Switching From a Strata Manager to Self-Management

Deciding to leave your strata manager is usually the result of months of frustration — slow responses, fees that keep climbing, decisions made without the committee. But the decision itself is the easy part. The risk isn't in whether to self-manage; it's in the handover. A botched transition leaves you without the levy register, locked out of the bank account, chasing owners for contact details the manager still holds, and discovering three months later that an insurance renewal quietly lapsed. Do it in the right order and you take over a scheme that runs from day one. This guide walks through ending the agreement cleanly, reclaiming everything the scheme owns, and closing the gaps a handover loves to open.

First: is the decision actually yours to make?

Appointing — and removing — a strata manager is a decision of the owners corporation (body corporate / strata company / owners corporation, depending on your state), not the committee acting alone, and not the treasurer on a hunch. In almost every case ending the management agreement requires a resolution at a general meeting, and going self-managed usually means the owners also resolve that no new agent will be appointed.

That has two practical consequences:

• You need the numbers. Before you spend energy on logistics, confirm you can carry the vote. A manager the committee dislikes but half the owners are happy with is not a manager you can remove.
• You need a meeting. Unless the agreement lets you terminate by notice alone, the switch is agreed at a general meeting — often the AGM, sometimes a specially convened one. Build the timeline around that meeting date.

If your scheme is large or complex, or the relationship with the manager is hostile, get the wording of the termination motion checked before the meeting. A motion that's defective on procedure hands the manager an easy way to say the termination isn't valid.

Step 1: Read the management agreement before you do anything else

Everything about how and when you can leave is in the agreement you signed with the manager. Pull it out first. You are looking for four things:

• The notice period. Most agreements require written notice — commonly one to three months — before termination takes effect. That period sets your entire timeline.
• The term and any auto-renewal. Some agreements roll over automatically unless you give notice inside a window. Miss the window and you may be locked in for another term.
• Termination for convenience vs for cause. Can you end it simply by giving notice, or only for a specified breach? Most modern agreements allow termination on notice; older or aggressive ones may not.
• Exit fees and handover charges. Some managers charge a fee to produce records or transfer the books. Whether that's enforceable varies, but know the number before you're surprised by it.

South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory each allow a scheme to engage and terminate a manager under the agreement and the Act that applies, with the manager obliged to return records and money on the way out. Confirm the notice period and handover obligations under your own legislation before you serve notice.

Step 2: Hold the meeting and pass the resolution

With the numbers confirmed and the notice period understood, put it to the owners. The general meeting resolution typically covers three things in one clean sweep:

1. Terminate the existing management agreement (specifying the effective date, accounting for the notice period).
2. Resolve to self-manage — that no new agent will be appointed and the committee will run the scheme.
3. Authorise the practical steps — appoint the treasurer and secretary, and give named committee members authority to open bank accounts, become the new signatories, and take over the scheme's records and correspondence.

Get all three into the minutes with clear wording. Those minutes are what you'll show the bank, the insurer and the manager to prove you have authority to act. A vague resolution ("the committee will look into self-managing") gives you nothing to hand over.

Step 3: Serve written notice — properly

Give the manager written notice of termination, in the form and to the address the agreement specifies. Don't rely on a phone call or a passing comment at a meeting. The notice should:

• State clearly that the agreement is terminated, and the effective date (respecting the notice period).
• Reference the general meeting resolution that authorised it.
• Request, in the same letter, a full handover of records, funds and access by the effective date (Step 4 lists exactly what).
• Ask for written confirmation of receipt.

Keep a copy and proof of delivery. From here the clock is running: the notice period is your window to line up everything that has to be in place before the manager walks away.

Step 4: Reclaim everything the scheme owns

This is the step that makes or breaks a self-management transition. The manager holds a great deal that belongs to the scheme, not to them, and you need all of it. Request it in writing and tick it off as it arrives. Do not let the effective date pass with items outstanding — chasing a former manager for records is far harder than chasing a current one.

Records to demand back

• The strata roll / register of owners — every current owner, their lot and unit entitlements, and up-to-date contact details. Without this you can't levy or notify anyone.
• The levy (contributions) register — what's been levied on each lot, what's paid, and what's outstanding, with arrears clearly identified.
• Financial statements and the general ledger — the full financial history, not just the latest balance, plus the current balances of the administrative and capital works funds.
• Bank statements and details of the scheme's accounts.
• Minute books and the roll of past resolutions — every AGM, EGM and committee decision.
• The current insurance policy, sum insured, the valuation behind it, and renewal date.
• By-laws / rules as currently registered, including any amendments.
• Contracts and warranties — cleaning, gardening, lift, fire, pest, and any building warranties still running.
• Compliance records — fire safety statements, pool certificates, asbestos registers, and anything with a renewal date.
• Plans and keys — the registered strata/community plan, and any keys, fobs or access devices for common property.

Money and mandate

• The fund balances, confirmed in writing, transferred to the scheme's own account (or the account left in the scheme's name with signatories changed — see Step 5).
• Any interest, GST or tax records the scheme needs to keep lodging correctly.
• The insurance broker relationship, if the manager arranged cover through their own broker — you may need to re-engage directly or move the policy.

The test for whether the handover is complete: could a brand-new treasurer run the next levy cycle, pay the next insurance premium, and hold the next AGM using only what's been handed over? If any of those depends on something still sitting with the manager, the handover isn't finished.

