Strata committees make decisions that affect other people’s biggest asset: building funds, contractor appointments, by-laws, insurance, repairs, and the day-to-day running of the scheme. Most committee members are volunteers. Very few have any formal grounding in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) (SSMA) before they take the role on.
From 1 October 2026, that changes. New and returning strata committee members in New South Wales will be legally required to complete free training — and if they don’t, they automatically stop being a committee member. This is not a recommendation or a best-practice guideline. It is a statutory requirement, and it has real consequences for scheme governance if it’s overlooked.
Key takeaways
- From 1 October 2026, new and returning strata committee members in NSW must complete free online training within three months of appointment or re-appointment.
- The obligation is set out in section 37 of the SSMA, as substituted by the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW).
- A member who doesn’t complete the training in time automatically ceases to be a committee member — no formal notice is required for this to take effect.
- Exemptions apply to two-lot schemes, members of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers, strata managing agents, and short casual vacancies.
- Committee secretaries have new practical obligations: tracking completion, issuing reminders, and managing vacancies that result from non-compliance.
- The equivalent requirement applies to community land schemes under section 41 of the Community Land Management Act 2021 (NSW).
Where the obligation comes from
The Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW) substitutes a new section 37 into the SSMA. As substituted, section 37 provides that each strata committee member has a set of duties — to act honestly, fairly and with due care, to comply with the Act and regulations, and to handle information appropriately — and then adds the training requirement:
- each committee member must complete the training prescribed by the regulations;
- a member who fails to complete the required training ceases to be a member of the strata committee; and
- the Secretary may issue guidelines about notices to a member who has failed to complete the required training, informing them that they must complete the training and that they will cease to be a member if they don’t.
That last point was itself amended before section 37 even commences: the Fair Trading and Building Legislation Amendment Act 2026 (NSW), assented 14 August 2026, replaced the original regulation-making power for these notices with a guideline-making power for the Secretary, and removed the reference to a “period prescribed by the regulations” from the notice provision. The underlying duty to complete training, and the automatic cessation for failing to do so, are unaffected.
The precise content, provider, delivery method and completion timeframe for the training remain matters for the regulations and for NSW Fair Trading administratively, rather than the Act itself — which is why the operational detail below comes from NSW Fair Trading’s Strata Hub rather than the legislation.
What the training involves
According to NSW Fair Trading, the course — Introduction to Strata Committee Rights and Responsibilities — will be:
- Free to complete.
- Online and self-paced, taking approximately one hour.
- Delivered through NSW Fair Trading’s Strata Hub.
- Focused on committee members’ legal duties and the committee’s governance role, along with practical grounding in repairs and maintenance, dispute resolution, and the financial management of the scheme.
On completion, NSW Fair Trading issues a Certificate of Completion, which the member should provide to the committee secretary.
Who has to do it, and by when
The requirement applies to committee members appointed or re-appointed on or after 1 October 2026, unless an exemption applies.
A member appointed on 1 October 2026 has until roughly 1 January 2027 — three months — to complete the training. If that person is re-appointed within the same 12-month cycle, the three-month clock restarts from the date of the new appointment.
Members already sitting on a committee before 1 October 2026 are not required to complete the training on that date alone. The obligation arises the next time they’re appointed or re-appointed. They can complete the training voluntarily before then, and the course will remain open to them regardless.
Exemptions
The training requirement does not apply to a committee member who is:
- a member of a two-lot strata scheme;
- a member of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers;
- a strata managing agent; or
- filling a casual vacancy for less than three months.
A member relying on an exemption should give the committee secretary evidence of it.
What happens if the training isn’t completed
This is the part committees are most likely to get wrong. If a member doesn’t complete the required training within three months of appointment, they automatically cease to be a committee member by operation of the Act — whether or not a formal notice is ever issued. The Secretary may issue guidelines allowing for a notice warning the member of this, and NSW Fair Trading has indicated a template Failure to Complete Training Notice will be published closer to commencement, but the absence of a notice doesn’t stop membership from lapsing.
That has flow-on effects for governance:
- Decisions the committee made in good faith, without knowing a member had already ceased to hold office, will generally remain valid.
- Once the committee becomes aware that a member’s position has lapsed, that person should be excluded from further committee decisions.
- The committee should then consider whether a replacement is needed — which may require a general meeting of the owners corporation to appoint a new member.
What committee secretaries should be doing now
Ahead of 1 October 2026, secretaries (and the strata managing agents who support them) should be building this into their governance routine:
- Issue a reminder to each new or returning committee member no later than two months after appointment, flagging the deadline and asking for the Certificate of Completion once done.
- Collect and retain Certificates of Completion as part of the owners corporation’s records.
- Where a member misses the deadline, issue a Failure to Complete Training Notice (once the NSW Fair Trading template is available) and notify the rest of the committee of the resulting vacancy.
- Build training completion into the onboarding pack for any new committee member from 1 October 2026 onward.
This is exactly the kind of recurring, date-driven compliance task that suits a standing checklist or automated reminder workflow rather than manual tracking — something worth setting up once the Strata Hub process is confirmed.
Why this matters beyond compliance
Treating this as a box-ticking exercise misses the point. Committee members are regularly asked to make decisions involving significant expenditure, contractor and insurance arrangements, by-law changes, and disputes between owners — all under a statutory framework most of them have never read. A one-hour course won’t make someone an expert in strata law, but it gives committees a shared, baseline understanding of their duties and the limits of their authority, which reduces the risk of decisions being challenged later.
It’s also worth noting the training isn’t limited to people who are legally required to take it. From 1 October 2026, it will be open to prospective committee members, owners and residents generally, two-lot scheme members, and existing members not yet caught by the requirement. For a scheme wanting a genuinely well-informed committee, there’s little reason to wait for the three-month deadline to encourage members to complete it.
Frequently asked questions
When does mandatory strata committee training start in NSW? From 1 October 2026, new and returning strata committee members must complete the training within three months of their appointment or re-appointment.
Is the training compulsory for every committee member? For appointments and re-appointments from 1 October 2026, yes — unless an exemption applies (two-lot schemes, Australian College of Strata Lawyers members, strata managing agents, or short casual vacancies).
What happens if a committee member doesn’t complete the training in time? They automatically cease to be a committee member, whether or not a formal notice is issued.
Do committee members appointed before 1 October 2026 need to complete the training? Not immediately. The requirement applies when they’re next appointed or re-appointed, though they can complete the training voluntarily before then.
Is the training free? Yes. It’s delivered online through NSW Fair Trading’s Strata Hub at no cost, and takes approximately one hour.
Where can committee members complete the training? Through NSW Fair Trading’s Strata Hub, once the training is available from 1 October 2026.
Where this leaves your scheme
Mandatory training changes how committees are constituted, not just how they’re educated. A missed deadline doesn’t just leave a gap in someone’s knowledge — it can leave a gap on the committee itself, with consequences for quorum, decision-making and governance. Strata managing agents and committee secretaries should start building the three-month training window into their standard onboarding process now, well ahead of the 1 October 2026 commencement date.
If your scheme wants help reviewing governance processes ahead of these changes, contact the NSW team at Bugden Allen.
© Bugden Allen Group Legal Pty Ltd. This is general information only and not legal advice. You should not rely on this information without seeking legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
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