The day nobody is paid to answer
The owners vote to end the strata manager’s appointment. Or the HOA board decides not to renew the management company’s contract. From the end date, the building runs itself, and the first thing that changes is not the accounts. It is the mail.
For years, the roofer, the insurer, the council and half the owners wrote to the manager. They will keep doing so for months after the end date, unless someone gives them somewhere else to write. This article covers that moment: the building’s own email address, the records and mail the manager holds, and who answers what once there is no manager. It speaks to two places, because the rules differ. In New South Wales, a strata scheme does not have to employ anyone: the Act says the owners corporation “may appoint” a strata managing agent, and the NSW Government says there is no legal requirement to employ a professional strata manager. In the United States, the rules change from state to state, so below are two states whose statutes we read, as examples rather than a survey.
First question: whose address is it?
There are two cases, and they lead to very different work.
The building already has its own address. A committee Gmail account, or an address on a domain the owners corporation or the association pays for. Good news, but check two things before the end date: whether the manager is listed as a recovery contact on that account, and whether the manager’s staff administer the domain. Either one means the manager can still get in, or lock you out. Ask for both to be moved to a committee or board member.
The address belongs to the manager. Something like yourbuilding@managementco.com sits on the manager’s domain, in the manager’s system. It is theirs, and it leaves with them. There is nothing to take over. Create the building’s own address now, before the end date, so the notice announcing the change can carry it. Open it in the name of the role, not of a person, with recovery options held by two members. How to choose between a free Gmail account and a domain address is covered in the shared mailbox for self-managed HOAs and strata committees.
One NSW detail: the owners corporation’s address for service of notices is a separate thing from its email. Changing it takes a decision at a general meeting and a notice lodged with the Registrar-General (s 265). If the manager’s office was that address, put the change on the agenda.
What the manager has to hand back
In NSW. When the strata committee gives notice of the decision to terminate the agent’s appointment, the agent must deliver the owners corporation’s property, records included, within 14 days of the notice, to the committee member named in it (s 181(2)). So name someone in the notice. The section does not take away a just claim or lien the agent may have on the records (s 181(3)), which is one more reason to settle the final invoice cleanly. The NSW Government’s guidance adds that if there is no new manager, the handover is to the strata committee. If something is withheld, the Tribunal can order a former strata managing agent to supply records or documents (s 188(2)), and an application for an order seeking records from a former agent does not need mediation first (s 227(4)(f)).
In the US, two examples. In Florida, a community association manager or management firm must return all official records within 20 business days of the contract ending or of the association’s written request, whichever comes first (s. 468.4334(4)). In Washington, an association’s managing agent must turn over all original books and records immediately when the management relationship ends (RCW 64.38.045(1), a section marked effective until January 1, 2028). Elsewhere, read your own state’s statute and your management contract.
The email part. None of these texts names email. The manager’s correspondence about your building sits in the manager’s own system, mixed with every other building it runs. So ask for it in writing, in the termination letter, rather than assuming it comes with the records:
- the correspondence on every open matter, exported with its attachments: insurance claims, works in progress, disputes, levy reminders;
- the list of contractors, with their contact details and what each one is waiting for;
- the owners’ contact list, and which owners agreed to receive notices by email;
- anything stored in the manager’s online portal, before your access to it ends.
In NSW the owners corporation must keep copies of correspondence it received and sent for seven years, which is one more reason to get them back: see strata correspondence records.
Who answers what, once there is no manager
A strata manager’s appointment can give it the functions of the chairperson, the secretary, the treasurer or the strata committee (s 54(1)). When the appointment ends, those functions come back to volunteers. The secretary’s functions include “to answer communications addressed to the owners corporation” (s 43(e)). That makes the secretary the default answer to “who replies?”, but one person rarely can, evening after evening.
Split it by subject instead, and write the split down: repairs and contractors to one member, levies and the bank to the treasurer, insurance claims to whoever knows the building best, owners’ questions shared. A US board does the same with its officers. What matters is that every email has one person on it, and that everyone else can see who.
Then tell everyone where to write. One short notice to owners, contractors, the insurer, the bank and the council, with the new address. And ask the manager, in the same termination letter, to set an automatic reply on the old address pointing to the new one for a few months. They control that mailbox, so it is a request, not something you can do yourselves.
Set it up so the next handover is easy
The committee will change at the next annual meeting, and one day the building may hire a manager again. Both are easier if the address never belonged to one person. Four habits do most of the work: an address in the role’s name, recovery options that do not depend on one member, one login per person instead of a shared password, and no forwarding to personal mailboxes. We wrote the full routine in HOA and strata mailbox handover, which also covers the opposite move, when a manager takes over.
Going self-managed has a cost you should name at the meeting: the work does not disappear, it moves to people with jobs. A clear address and clear roles make it lighter. They do not make it free.
Where Trupeo fits
Trupeo is a shared mailbox. You connect the building’s new address, whether Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP mailbox, and each committee or board member signs in with their own login. The address and the mail stay with your email provider, and replies leave from the building’s address. You can see who is on each email, and the change-of-address notice can be saved as a template with fields to fill in. When a member hands over, the mailbox’s owner role in Trupeo passes to someone else and the leaver is removed, without a password changing hands. It costs €10 a month excluding VAT for a mailbox shared by two people, €20 from three people up, with a 14-day trial and no card. The details are on our page for strata committees and HOA boards, and how it compares with all-in-one strata and HOA software is in software for self-managed HOAs and strata committees.
Frequently asked questions
Can we keep using the strata manager’s email address?
Not if it sits on the manager’s domain: it is the manager’s mailbox and it ends with the contract. Create the building’s own address before the end date, and ask the manager to set an automatic reply on the old one pointing to it.
How long does a strata manager have to hand over records in NSW?
14 days after the strata committee’s notice of the decision to terminate the appointment, delivered to the committee member named in the notice (s 181(2) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015). Email is not named in the section, so ask for the correspondence in writing.
Who answers the building’s email when a strata scheme becomes self-managed?
In NSW, the secretary’s functions include answering communications addressed to the owners corporation. In practice, split the subjects between members and make sure each email has one person on it.
Sources:
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW Legislation): s 49(1), the owners corporation “may appoint” a strata managing agent; s 43(e), the secretary’s function to answer communications addressed to the owners corporation; s 54(1), the functions an agent’s appointment can give it; s 181(2) and (3), delivery of property and records within 14 days of the committee’s notice, and any just claim or lien; s 188(2), the Tribunal’s order to supply records or documents; s 227(4)(f), no prior mediation for an order seeking records from a former strata managing agent; s 265, changing the address for service of notices.
- Who’s who in strata (NSW Government): “There is no legal requirement for you to employ a professional strata manager.”
- Strata manager and other workers (NSW Government): if there is no new strata manager, the handover is to the strata committee.
- Florida Statutes s. 468.4334 (Florida Legislature): subsection (4), return of all official records within 20 business days of termination or of a written request, whichever comes first.
- RCW 64.38.045 (Washington State Legislature): subsection (1), the managing agent turns over all original books and records immediately upon termination; the section is marked effective until January 1, 2028.