if the entire committee were replaced tomorrow, could the newcomers run the scheme from the records alone, without ringing any of you? If yes, you're done. If the answer depends on knowledge in someone's head, the filing isn't finished.

Retention: how long to keep everything

Retention rules vary by state, but the practical answer is generous. Most jurisdictions require financial and scheme records to be kept for around seven years, while the roll, the by-laws and the minutes are effectively permanent — you never throw them out, because the scheme's history and legal position depend on them.

When in doubt, keep it. Digital storage costs almost nothing, and a record you destroyed and later need — a warranty, an old resolution, a superseded by-law that explains why something is the way it is — is gone for good. The cost of over-keeping is trivial; the cost of a missing record at a sale, a claim or a tribunal hearing is not.

A records checklist for a self-managed scheme

• [ ] Current consolidated by-laws, plus registration confirmation for every change
• [ ] Current certificate of currency, full policy, and the valuation behind the sum insured
• [ ] Roll of owners — current, with entitlements and service addresses
• [ ] Minutes of every committee and general meeting, in order, with notices/agendas
• [ ] Levy register and financial statements for each year
• [ ] Bank statements, receipts, and payment authorisations
• [ ] Current contracts, warranties and compliance certificates
• [ ] Maintenance plan / capital works forecast
• [ ] All stored in one committee-controlled home, versioned and accessible
• [ ] A handover note pointing a newcomer to where everything lives

Common mistakes

1. Letting the by-laws drift out of date

A scheme passes a by-law change at a general meeting, never registers it, and two years later tries to enforce a rule that has no legal effect — or can't even produce a clean current copy. Consolidate every change into one live document and keep the registration proof with it.

2. Records that live in one person's inbox

The most common failure isn't losing a document — it's that it only ever existed in the treasurer's personal email or on their laptop. When they leave, it leaves. Every record belongs in a committee-controlled home from the day it's created.

3. A stale roll of owners

Levy notices and meeting notices sent to a previous owner are, legally, often no notice at all — which can invalidate a levy or a resolution. Update the roll the moment a lot changes hands, not at the next AGM.

4. Only finding out the certificate lapsed at settlement

A conveyancer asks for the certificate of currency, and the committee discovers the policy expired three weeks ago. Renew and re-file the certificate the day it's replaced, and diarise the expiry so it never surprises you.

5. Treating minutes as optional for committee meetings

General meeting minutes get taken; committee meeting minutes often don't — and then there's no record that a repair was approved or a contractor engaged. Minute every meeting where a decision is made.

Frequently asked questions

Do we legally have to keep all of this, or is it just good practice?

Both. Every state's strata legislation imposes a duty to keep the core records — the roll, minutes, financial records, by-laws and insurance details — and to make them available to owners. The rest (contracts, warranties, building records) is good practice that becomes essential the moment you need it. Keeping everything is the safe default.

Who is allowed to see the scheme's records?

In every state, an owner can inspect the records, and usually a prospective purchaser (through the seller) can too — that's what a strata search before a sale is. The scheme must be able to produce them, typically within a set timeframe and sometimes for a small fee. Records you can't produce are, in effect, records you're breaching the law by not having.

How long do we have to keep everything?

Financial and scheme records are commonly required to be kept for around seven years, and it varies by state. The roll, by-laws and minutes are kept permanently in practice. When unsure, keep it — the storage cost is trivial next to the cost of a missing record.

We're a small scheme taking over from a strata manager with almost nothing. Where do we start?

Get the essentials in writing at handover: the current by-laws, the certificate of currency and policy, the roll of owners, the last set of minutes, and the closing financial position. Treat everything else as a fresh start, set up one committee-controlled home for records, and build forward from there. Your first 30 days as a new strata treasurer covers the wider handover.

Can we keep everything digitally, or do we need paper?

Digital is fine and generally preferable — it's searchable, backed up, and doesn't live in one person's filing cabinet. What matters is that records are complete, the current version is clear, and the whole committee can access them. Keep signed originals (or scans of them) where a signature is legally significant.

This guide is general information for self-managed strata schemes in Australia. It is not legal advice. Record-keeping obligations, retention periods and by-law registration requirements differ between states and change over time — always check the strata legislation that applies to your scheme and seek professional advice where required.