A body corporate manager supports the administration of a community titles scheme. The body corporate keeps responsibility for its own functions and decisions. This guide explains what a manager can do, the limits of the role and how an appointment works in Queensland.
What does a body corporate manager do?
A body corporate can engage a body corporate manager to provide administrative services. The manager works under a written agreement, and the services depend on what the body corporate authorises and agrees to pay for. The body corporate remains responsible for its statutory functions and decisions.
A manager may advise the body corporate about legal compliance, financial administration, day-to-day operations and complex body corporate issues. They coordinate matters for lot owners and support the collective interests of the body corporate. They are not a property manager for individual tenancies.
You may also hear the term “strata manager” used for the same type of service provider. In Queensland, “body corporate manager” is the usual legislative and government term.
What tasks can a body corporate manager handle?
The written engagement sets out the manager’s tasks. Depending on the agreement, a manager may:
- work with the committee to arrange committee, annual general meeting and extraordinary general meeting dates
- prepare and distribute notices, agendas and minutes
- attend to correspondence
- arrange payment of invoices
- prepare financial statements, budgets and contribution notices
- keep financial accounts and administer the body corporate’s money
- advise on day-to-day building operations
- provide guidance about body corporate administration and compliance.
A manager may also organise common property work if the committee asks them to. The manager is not automatically responsible for maintaining common property.
A manager’s duties are usually similar to the administrative work of a secretary, treasurer or personal assistant acting for the body corporate. The agreement should make clear which tasks are included and which remain with the committee or body corporate.
What decisions can a body corporate manager make?
The answer depends on whether the scheme has a committee and what the body corporate has authorised.
Where there is a committee, the manager can only do what the body corporate asks them to do. The body corporate may authorise the manager in writing to exercise some or all of the powers of an executive committee member. The committee’s powers are not reduced by that authorisation. An executive member can still act or direct the manager about an authorised power.
A manager therefore does not replace committee decision-making. Managers can still make an authorised decision within the scope of the engagement.
If there is no committee, the body corporate may authorise the manager to exercise committee and executive member powers. A decision made under that authorisation can be a decision of the body corporate, except where the regulation module treats the matter as a restricted issue.
Committees can also decide some matters outside a meeting by voting in writing, subject to the applicable regulation module.
What is the difference between a body corporate manager and the committee?
The committee is made up of lot owners or people acting for them. It is responsible for the administrative and day-to-day running of the body corporate, making decisions on its behalf and putting lawful decisions into place.
A body corporate manager is a separate service provider engaged to assist with those responsibilities. The manager may advise, take minutes, administer funds and implement decisions. The agreement defines the work they are authorised to perform.
A manager is not a voting committee member. In schemes under the Standard Module, a body corporate manager automatically becomes a non-voting member of the committee, but cannot vote on committee decisions. Body corporate managers are also ineligible to be voting committee members.
For more context, read our guide to who’s who in your body corporate and what the body corporate committee does.
How is a body corporate manager appointed?
The committee cannot appoint a body corporate manager on its own. For a scheme with a committee, the body corporate must pass a motion at a general meeting by ordinary resolution. The proposed contract terms must be included with the meeting documents.
The appointment must be in writing. It should identify the manager’s authorised duties, the length of the engagement and the payment arrangements.
The body corporate may choose to engage a manager when it needs administrative support, when the committee needs assistance or when there is no committee to perform those functions.
What should a body corporate management agreement include?
Before approving an agreement, check that it clearly explains:
- the services the manager will provide
- any powers the manager may exercise
- the tasks that remain with the committee or body corporate
- the term of the engagement
- how remuneration and other payments are calculated
- how concerns, breaches and termination will be handled.
The agreement should reflect the needs of your scheme. Managers do not all provide the same services. The code of conduct for body corporate managers is also taken to be part of the engagement and applies if it differs from another contract term.
A body corporate manager supports administration, while the body corporate and committee retain their responsibilities and decision-making powers. If you need help understanding a management agreement, contact our team at reception@stratacare.com.au.
