Strata services agreements drafted for bodies corporate and property managers

It becomes particularly important when the manager's role is broader than basic administration, or where there are recurring questions about authority, contractor engagement, owner communications or record access. In strata settings, responsibilities can be split across a body corporate, committee members, building managers and external providers, which creates room for confusion if the contract is vague. A properly drafted agreement can clarify who does what, when approvals are needed and how issues are escalated. That is often more useful than relying on assumptions or informal email instructions.

It will usually deal with the services being provided, the manager's duties, any limits on authority, fee and reimbursement terms, reporting obligations, meeting-related responsibilities, contractor engagement, confidentiality, privacy, liability allocation, dispute procedures and termination. Depending on the arrangement, it may also address handover of records, access credentials, keys or historical documents when the appointment ends. The legal position can depend on the documents, the commercial context and the way the relationship actually functions, especially where several parties interact in the day-to-day management model.

Common tailoring points include whether you act for a single development or multiple schemes, how committee instructions are given, whether you arrange contractors directly, what financial or administrative functions you perform and how owner or resident information is handled. Those details affect the drafting of authority clauses, reporting commitments, privacy wording and liability provisions. The document needs to line up with your actual privacy practices, including how information moves through the business, so a generic contract may not reflect the real risks if your systems, communications or approval pathways are more complex.

Sometimes a template helps you spot the broad headings, but it often misses the operational detail that matters in strata work. For example, it may not deal clearly with committee approvals, urgent repairs, contractor instructions, document retention, meeting support or the way personal information moves between managers, committees and service providers. Those are the areas where disputes or complaints can start. You get guidance on the main legal risks and practical next steps, while compliance still depends on your circumstances and how the advice is applied, because outcomes also depend on how the arrangement is carried out.

The timing depends on how settled your service model already is and whether there are unusual authority, reporting or contractor-management issues to build into the document. Once we have the relevant instructions, we prepare the draft and then work through the included amendments. A straightforward agreement will usually move faster than one involving layered governance arrangements or multiple service streams. If the matter expands into negotiation support, related documents or issues outside the original drafting scope, we will let you know before any extra work is done.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Strata Services Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.