Take back your building
How to change or leave your strata manager, in your state, step by step.
You are allowed to leave. Every state sets out how owners put a motion up, force a meeting, vote a manager out or let the contract lapse, and what the manager must hand back and by when. Here it is in plain language, with the sections cited so you can check, and the wording to use so nobody can say it was done wrong.
New South Wales
Clear rules, firm deadlines. Agreements are capped at three years and the handover deadline is 14 days.
Queensland
Engagements expire by law at the end of their term, and proxies cannot vote on the manager. Section numbers below are the Standard Module.
Victoria
The strongest exit rights in the country: revoke by ordinary resolution at any time, and contract terms that try to stop you are void.
Western Australia
No term cap and a narrow mid-term exit, so the smart play in WA is to plan for the contract's end date and give notice early.
South Australia
After the first 12 months you can end a manager's contract on 28 days' notice by ordinary resolution, and that right cannot be signed away.
Tasmania
The Act says almost nothing about managers, so your contract is the whole story. Read it before anything else.
Australian Capital Territory
Three-year cap, a 28-day meeting request and a 14-day handover. Mid-term exit is for breach only, so diarise the end date.
Northern Territory
No term cap and no breach-notice route, so the contract's term and termination clause matter more here than anywhere else.
The playbook
Seven steps. The same everywhere; only the deadlines change.
Calm, in order, in writing. The manager has done this before; after reading this, so have you.
- 1
Find out where you stand
Get the management agreement (you are entitled to inspect the records), the last two years of financials, the insurance and commission disclosures, and the minutes. Note the expiry date, notice period, any rollover clause and the termination clauses.
- 2
Count the numbers
Nearly every step is an ordinary resolution: more votes for than against among those who vote. Talk to owners one at a time with the numbers, not the grievances, and know who will be chairperson, secretary and treasurer before anyone is asked to vote.
- 3
Choose the path
Let the agreement expire and do not renew (cleanest), terminate mid-term for breach (needs evidence), or negotiate an early exit in writing. Your state page says which of these your law makes easy.
- 4
Get it on the agenda
Submit motions for the AGM by the deadline, or requisition a general meeting if enough owners sign. One motion per decision: not renew or terminate, self-manage, elect office bearers, authorise notices and bank signatories.
- 5
Run the meeting
Check notice, quorum and proxy rules. If the manager chairs, ask an owner to chair the items about the manager. Vote, minute it, keep the minutes: they are your evidence for the bank, the insurer and the outgoing manager.
- 6
Handover
Give written notice the same day, quoting the resolution and the section. Demand records, the roll, financials, bank statements, the seal, keys, insurance and contractor agreements, and the return of funds, by your state's deadline. Change the bank signatories.
- 7
The first 30 days
Set up the roll, documents, insurance, compliance calendar and levy schedule. Issue the next levy on time, reconcile the bank, diarise the AGM and the insurance renewal, and start a decisions log from day one.
We do the lifting
What FairLot does for a building that is switching.
- Import the manager's handover records from a spreadsheet: lots, owners, tenants, agents, in minutes.
- Template motions, requisitions, records requests and handover demands for your state, ready to fill in.
- A checklist of what to demand back and the deadline your state gives the manager to deliver it.
- The registers, documents and requests live from day one on the free plan, so the building never goes dark.
- A shared record every committee member and owner can see, so the next committee inherits it intact.
What we do not do, on purpose
- We do not act for your scheme, attend your meetings, send notices in your name or make decisions. Your committee does, using the tools.
- We do not hold, receive or move your money. It stays in the scheme's own account.
- We do not give legal advice. The guides cite the legislation so you can check, and a solicitor can confirm anything specific to your building.
That line is what keeps us a software company and not a strata manager, and it is why we can be cheaper than one.
Wording
Motions and letters you can adapt.
Generic versions below; each state page has the version with that state's section numbers.
Motion: do not renew
That the [owners corporation / body corporate / strata company] resolves not to renew or extend the management agreement with [manager], which expires on [date], and that from [date] the [owners corporation] will manage its own affairs. The [committee / council] is authorised to give all notices required to give effect to this resolution.
Motion: resolve to self-manage and elect office bearers
That the [owners corporation] resolves to manage the scheme without a [strata managing agent / body corporate manager], elects [name] as chairperson, [name] as secretary and [name] as treasurer, and adopts FairLot as its system for records, levies and compliance.
Motion: banking
That the [owners corporation] confirms that all funds of the scheme are to be held in accounts in the name of the [owners corporation], and authorises the treasurer and [one other office bearer] as signatories, any two to sign.
Requisition for a general meeting
To the secretary. We, the undersigned owners, holding not less than [threshold] of the [unit entitlements / lots] in [scheme name and plan number], require a general meeting to be convened within [n] days under [section] to consider the motions attached.
Records request
Under [section], I request to inspect [or receive copies of] the records of the [owners corporation] including the management agreement, the financial statements for the last two years, all commission and benefit disclosures, the insurance policies and the minutes of the last two general meetings. Please advise a time within [n] days.
Handover demand
The management agreement ended on [date]. Under [section] please deliver to [address] within [n] days all books and records of the scheme, the roll, financial records and bank statements, the common seal, keys and access devices, insurance documents, contractor agreements and all funds held on the scheme's behalf, and confirm in writing that no further fees will be charged.
Ready when you are.
Create your building now, import the records when they arrive, and run the handover on your own timeline.
Start freeLast reviewed 25 September 2026. General information, not legal advice. FairLot is not a strata manager and does not act for your scheme.