When nobody is paid to run the building, the email to all the owners is written by a volunteer, at night, between two other things. It goes to forty owners, not all of whom voted for the committee, some still angry about the roof, one of them a lawyer. It will be forwarded, screenshotted and quoted back at the next annual meeting.
This is for the strata committee of a self-managed scheme, the HOA board with no management company, and anyone else writing to every owner from the building’s address. First what to check before you send, then six templates for the messages that come back every year.
Before you send: seven checks
1. Owners go in Bcc, the building in To
Put the building’s own address in To and every owner in Bcc. Gmail’s help is clear on what that buys: Bcc recipients cannot see each other’s addresses, and if someone hits Reply all, people in Bcc won’t see the reply. So the angry Reply all lands with the committee, not in forty inboxes.
A list in To or Cc gives every owner every other owner’s address. Some of them did not want that, and it cannot be taken back.
2. Never one owner’s arrears or dispute in a group email
An owner’s late levies or assessments, a noise complaint against the third floor, a disagreement over who pays for a balcony: none of it goes in an email to everyone, not even unnamed if the building is small enough to guess. Write to the owner concerned, alone. The group email says what concerns everyone: “the building’s budget is behind on collections”, never whose.
3. One subject per email
The owner who reads “Lift repair, AGM date and new bin rules” will reply about the bins, and nobody will find the lift message in March. Three topics are three emails, each with a subject that says what it is: “Lift out of service March 3 to 7”.
4. Dates, and what the owner has to do
Every email answers two questions in its first lines: when, and what do I do. “Water off Tuesday March 3, 9am to 1pm. Nothing to do, but fill a kettle.” If the owner must act (move a car, give access, reply by a date), say it once, plainly, with the date.
5. Attachments people can open
A PDF with a name that says what it is (2026-03-lift-repair-quote.pdf), not scan0042.jpg. Check that the attachment holds nothing about another owner: a levy schedule with every lot’s balance is exactly the arrears list from check 2. For a heavy file, a link to the document is kinder to phones.
6. Send from the building’s address, never your own
An email from your personal address becomes your conversation. The replies come to you, the history leaves with you, and the owner now has your personal email for every future complaint. The building’s mailbox is what the next committee inherits, as we explain in a shared mailbox for self-managed HOAs and strata committees.
7. Decide who answers the replies before you send
A group email brings replies, and the worst outcome is two committee members answering the same owner differently, or none at all. Name one person per email before it goes out. In NSW, the secretary’s functions include answering communications addressed to the owners corporation; elsewhere, your bylaws or a simple committee decision settle it.
Two related subjects have their own articles: decisions by email, which these templates do not cover, and how long the building’s emails are kept.
The 6 templates
Replace everything in brackets. Sign with a first name and a role: owners answer a neighbor more calmly than an institution.
1. Works or contractor access
Who, when, where, what the owner has to do, and who to call on the day.
Subject: [Roof works]: [dates], access needed to [top-floor units]
Hello,
[Company name] will [replace the roof membrane] from [date] to [date], between [8am] and [5pm].
What it means for you:
- [scaffolding on the east side; balconies on that side cannot be used];
- [units 7 and 8: the roofer needs access on [date] morning. Please reply to this email with a time that suits you].
On the day, the contact on site is [name], [phone]. For anything else, reply to this email.
[First name], [role] for [building name]
2. A leak or water damage update
Factual, no blame, and only what concerns everyone. The details stay with the owners involved.
Subject: Leak in [the B stairwell]: where things stand on [date]
Hello,
A leak was found on [date] in [the B stairwell]. [A plumber came on [date] and stopped it.]
What happens next:
- [the insurer’s assessor visits on [date]];
- [the stairwell ceiling will be repaired once it has dried, probably in [month]].
If you notice a stain or damp in your unit, reply to this email with a photo. The owners directly affected have been contacted separately.
[First name], [role]
3. A payment is due (to one owner only)
Sent to one owner, from the building’s address, never copied to anyone. Assume an oversight, and give an easy way out.
Subject: [Q2 levies]: [amount] due on [date]
Hello [first name],
Unless we have missed it, we have not yet received your [Q2 levy] of [amount], due on [date].
If you have already paid, please ignore this, and thank you. Otherwise, the details are: [account, reference].
If paying in one go is difficult right now, reply to me: this stays between you and the treasurer.
[First name], treasurer for [building name]
4. The annual meeting is coming
This is a reminder, not the notice. The formal notice of the meeting follows your state’s law and your bylaws: send it the way they require. This email only makes sure people read it.
Subject: Annual meeting on [date]: the notice has been sent
Hello,
The formal notice for the annual meeting on [date] at [time], [place], was sent on [date] by [the method your bylaws set]. The agenda and documents are [attached / at this link].
On the agenda this year: [the roof budget, the committee election].
If you cannot attend, the notice explains [how to vote by proxy]. Questions about the documents: reply to this email before [date].
[First name], [role]
5. Answering an owner’s complaint
To the owner alone. Thank them, say what you checked, say what happens next and when. No promise the committee has not decided.
Subject: Re: [noise from the garage door]
Hello [first name],
Thank you for writing. We checked on [date]: [the door’s motor is worn and it closes too fast].
We have asked [company] for a quote, expected by [date]. The committee will decide at its meeting on [date], and I will write to you after it.
[First name], [role]
6. The committee or the person is changing
Short, so owners know who reads the building’s mail from now on. The address does not change.
Subject: New committee: who to contact from [date]
Hello,
Since the annual meeting on [date], the committee is [names and roles]. [Name] has stepped down: thank you for [years] of work.
Nothing changes for you: keep writing to [building@example.org]. Every email reaches the committee, and ongoing matters ([the lift, the leak in B]) continue with [name].
[First name], [role]
The handover itself, accounts, access and open topics, is in handing over the building’s mailbox.
Keep the templates where the whole committee can find them
Templates in one volunteer’s personal drafts leave with that volunteer. Trupeo connects the building’s existing address (Gmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP mailbox) so that each committee member has their own login. Templates are shared by the mailbox or kept personal, with fields to fill in, and an email will not leave until every field is filled. Each reply shows who is on it. The page for strata committees and HOA boards and the pricing have the details.
Frequently asked questions
Should owners’ email addresses be visible to each other?
Not by default. Put the building’s address in To and owners in Bcc. If owners want to talk to each other, a list they opt into is better than an address list nobody agreed to.
Can we name owners who are behind on their levies in an email to everyone?
Don’t. Write to each owner concerned, alone. The group can be told the overall position of the budget, never who owes what.
Does an email count as the formal notice of the annual meeting?
That depends on your state’s law and your bylaws, which set how the notice is given. This article does not cover it: the reminder template above goes out in addition to the notice.
Sources:
- Send or unsend Gmail messages (Gmail Help): Bcc recipients cannot see the name or address of anyone else in Bcc, and “If people reply all to a message, people in Bcc won’t see the reply.”
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), section 43: the secretary’s functions include answering communications addressed to the owners corporation.