Requirements are drawn from the NSW Government's strata pages (Fair Trading), the prescribed standard form (Form FT6648, October 2025, prescribed under clause 17I of the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016) and the Government's staged summary of the 2025 and 2026 law changes. Where the form itself gives the wording, it is quoted. Queensland material comes from the Queensland Government's body corporate pages. This is a guide to the obligation, not legal advice; the form and the Act are the authority.
The capital works fund used to be called the sinking fund. It is the money owners put aside for the big, irregular costs of common property: repainting, replacing the roof, the lifts, the fire panel, the pumps. The plan is the ten-year forecast of those costs, and the annual levy to the fund is meant to follow it. A plan built from guesswork produces a fund that runs short and a special levy nobody voted for. A plan built from a register of what the scheme actually owns produces a levy owners can see the reason for.
What the law requires in New South Wales
The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 requires an owners corporation to keep a capital works fund and to prepare a plan of anticipated major expenditure to be met from that fund for each ten-year period, starting from its first annual general meeting. The obligations, as the Government and the form state them:
| Obligation | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| What the fund pays for | Painting or repainting common property; replacing or repairing common property; acquiring or renewing property for the owners corporation; renewing or replacing fixtures and fittings that are part of common property; capital upgrades, including installing, replacing or repairing sustainability infrastructure such as electricity meters, solar panels and sustainable building materials. | NSW Fair Trading, levies, finances and insurance |
| Plan period | Ten years, starting from the first annual general meeting of the owners corporation. A new scheme's first plan must consider the initial maintenance schedule the original owner (usually the developer) hands over. | Form FT6648; NSW Fair Trading |
| Review | Reviewed at least every five years and considered at every annual general meeting. Every change must be approved at an annual general meeting. | Form FT6648; NSW Fair Trading |
| Standard form | From 1 April 2026 every new or revised plan must be prepared on the standard form. The form's text cannot be changed or amended. A scheme with a current plan keeps it until the next review, then moves to the form. | Form FT6648; Changes to strata laws |
| Who may prepare it | A strata managing agent, the secretary or treasurer, a member of the owners corporation, or a hired independent expert. A professional plan is not compulsory. | Form FT6648 |
| Sustainability | From 1 July 2025 owners corporations must consider the cost of sustainability infrastructure when preparing the annual capital works fund estimates, and by-laws that ban sustainability infrastructure are prohibited outside heritage buildings. | Guide to strata law changes |
| New schemes | From 1 April 2026 the initial maintenance schedule must be on a standard form. For multi-storey schemes, the schedule and the initial levy estimates must be reviewed and certified by an independent surveyor, and the original owner must give the owners corporation evidence of that certification 14 days before the first annual general meeting. | Changes to strata laws; Guide to strata law changes |
| Two-lot schemes | May resolve not to keep a capital works fund if the two buildings are physically detached, no building or part of a building sits on common property, and the owners corporation passes a unanimous vote. | Form FT6648 |
What the standard form asks for
Form FT6648 has three working sections and a glossary. Whether the scheme fills the Word or Excel version or uses the Strata Hub planner, the plan comes out in this shape.
1. Scheme details
Scheme address, strata plan number and its registration date, the number of unit entitlements and lots, the opening capital works fund balance, the plan's start date, whether the owners corporation is registered for GST, the current capital works levy per unit entitlement including GST, and the assumed rate of inflation for each year of the plan. The form asks for that rate to be based on the average annual building maintenance cost increase over the five years before the plan is prepared.
