The scheme keeps operating. In NSW, if there is no new manager, the outgoing manager's handover goes to the strata committee — and the owners corporation stays responsible for finances, insurance, records, levies, meetings and maintenance until a replacement is appointed.
The scheme does not stop operating. If a NSW owners corporation ends its strata manager's appointment before a new manager is ready, the outgoing manager's handover is made to the strata committee.
The owners corporation and its committee remain responsible for the scheme's legal and operational duties — finances, insurance, records, meetings, levies, maintenance and other statutory obligations that had been delegated to the strata manager.
A short self-managed gap can be workable for an organised committee, but it creates real risk if no one is ready to receive the records, operate the finances, handle urgent repairs or keep compliance tasks moving.
NSW Government guidance is explicit: if the owners corporation removes its strata manager and does not yet have a new one, the outgoing manager's handover goes to the strata committee.
That does not make the committee a licensed strata management business. It means the owners corporation resumes responsibility for functions it had delegated. The chairperson, secretary and treasurer should agree who is temporarily responsible for each operational area so nothing is left to "someone else".
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For an ordinary NSW strata scheme, the legal responsibilities sit with the owners corporation, not with a professional managing agent.
NSW Government guidance recognises self-managed schemes and states that finance, records and meetings can be handled by committee office bearers rather than a strata manager. So a temporary period without a professional manager is not automatically a breach — the risk is failing to perform the duties that continue during that period.
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The records belong to the owners corporation. NSW Government guidance states that a previous strata manager who is not reappointed must provide the records to the current strata manager or to the owners corporation.
Establish the financial control arrangement before the outgoing manager's final day. Confirm which accounts hold the administrative and capital works funds, who is authorised to operate them, how invoices will be approved and paid, and how levy payments will be received and receipted.
The owners corporation remains responsible for maintaining required insurance. A change of manager does not suspend that duty.
Obtain the policy schedule, renewal date, broker or insurer contact, premium status and any open claims before the outgoing manager finishes.
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Common property repair and maintenance duties continue. Identify an interim contact who can receive urgent reports, decide who can approve expenditure within the scheme's governance rules, and keep a record of decisions.
Tell essential-service contractors who to contact during the gap so a lift outage, water leak or fire-safety issue is not sent to an inactive manager email.
In certain expiry situations, yes. Current NSW Government guidance says that if a strata manager's contract ends before the next AGM, the strata committee can extend the appointment for up to three months at a time until the AGM occurs.
That is an expiry-management tool, not a way to undo a termination that has already taken effect. Check the statutory conditions and notice requirements before relying on an extension.
There is no single NSW rule setting a maximum number of days without a professional manager. The practical limit is the committee's capacity to keep performing every obligation — and to do it without creating compliance or financial problems.
Do not create an informal paid management arrangement that bypasses the approvals required to appoint a strata managing agent.
Owners need the date the former manager's appointment ended, the temporary committee contact, how to report urgent maintenance, where to send levy or finance questions, whether payment details have changed, where official correspondence goes, and the expected timing for appointing a replacement.
Key suppliers need a simple authority update so they stop sending invoices and emergency reports only to the former manager.
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