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Strata Cleaners Plan of common property
One strata scheme from above: eight lots off a corridor in a block, and four townhouses on their own land, with everything that is not a lot shaded 12345678 stair lift bin room corridor entry shared garden T1T2T3T4 shared driveway street common property a lot LIT: THE CARETAKER’S LOTAND THE CORRIDOR N One strata scheme from above, drawn tall: the corridor runs down the sheet with four lots either side, and the townhouse row sits below a ruled line marked on its own land 12345678 binrooma stairb liftc corridord entrye on its own land shared gardenf T1T2T3T4 shared drivewayg street
  1. a b c f g the bin room, the stair, the lift, the shared garden and the shared driveway: who cleans the common property
  2. d the corridor: who hires the cleaner, and on what terms
  3. e the entry lobby: what to do when the common areas are not being cleaned
  4. 1 to 8 the lots, and the share of the cleaning each one pays: who pays for cleaning the common areas
  5. T1 to T4 the townhouses on their own land: balconies and courtyards
  6. walls the wall between a lot and the common property: where a lot ends and the common property begins
  7. LIT: THE CARETAKER’S LOT AND THE CORRIDOR
Question 3 of 6

Who hires the strata cleaner, and on what terms?

Queensland’s pages define a service contractor as someone engaged by the body corporate to supply services for at least a year, and a body corporate manager as supplying administrative services.

Covers Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania. General information about strata law in seven jurisdictions, not legal advice; your scheme’s own plan and by-laws decide.

The official pages

The pages behind this answer, jurisdiction by jurisdiction:

The roles a scheme can engage

A scheme can engage different roles, and the names differ by state. Queensland’s pages describe three of them, and each one has its own place in the scheme.

The three roles, as the official pages describe them
RoleWhat the role isWhat it may do on a scheme
A service contractorSomeone engaged by a body corporate to supply services (other than administrative services) for at least a year, and not an employee.Supplies services that benefit the common property or the lots included in the scheme.
A caretaking service contractorA service contractor for a community titles scheme who is also authorised as a letting agent for the scheme, or an associate of a letting agent for a scheme.Generally owns or leases a lot and runs the letting agent business from that lot; if they own their lot they can vote at general meetings.
A body corporate managerContracted by the body corporate to supply administrative services; not a service contractor.The body corporate may authorise the manager to carry out some or all of the powers of the committee.

The caretaker’s lot

In Queensland a caretaking service contractor generally owns or leases a lot and runs the letting agent business from that lot.

If the contractor owns their lot, they can vote at general meetings.

Lot 4 stands for that lot here. The corridor beside it is common property, which in Queensland the body corporate administers for the benefit of all the owners.

What the committee decides, and what is delegated

In Queensland, spending must be authorised by the body corporate at a general meeting, or by the committee within its spending limit.

In Queensland’s Standard, Accommodation and Small Schemes Modules, if no general meeting resolution sets an amount, the committee spending limit is the number of lots in the scheme multiplied by $200.

What a manager may decide without the committee depends on the engagement: a Queensland body corporate manager engaged when there is no committee is authorised to carry out all the functions and powers of a committee.

  • What the committee approves: a Queensland committee can organise improvements to the common property within its spending limit, and in New South Wales a strata committee meeting may be needed to arrange major repairs, for example to approve which contractor performs them.
  • What is recorded: a New South Wales strata managing agent must record each exercise of a function and give the owners corporation a copy of the records every six months.

Where the contract is recorded

An engagement is written down. Queensland says the duties of the manager are contained in the written engagement they enter into with the body corporate.

  • QLDThe duties of the manager are in the written engagement with the body corporate, and the code of conduct for body corporate managers and caretaking service contractors is automatically included in its terms.
  • NSWAn agent appointed at the first annual general meeting is appointed for 12 months; after that, management agreements can run up to three years, and a building manager agreement can last up to 10 years (NSW Fair Trading).
  • VICFrom 1 December 2021 an owners corporation manager cannot be appointed for more than three years, or five years for a retirement village owners corporation; a paid manager must be appointed by an instrument or by contract of appointment in the approved form (Consumer Affairs Victoria).
  • WAIn Western Australia a strata manager’s powers come only from the strata company, which must have a written contract with them.
  • SAIn a South Australian community titles scheme a general meeting can appoint a manager by ordinary resolution, and the manager may only do the work the contract hands them, because their powers come from the corporation alone.
  • ACTAn owners corporation manager cannot be appointed for a term longer than three years, the appointment requires an ordinary resolution, and a manager may need a licence under the Agents Act 2003 (Access Canberra).
  • TASThe body corporate may appoint a manager and give the manager functions covering the administration, management and control of the common property; a manager is subject to control and direction by the body corporate acting in general meeting or through a committee of management.

A New South Wales strata managing agent must record each function exercised, and the agent’s agreement must be available to the owners corporation at all times.

Where the rest of the question is answered

What the cleaning costs the scheme, and how the lots share it: Who pays for cleaning the common areas? What happens when the work is not done: What if the common areas are not being cleaned?