2. Anticipated expenditure, years 1 to 10
Each expected expense is entered under the most relevant of seventeen categories, with an eighteenth for anything that fits none of them, with a description of the proposed work, its current cost in today's dollars including GST, and its cost in the year it falls due with inflation compounded to that year. Consulting or other professional fees for an item belong with the item. The form's categories, and the disciplines of a Standara register that feed each one:
| Form category | What typically sits in it | Register discipline |
|---|---|---|
| Structural components | Slabs, columns, balconies, retaining walls, structural steel, structural repairs | Structure and fabric |
| Exterior materials and finishes | Render and paint, cladding, facade sealants, external tiling, balustrades | Structure and fabric |
| Doors and windows | Entry and fire doors, automatic doors, window frames and glazing, garage doors | Structure and fabric; Security and access; Fire and life safety |
| Roofing | Roof sheeting or tiles, gutters and downpipes, roof anchors, skylights | Structure and fabric |
| Electrical system | Switchboards, distribution boards, main switchboard upgrades, lighting, metering, solar and batteries, EV charging | Electrical |
| Plumbing system | Hot water plant, pumps, backflow devices, thermostatic mixing valves, water and gas reticulation, grease traps, stormwater | Hydraulic and plumbing |
| Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) | Chillers, cooling towers, air handling units, VRV and split systems, car park and kitchen exhaust, building management system | Mechanical and HVAC; Refrigeration |
| Fire safety systems | Fire indicator panel, detection, emergency and exit lighting, sprinklers, hydrants and hose reels, pumps, extinguishers, EWIS, fire and smoke dampers | Fire and life safety |
| Elevators, escalators and travelators | Lift controllers, machines, ropes, doors and cars; escalator steps and drives; modernisation programmes | Vertical transport |
| Technology and communication | Communications racks and cabling, intercom, MATV, audio visual, building network equipment | ICT and communications |
| Security alarms | Access control, CCTV, intruder alarms, gate motors | Security and access |
| Accessibility infrastructure | Platform lifts, accessible door operators, ramps, hearing augmentation, tactile and wayfinding upgrades | Vertical transport; Structure and fabric; ICT and communications |
| Landscaping and exterior elements | Irrigation, fencing and gates, paths and driveways, external lighting, garden retaining walls, outdoor furniture | Grounds and landscaping; Structure and fabric |
| Amenities and facilities | Pool and spa plant, gym equipment, barbecues, playgrounds, sports courts, common room fit-out | Amenity and leisure |
| Furnishings and fixtures | Common area furniture, carpets and floor finishes, window coverings, signage, letterboxes | Structure and fabric |
| Car parking areas components | Boom gates and barriers, ticketing, line marking, wheel stops, car park surfaces | Security and access; Structure and fabric |
| Waterproofing systems | Roof and podium membranes, planter boxes, balconies, wet areas on common property, below-ground tanking | Structure and fabric |
| Other category (specify) | Anything that fits none of the categories above, such as a waste compactor or communal laundry plant | Any |
Programmes rather than items, such as cleaning, pest control, and testing and inspection regimes, are maintenance, funded from the administrative fund, and do not belong in the plan. Their inspection and service rhythm lives in the maintenance planner instead. The pool plant, gym equipment and playground the scheme owns are capital items and go under amenities and facilities.
3. Source of funding
A ten-year cash flow: for each plan year the year-end date, opening balance, total levy contributions including GST, interest earned after tax, anticipated expenses including GST, and closing balance. This is the table that shows whether the levy is enough. A negative closing balance in any year is a special levy waiting to happen.
The long-life item rule
The form encourages schemes to budget now for items whose replacement falls in the next ten-year plan, and gives the example itself: lift works estimated at $600,000 and expected in 12 years could be budgeted at $50,000 in each year of the current plan, leaving $100,000 for the first two years of the next plan instead of $300,000. The form's instruction is to list the item under its category, the year the cost falls due, and the amount budgeted each year until then. Lifts, generators, chillers, cooling towers, fire panels and roof membranes are the usual candidates. They are also the items a register with expected useful life and condition identifies years ahead of the plan.
Building the plan from the asset register
The form and the Strata Hub planner both do the arithmetic. Neither can tell the scheme what it owns. That list is the asset register, and the plan is only as good as the register under it. The steps, in order:
- List every capital item of common property. Plant, systems and building elements, by location. A physical walk with a nameplate photo of each unit beats a list copied from the last plan.
- Record condition and expected useful life. A five-point condition rating and an adopted useful life for each asset class give a projected replacement year. An asset rated end of life is next year's cost, whatever its age.
