Mandatory Training Is Coming for NSW Strata Committees

From 1 October 2026, anyone elected or appointed to a strata committee in NSW will need to complete a free online training course run by NSW Fair Trading. It applies to new members and returning members alike and has to be completed every year. Members who don’t complete it in time lose their place on the committee.

Here’s what owners and committees need to know before it starts.

A three-month clock from the day you’re appointed

The training must be completed within three months of being appointed to the committee. For most schemes that means the clock starts at the AGM, when the new committee is elected.

The course is free, self-paced and delivered online through the Strata Hub. There’s no cost to the owner’s corporation and no need to book a session. Fair Trading has indicated it’s an online, 1 hour training webinar.

The content covers the fundamentals of the role: what a committee member is legally responsible for, how decisions need to be made and recorded, and when an issue should be escalated rather than handled around the barbecue.

This new requirement has been introduced as Fair Trading recognises the responsibilities beholden to committee members who make decisions about buildings worth tens of millions of dollars, often with no formal grounding in the legislation that governs them.

It’s annual, not a one-off

Fair Trading has announced that this will not be a one off training, rather a annual training program intended for the continual development and upskilling of committee members across the state.

Who doesn’t need to do it

Not everyone is captured. Based on the guidance available, the following are exempt:

• Owners in two-lot strata schemes
• Anyone appointed to a committee before 1 October 2026
• Members of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers
• Strata managers
• Anyone filling a casual vacancy for less than three months

If an exemption applies to you, you’ll still need to provide evidence of it to your committee secretary.

Worth noting: the exemption for members appointed before 1 October 2026 is transitional, not permanent. Once you’re re-elected at an AGM after that date, you’re a returning member and the requirement applies.

What happens if someone doesn’t complete it

Members who don’t complete the training within the three-month window are removed from the committee.

This will result in that committee members seat being vacated. For a committee already running on the minimum number of volunteers, losing one or two members three months after the AGM is a genuine operational problem — it can leave a scheme short of the numbers it needs to make decisions until a casual vacancy is filled.

That’s the strongest argument for treating this as a scheduling issue rather than a compliance formality. The training takes about an hour. Losing a functioning committee for a quarter takes considerably longer to fix.

What this means for secretaries

The administrative load falls largely on the committee secretary, who will need to:

• Collect certificates of completion from committee members
• Send reminder notices ahead of the deadline
• Send failure notices and notify the committee where training hasn’t been completed in time

For schemes with a managing agent, much of this will be handled through the manager under the existing delegation. For self-managed schemes, it’s a new record-keeping obligation that needs somewhere to live — a folder, a spreadsheet, a standing item on the committee meeting agenda. Certificates are the evidence that the committee was validly constituted when it made its decisions, so they’re worth keeping properly.

You don’t have to be on the committee to do the course

The training is open to any owner, not just current committee members. If you’ve been thinking about nominating but weren’t sure what the role actually involves, this is a low-cost way to find out before you put your hand up. It also means a scheme can build a small bench of trained owners ready to step into a casual vacancy without a three-month gap.

What to do now

There’s nothing to complete yet — the course isn’t live. Fair Trading will email owners directly once it opens, and we’ll pass on the Strata Hub link as soon as it’s available.

In the meantime, two things are worth doing. Make sure your scheme’s Strata Hub details are current, since that’s how Fair Trading will reach members. And put the requirement on the agenda at your next AGM, so nobody is elected in October and surprised by a deadline in January.

More information: NSW Fair Trading — Strata committee training