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Contract of appointment
You must be appointed in writing or using the approved Contract of appointment - owners corporation manager (Word, 114KB).
Your contract should avoid terms that:
- are unfair
- cause significant imbalance of rights and obligations between the parties in the contract.
The contract should also avoid terms that permit you, but not the client, to:
- terminate the contract
- renew or not renew the contract
- vary the contract terms
- avoid or limit performance under the contract.
Your contract must comply with the Owners Corporations Act 2006.
Duties
As a paid owners corporation manager, you must:
- register with the Business Licensing Authority (BLA)
- lodge an annual statement with the BLA
- advise the BLA, via myCAV, of any changes to your details required to be kept by the BLA, within 14 days
- be appointed by an instrument or by contract of appointment in the approved form
- report to the owners corporation at each annual general meeting
- have current professional indemnity insurance for no less than $2 million
- hold all money on behalf of an owners corporation on trust
- account separately for money held for each owners corporation you manage.
Functions and powers
As an owners corporation manager, you are appointed by the owners corporation to carry out its functions in managing and administering the common property. These include maintenance and repairs, collecting fees, maintaining insurance and keeping financial records.
Your functions and powers are:
- set out in the Owners Corporations Act 2006 and Owners Corporations Regulations 2018
- set out in the rules of the owners corporation
- authorised by the owners corporation at a general meeting and recorded in the minutes
- authorised by the committee (if there is one) and recorded in the minutes
- delegated by the owners corporation at a general meeting and set out in an instrument of delegation.
As a manager, you should also be aware that the owners corporation always retains its powers and functions.
Acting as a financial services licensee or representative
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) advises that under the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001, as a manager you are deemed to provide financial services to owners corporations if you talk about insurance, process claims, seek quotations or do anything with insurance apart from write out the cheque on behalf of the owners corporation for an insurance premium.
To act for owners corporations in relation to insurance matters, you must:
- be appointed as an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensee, or an authorised representative of a licensee
- have an updated contract in force with the licensee
- notify the licensee about any cross-endorsement when representing two or more licensees with consent
- have completed necessary training programs.
The AFS licence also requires managers to make certain disclosures, report to ASIC and give owners corporations a written financial services guide. Significant penalties apply for failing to have a licence or authorisation.
For more information, visit AFS licensees - ASIC website.