- Attach a replacement cost in today's dollars. Contractor quotes for the big items, a reference cost library for the rest, both including GST. Note the basis so the next reviewer can see it.
- Group by the form's categories. The table above maps the register's disciplines to the form. Every capital item lands in exactly one category.
- Enter the plan. Type the items into the Strata Hub planner or the form: item, proposed work, current cost, year due. The planner compounds inflation and builds the cash flow.
- Set the levy from the cash flow, not the other way around. If the closing balance goes negative, the choice is a higher levy now or a special levy later, and the plan shows owners which year.
- Review yearly, revise at least every five. Update the register as work is done and conditions change. Each annual general meeting considers the plan; a revised plan goes onto the standard form.
A Standara register holds the first four steps: the assets by discipline, their condition, adopted useful lives cited to their source, and projected replacement years. A Standara Capture engagement produces them from a site walk, with the lifecycle report listing the ten-year replacement forecast by year. The Reports page then exports the register in the form's categories as an Excel working paper: each item with its current cost and the year it falls due across the ten years, the categories the form uses, and the source-of-funding cash flow, ready to transfer. The plan itself is then a data-entry exercise into the Government's own tool, which is where it should be produced.
The initial maintenance schedule
For a new scheme the first plan must consider the initial maintenance schedule handed over by the original owner at least 14 days before the first annual general meeting. From 1 April 2026 that schedule is on a standard form, and for a multi-storey scheme an independent surveyor certifies it and the initial levy estimates. A schedule that lists inspection and maintenance times for the parts of the property is also the seed of the maintenance planner: the same assets, the same intervals, from day one of operations rather than reconstructed later.
Queensland: the sinking fund forecast
Queensland keeps the older name. A body corporate under the Standard, Accommodation, Commercial or Small Schemes module must hold a sinking fund for spending of a capital or non-recurrent nature, including the periodic renewal or replacement of major capital items, and must reserve an amount to meet likely spending for at least nine years after the current financial year, a ten-year horizon. A professional forecast is not compulsory: the Queensland Government's guidance says the committee or an owner can estimate the likely spending. Two-lot schemes under the Specified Two-lot Schemes module do not need a formal sinking fund. The register does the same job it does in New South Wales; there is no prescribed form, so the forecast can follow the register's own disciplines.
What the owner has to keep
The current plan on the standard form and the AGM minutes approving it and each change. The initial maintenance schedule and, for a multi-storey scheme, the surveyor's certification. The register that produced the numbers, with the condition ratings, useful lives and cost basis, so the next reviewer starts from evidence rather than from the previous plan's guesses. Quotes and invoices for the capital work as it is done, which become next plan's actual costs.
Turning the plan into a register
A plan is a forecast. The register is what keeps it honest: as each item is serviced, repaired or replaced, the register records it, and the next review of the plan starts from what actually happened. Standara holds the common property register with its standards-mapped maintenance planner, and a Capture engagement adds the condition, useful life and replacement cost the capital works plan needs, on the same asset list.
Related
- Maintenance software for strata: the common property register and planner for owners corporations and their managers.
- How to build a facilities asset register: what to capture and how to structure it.
- Lift maintenance schedule: the long-life item that most often needs the ten-year rule.
- AS 1851 maintenance schedule: fire safety systems, the category with the most items.
- HVAC maintenance schedule: chillers, cooling towers and air handling plant.
You now have the obligation, the form's structure, its seventeen categories, the long-life rule, and the order of work that turns a list of what the scheme owns into a plan the owners can vote on.
Sources: NSW Government, Your strata levies, finances and insurance; NSW Government, Managing strata finances and insurance; NSW Government, Changes to strata laws and Guide to strata law changes for strata committees and owners; NSW Fair Trading Form FT6648, 10-year capital works fund plan for strata schemes in NSW (October 2025), prescribed under clause 17I of the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016; NSW Government, Capital works fund planner (Strata Hub); Queensland Government, Sinking fund (body corporate finance and insurance). Checked 9 September 2026.