NSW Strata Committee Training: New Mandatory Requirements from July 2026

The strata committee chair received the notification on a Thursday. An email from NSW Fair Trading, reminding her that her role now came with a formal training requirement and a three-month deadline from her date of election. She had served on the committee of her Sydney apartment building for six years without any such requirement. This was new.

She is one of roughly 200,000 people who serve on strata committees across NSW. From 1 July 2026, anyone newly elected to a NSW strata scheme committee is required to complete mandatory training - and the consequences of not completing it are not a fine or a warning. They are automatic removal from the committee before the next AGM.

What the Requirement Is

The mandatory training requirement is part of the NSW Government's ongoing strata law reform program, which has been rolling out in phases since 2023. The training requirement itself applies to anyone elected or appointed to a strata committee in NSW on or after 1 July 2026.

The obligation works as follows:

• A newly elected committee member has three months from their election date to complete the required training.
• The training consists of an initial free online module (approximately one hour) available through NSW Fair Trading, followed by a second training component.
• Members who do not complete the training within the three-month window become ineligible to continue on the committee. They must be removed before the next AGM.
• The removal is automatic under the legislation - it is not a discretionary penalty that another body corporate or committee can waive.

The intent behind the requirement is sound. Strata committees hold significant authority over tens of thousands of dollars in annual spending, insurance procurement, maintenance decisions, and contractor appointments. Many committee members are new to the role and have no formal context for the legal and financial responsibilities they are taking on. The training gives them a baseline.

Who It Applies To

The requirement applies to newly elected or appointed committee members from 1 July 2026. If you were elected before that date, the July 2026 requirement does not retrospectively apply to your current term.

However, if you are re-elected at your next AGM after 1 July 2026, you are a "newly elected" committee member from that point and the training requirement kicks in. This is a detail that several strata managers and committee members have missed in early commentary on the reforms - the cut-off is the date of election, not the date the legislation commenced.

The requirement applies to:

• All committee members, including officers (chair, secretary, treasurer) and ordinary members
• Members of committees in schemes of any size
• Both self-managed and professionally managed schemes

What the Training Covers

The NSW Fair Trading module addresses the core legal and practical framework that committee members operate within. Based on information published alongside the reforms, key areas include:

• The role and responsibilities of the strata committee under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015
• The difference between administrative fund and capital works fund management
• Proper meeting and voting procedures, including what constitutes a valid decision
• Conflict of interest obligations and when to declare or abstain
• How to handle owner complaints and maintenance requests
• Committee member liability protections and when they apply

The training does not require any prior knowledge of strata law. It is designed for people who have just volunteered for a committee role, not for lawyers or strata professionals.

The Three Things Committees Should Do Now

1. Understand your next AGM date and plan ahead

If your building holds its AGM after 1 July 2026, any committee member elected at that AGM will be subject to the training requirement from their election date. The three-month window starts then - not from when NSW Fair Trading sends a reminder, and not from when your strata manager tells you about it.

Strata managers should be communicating this to committees proactively. If yours has not, it is worth raising before the next election cycle.

2. Encourage re-nominating members to complete training before they stand

There is no rule requiring completion before election - the three months runs after election. But completing the training before standing means it is done. The practical disruption of having a committee member removed three months after an AGM (because they forgot, were busy, or thought the requirement applied to someone else) is significant. It can trigger a casual vacancy process, reduce quorum, and in small committees create genuine governance problems.

3. Keep records

NSW Fair Trading will issue a completion certificate on finishing the online module. Committees should ask newly elected members to provide evidence of completion. The strata manager should maintain this on the scheme's records file.

What Happens If a Member Doesn't Complete Training

A committee member who has not completed training within three months of election must be removed before the next AGM. The mechanism is not one that requires a vote - it operates by force of the legislation.

In practical terms:

• The strata manager is typically responsible for monitoring compliance and advising the committee when a removal obligation arises.
• The position becomes vacant, and the committee must fill it either through the casual vacancy procedure (co-opting a replacement until the next AGM) or by calling an extraordinary general meeting.
• In a small committee - say, three or four members - losing one member through non-compliance can materially affect the committee's ability to form quorum.

The potential for administrative disruption here is real. It is not the intention of the reform to destabilise well-functioning committees, but the mechanism leaves no room for "they just didn't get around to it."

Why This Reform Matters

The strata sector in NSW manages an estimated $1.2 trillion in collective property assets, spread across approximately 87,000 registered schemes. Most of the day-to-day decision making in those schemes sits with volunteer committees who have no formal qualification requirement and widely varying awareness of their legal obligations.

The reform does not solve every governance problem in NSW strata. But it sets a floor. The one-hour online module that a newly elected treasurer must now complete before they are confirmed in role is not onerous. It may, however, prevent some of the more avoidable mistakes that drive up costs, create disputes, and occasionally expose committee members to personal liability.

For most NSW schemes, the practical change is modest. But schemes that treat the requirement casually and miss the three-month window will find it is not modest at all.

Key Takeaways

• Mandatory training applies from 1 July 2026 to all newly elected NSW strata committee members, regardless of scheme size or experience.
• Three months from election is the window for completion. Missing it means automatic removal before the next AGM.
• The training is free and available online through NSW Fair Trading, taking approximately one hour.
• Re-elected members are "newly elected" from the date of their re-election, so even long-serving committee members face this requirement if they stand again after July 2026.
• Committees that plan ahead - by encouraging training completion before the AGM or immediately after - avoid the governance disruption of a mid-term vacancy.

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This article is for informational purposes only and reflects the NSW strata law reforms as understood at time of publication. Confirm current training requirements and deadlines with NSW Fair Trading or your strata manager before taking action.