Owner portals and sending notices

A notice only counts if you can show it went out. Portals and email tools matter less for their look than for what they remember about each send.

Examples here are from New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Elsewhere the rules are set locally.

What has to be sent

Several things go to owners. The NSW Government says that before a meeting the secretary or committee must tell every owner and tenant it will happen¹. Levy bills are another: the owners corporation must give lot owners written notice, with at least 30 days to pay².

A meeting notice and agenda can be given by hand, email or post. A noticeboard also works, if the scheme has one¹. So email is one route among several, not the only one. A scheme that relies on a portal still has to think about owners who aren't logged in.

What a portal is

An owner portal is a secure website or app where each owner signs in to see their own lot. Ask the maker which of these it offers: documents, levy statements and requests. Read the maker's own help pages for the version you'd buy.

Ask what an owner sees on first sign-in, and what they see if their email address changes. Ask whether owners can update their own contact details, and whether those changes go to a person for approval first.

What the send should record

Think about the evidence you'd want if an owner said "I never got that." Look for:

• the date and time of the send
• which lots and which contacts it went to
• the channel used: portal, email or post
• whether the email bounced or the item was opened, if the tool reports that
• a copy of exactly what was sent, with attachments

Be careful with "opened" markers. Ask the maker how they work, and read its documentation before treating one as proof.

Keeping the copy

NSW says communications records created from 11 June 2024 "must be kept electronically"³. For email, it says to make sure your email is set up to save communications, or that you have another folder for them³. If a portal sends the notices, ask where the copy lives. Is it inside the tool, and can you export it?

Also ask what happens to the record when you stop paying. Access to old notices should not vanish with the subscription.

Prices and plans

Plans and prices change. If you note a price, write the currency and the date you checked, and take it from the maker's own pricing page. Leave out anything you can't date.

Where the tool stops

A portal sends and records. It doesn't decide who must be notified, how long ahead, or in what form. Those answers sit in your state or country's strata rules, which an official regulator page or a strata lawyer can confirm.