Changing managing agent: a guide for councils

The whole process usually takes four to six months. Start earlier than you think, because the current agent's notice period and the general meeting set the pace.

1. Before you start

• Read your current contract. Note when it ends, how much notice it needs, and what the agent must hand over when it leaves.
• Check who can make the appointment. Under the Building (Strata Management) Act 2004 (called the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act, or BMSMA, until October 2025; managing agents are covered in section 66 of the BMSMA), the management corporation appoints a managing agent by resolution at a general meeting. The council can appoint one without a general meeting only if owners authorised it to at the last general meeting. If you were appointed at a general meeting, check whether ending the appointment also needs one.
• Line it up with your AGM if you can. BCA's guide to preparing a general meeting lists a motion on ending or continuing the managing agent's appointment for the next financial year among the usual AGM items.
• Agree who evaluates. Two or three council members who will read every proposal and attend every interview, and who declare any link to a firm.

2. Shortlist three to five agents

Fewer than three gives you little to compare; more than five is hard for volunteers to evaluate properly. The shortlist suggests firms that already run developments near yours and of a similar size. Add any firm owners recommend.

3. Send one standard RFP

• Send the same document, on the same day, to every firm. The RFP pack builds one with your scope, timeline, evaluation weights and a price schedule.
• Insist on the price schedule. Quotes in each firm's own format are the main reason councils can't compare them.
• Offer site visits in the first week. Answer questions by email and share every answer with every firm.
• Give at least three to four weeks to reply.

4. Compare like-for-like

• Look at the yearly cost with GST, not the monthly fee. Meeting charges, software fees and disbursements (printing, postage, bank charges) add up.
• Check the condo manager's hours on site. A lower fee often means fewer hours or a manager shared with other estates.
• Check the term, notice period and yearly increases.
• The Compare page works out cost per unit and per manager-hour, and applies your weights.

5. Interview the best two or three

Ask for the condo manager they would actually assign, not only the sales lead. Useful questions:

1. Who exactly would be our condo manager? What else do they manage, and how many hours would they be here?
2. Who covers when the condo manager is on leave or leaves the firm? How quickly do you replace them?
3. Walk us through your monthly report and monthly accounts. Can we see real, anonymised examples?
4. How do you call tenders for contractors? Do you or your staff have any interest in the contractors you recommend?
5. How do you handle arrears, and what do you do before legal action?
6. What would you change in your first 90 days here?
7. How do you handle residents' complaints, and how fast do you respond?
8. Which of your clients left you in the last two years, and why?
9. What is not included in your fee?
10. How would the handover from our current agent work?

6. Check references yourself

Each firm will offer references. Call those, and also pick one or two of their developments yourself from their agent page. Write to the council of that development, care of its management office. If a development recently left the firm, its council can tell you why. Ask:

• How long have they been your managing agent, and would you renew?
• Are the accounts accurate and on time? Any audit issues?
• How good is your condo manager, and how often has the firm changed them?
• How do they handle contractors and tenders?
• What would you warn us about?

7. Decide and approve

• The council agrees a recommendation and records the scores and reasons in its minutes. The Compare page prints a summary you can attach.
• If the appointment needs a general meeting, owners must get the notice and papers at least 14 days before the meeting where every motion is an ordinary resolution. BCA's briefing notes say a longer period applies when a motion needs a special or unanimous resolution. Notices sent by email should also be served in hard copy.
• Give the outgoing agent notice according to its contract.

8. Sign a clear contract

• Start from the Association of Strata Managers' template managing agent agreement, adopted in September 2023, and mark any changes.
• BCA recommends setting out specific service requirements, key performance indicators and standards in the agreement. Examples: the condo manager's hours, report deadlines, response times, how often accounts are reconciled.
• Check how either side can end the contract early, and on how much notice.

9. Handover checklist

• Strata roll, registers, minutes of every council and general meeting, by-laws and resolutions
• Books of account, bank statements, the latest audited accounts, arrears list, deposits held
• Bank signatories and online banking access changed
• Every service contract, warranty and maintenance record, and their renewal dates
• Insurance policies and open claims
• Keys, access cards, passwords to building systems and the resident app
• Open defects, disputes, legal matters and correspondence with BCA or the Strata Titles Board
• Staff arrangements, if any on-site staff are moving across

Red flags

• A fee far below the others with no clear reason, especially with few condo-manager hours
• Reluctance to fill in the price schedule or name the condo manager
• "Standard terms" they won't let you change, or long terms with heavy penalties for ending early
• Undisclosed links to contractors, or pressure to reuse their preferred vendors
• References only from developments they picked, with no way to check others

Sources

• Building (Strata Management) Act 2004, formerly the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act (renamed 1 October 2025)
• BCA Strata Management Guide 6: Managing Agent
• BCA Strata Management Guide 3: Preparation for a General Meeting
• BCA notes of briefing on amendments to the BMSMA (notice periods)
• BCA pilot study on managing agents (service requirements and KPIs in the agreement)
• Association of Strata Managers: template managing agent agreement (2023)
• Public consultation on reviewing the Building (Strata Management) Act, 2026