Step 5: Take over the bank accounts and become the signatories

Money is where self-managed schemes most often get stuck. Depending on how the manager held the funds, you'll be doing one of two things:

• The manager held scheme money in a trust account. They must pay the scheme's balance out to an account in the scheme's own name. If the scheme doesn't have its own accounts yet, open them first (in the owners corporation's name, using its ABN) so there's somewhere for the money to land.
• The accounts are already in the scheme's name but the manager was the signatory. Then it's a mandate change: remove the manager, add the newly authorised committee members, and set up two-to-authorise for payments above a threshold.

Either way, aim for at least two signatories, statements delivered to a committee-controlled address (not one person's inbox), and the capital works fund kept separate from the admin fund. This is the moment to build the banking properly rather than inherit a single-signatory setup. For the full from-scratch version, see Setting up your scheme's bank accounts and financial records from scratch.

Step 6: Redirect everything that used to flow to the manager

The manager wasn't just holding records — they were the address on file for the whole scheme. On or before the effective date, redirect:

• Insurance — notify the insurer/broker that the scheme is self-managing, update the contact and correspondence address, and confirm the renewal won't be missed in the transition. This is the single most dangerous thing to drop.
• Council and water — rates and water notices that went to the manager now come to the committee.
• Contractors — tell cleaning, gardening, fire and lift contractors who to invoice and who authorises work now.
• Owners — write to every owner with the new arrangements: who the treasurer and secretary are, how to reach the committee, where to pay levies, and that the manager is no longer acting. This also flushes out any owner whose contact details the manager never passed on.
• Any registered address for service — some jurisdictions record an official address for the scheme; update it if the manager's was on file.

Common mistakes

1. Sacking the manager before lining up the handover

Terminating the agreement and then working out how to get the records is the classic mistake. Do it in reverse: pass the resolution, serve notice, and use the notice period to get everything transferred while the manager is still obliged to co-operate.

2. Letting the insurance lapse in the gap

The renewal that "the manager always handled" is exactly the thing that falls through the crack. An uninsured strata building is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Confirm the policy, renewal date and payment path before the manager leaves, not after.

3. Taking a closing balance without the detail behind it

A single handover figure — "the capital works fund holds $48,000" — is not enough. You need the ledger and the levy register behind it, or you can't tell who's in arrears, what's been spent, or whether the number is even right. Demand the working records, not just the total.

4. Missing the notice window and auto-renewing

Agreements that roll over automatically punish committees who serve notice a week too late. Diarise the notice deadline the moment you decide to leave, and serve early rather than late.

5. Under-estimating the ongoing work

Self-management means the committee now does what the manager was paid for: levies, reconciliations, insurance, compliance dates, AGMs and owner communications. That's very doable for a small scheme with the right tools — but going in with no system and a blank spreadsheet is how committees end up back with a manager a year later. Set up your records and processes as part of the handover, not afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

Can the committee sack the strata manager on its own?

Usually no. Ending the management agreement is generally a decision of the owners corporation at a general meeting, not the committee acting alone. Confirm you have the votes and the correct motion before you serve notice.

How much notice do we have to give?

Whatever the management agreement says — commonly one to three months' written notice. Read the agreement's termination clause first; it sets your whole timeline, and some agreements also have an auto-renewal window you can't afford to miss.

What if the manager won't hand over our records?

The records and money belong to the scheme, and every state obliges a departing manager to return them. Put the request in writing with a deadline, keep escalating in writing, and if they still refuse, the relevant tribunal or regulator in your state (for example NCAT, VCAT, SAT, or the QLD Body Corporate Commissioner) can deal with a failure to hand over records.

Can we go straight back to a manager if self-management doesn't work out?

Yes. Nothing about self-managing is permanent — the owners can resolve to appoint a manager again at any general meeting. Keeping clean, handover-ready records is what makes that reversible; it's also what makes self-management work in the first place.

Do we need to tell anyone official that we've gone self-managed?

You generally don't register a "self-managed" status as such, but you do need to update the scheme's contact and address details with the insurer, council, water authority, contractors and any official address for service, so correspondence reaches the committee instead of the former manager.

Quick checklist

• [ ] Confirmed the switch has the owners' support and a valid motion
• [ ] Read the management agreement — notice period, term, exit fees
• [ ] Passed the general meeting resolution (terminate + self-manage + authorise signatories)
• [ ] Served written notice of termination, with proof of delivery
• [ ] Requested full handover of records, funds and access in writing
• [ ] Received the strata roll, levy register, ledger and fund balances
• [ ] Bank accounts in the scheme's name with new signatories set
• [ ] Insurance policy confirmed and renewal path secured
• [ ] Council, water, contractors and owners notified of the change
• [ ] A system in place to run levies, records and reminders from day one

Related resources

• What "self-managed strata" actually means (and when it's the right call)
• Your first 30 days as a new strata treasurer
• Setting up your scheme's bank accounts and financial records from scratch

This guide is general information for self-managed strata schemes in Australia. It is not legal advice. Management agreements, notice periods, termination rules and record-handover obligations differ between states and depend on the agreement you signed — always check the strata legislation that applies to your scheme and the terms of your own agreement, and seek professional advice before terminating a management contract.