@kkw said:
The building manager will have its own 3rd party contractors (and employees) that it uses in the course of performing its duties, and will issue work orders to those 3rd party contractors (with the approval of the EC / OC, of course).However, the NSW strata legislation (section 29A Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 and regulation 13 Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2010) states that the “entering into contracts relating to the maintenance of common property or the provision of services to the common property” may not be delegated to or conferred on any other person unless the person is a member of the EC or a strata managing agent. (For legal eagles, see below for the full extract of the legislation).
Does this mean that a building manager isn’t supposed to be issuing work orders to contractors?
You have already described the circumstances under which this can work – the building manager arranges the work but the EC signs off on it before it is actioned. This is not delegation of powers. Delegation is when, for instance, an Owners Corporation asks its strata manager to take over the roles of secretary, chair and treasurer (usually because nobody else is able or willing to do so).
There’s a difference between delegation and permission. For instance, you could give your strata manager delegated powers to approve work organised by the building manager. But the building manager can’t go ahead and commission work – i.e. ask someone to do the work and pay them for it – without approval by the EC or strata manager.