Finance & Levies

NSW 10-Year Capital Works Fund Plan: How to Prepare It in the Standard Form and Keep It Current

Since 1 April 2026, a new or revised NSW capital works fund plan must use the prescribed standard form. This guide explains the rules in section 80, what the form asks for, how to use the Strata Hub planner, the Word and Excel versions or UnitBuddy's 10-year planner, and how to keep the plan current between five-yearly reviews.

20 October 2026 · 14 min read

On this pageThe short answer

The short answer

Every NSW owners corporation needs a 10-year capital works fund plan (s 80). Two-lot schemes with detached buildings can opt out of the capital works fund by unanimous resolution (s 74(5)).
It must be reviewed at least once every 5 years (s 80(3)). Every AGM agenda must include an item to prepare or review it (Schedule 1, cl 6(b)).
New and revised plans must use the standard form prescribed by the Regulation (s 80(4); Regulation cl 17I), in force since 1 April 2026.
You can fill in the form online with the Strata Hub capital works fund planner, use the Word or Excel version from nsw.gov.au, or build the plan in UnitBuddy's 10-year planner. The tool is your choice. The form isn't.
No qualification is required to prepare it. The owners corporation "may engage expert assistance" (s 80(6)), but a committee member or owner can do it.

The rules in one place

Rule	Section
The owners corporation prepares a plan covering the 10 years from the first AGM	s 80(1)
The first plan must consider the original owner's initial maintenance schedule	s 80(1A)
A new plan is prepared for each later 10-year period	s 80(2)
The plan can be reviewed, revised or replaced by resolution at a general meeting, and must be reviewed at least once every 5 years	s 80(3)
It must be in the prescribed form, and include the proposed work, timing, anticipated costs and source of funding	s 80(4); Regulation cl 17I
It is finalised by the end of the AGM after the one it was prepared for	s 80(5)
The owners corporation must carry it out "so far as practicable"	s 80(7)
Every AGM agenda includes an item to prepare or review it	Schedule 1, cl 6(b)
Capital works fund estimates at each AGM must take the plan into account	s 79(5)
Schemes with more than 100 lots must explain any difference between the estimates and the plan	s 79(6)
Owners and buyers can inspect the plan	s 182(3)(e)
The strata information certificate states how the plan's work will be funded	s 184(3)(g)

Which plans must use the standard form?

The standard form has been prescribed since 1 April 2026. According to NSW Government guidance, you need it when you:

prepare a new plan, including for a new scheme
revise an existing plan
replace a plan that has run its 10 years

The guidance also says a plan that isn't being revised or replaced doesn't have to be redone straight away. There's no transitional provision in the Act or Regulation that says so. If you're unsure whether a review counts as a revision, using the standard form is the safe choice.

What the form asks for

The form is titled "10-year capital works fund plan for strata schemes in NSW". Its text can't be changed. In summary, it asks for:

Scheme details. Address, strata plan number, registration date, number of lots, unit entitlements, GST status, the opening capital works fund balance and the plan's start date.
Current levy. The capital works levy per unit entitlement.
An inflation assumption. The assumed rate of building cost inflation for each year of the plan.
Anticipated expenditure for years 1 to 10. Each item goes in a fixed category, such as structural, roofing, waterproofing, lifts, fire safety, exterior finishes, plumbing, electrical or car parking. You enter its cost in today's dollars, and the form inflates it for the year it falls due.
Totals and a contingency allowance.
The source of funding. A 10-year cash-flow table showing the opening balance, levy contributions, interest, anticipated spending and closing balance for each year.

The form's guidance suggests basing the inflation assumption on the average annual increase in building maintenance costs over the previous 5 years. It also encourages schemes to start saving for long-life items, such as lifts, that fall due after the 10 years.

Three ways to fill it in

The Strata Hub capital works fund planner

The planner is an online tool inside Strata Hub. It walks you through the same sections and does the calculations for you, so the result complies with the standard form.

Who can use it. The scheme must have reported in Strata Hub. Only someone listed as the strata managing agent, chairperson, secretary or strata scheme reporter can open the planner. A treasurer needs to work with one of them.
Completed plans are locked. You can't edit a completed plan. To update it, copy it into a new plan.
Everyone can see it. Completed plans appear under Documents for all the scheme's contacts and can be downloaded as a PDF.
Best for small schemes. NSW guidance says the planner suits schemes of up to 6 lots especially well. For larger or more complex buildings, it suggests a quantity surveyor or building consultant.

The Word or Excel form

The same form is available as a Word document and an Excel workbook from the NSW Government's 10-year capital works fund plan page. Printed copies are available at Service NSW centres. Use this if you don't have Strata Hub access, or if a consultant is preparing the plan.

UnitBuddy's 10-year planner

UnitBuddy has a 10-year planner built for this form. You build and model the plan in the planner, then the owners corporation exports it as a PDF in the prescribed form and submits it to the AGM. There are no role restrictions like Strata Hub's, and you can test levy options before the vote. The section below walks through it.

Step by step

Gather the inputs. The current capital works fund balance, unit entitlements, the current levy per unit entitlement, and the last plan. For a first plan, include the original owner's initial maintenance schedule (s 80(1A)).
List what will need work. Go through the building by category: roof, facade, waterproofing, lifts, fire systems, plumbing, electrical, car park, common areas. Use condition reports, recent quotes and the defects history.
Price each item in today's dollars, and put it in the year you expect to spend.
Set the inflation assumption and a contingency.
Check the cash flow. If the closing balance goes negative in any year, the levy won't cover the plan. Raise contributions, phase the work, or plan for a special levy, and say which.
Put it to a general meeting. The owners corporation adopts or revises the plan by resolution (s 80(3)). NSW guidance says changes are approved at an AGM. The Act says any general meeting.
Use it at every AGM. The capital works estimates and levies must take the plan into account (s 79(5)).

Preparing the plan in UnitBuddy

The steps above are the same in UnitBuddy. The planner does the arithmetic and keeps the plan in one place, so the next committee can pick it up.

Start with the items

Create a draft and tick Add standard capital works categories. This seeds the plan with 57 common items, such as lift refurbishment, roof membrane, external repainting, fire doors and car-park waterproofing. Delete the ones your building doesn't have and add your own.

For each item, set:

Cost. Quantity times a base rate, in today's dollars.
Schedule. One-off, annual, every X years (for example, repainting every 10 years), or a custom list of years.
Condition. New, good, fair, poor or critical. The rating doesn't change the schedule, but it's useful when an owner at the AGM asks why the roof is in year 4.

The planner inflates each item's cost to the year it falls due.

Four ways to look at the plan

Gantt. Every item on a timeline across the 10 years. In edit mode you can drag a bar to move work to another year, or click an empty year to add an item. The plan is locked by default, so nothing gets moved by accident.
Table. An asset register with every item, its condition, cost and schedule. This is the easiest view for editing.
Projections. A fund balance chart and a year-by-year table of levy income, expenditure, contingency, opening balance and closing balance, with a fund health rating for each year. This is the source-of-funding table the form asks for.
Structure. Items grouped by category, with subtotals, the next year work is due and links between items that depend on each other.

Above the views, the plan's headline numbers stay in view: fund health, total 10-year cost after inflation, average annual spend, current fund balance and the recommended levy.

Find the levy that keeps the fund solvent

Under Settings you set three assumptions: the inflation rate, the contingency percentage (5% by default, often 10 to 15% for older buildings) and the annual levy increase. Change any of them and the projections update.

The levy modeller in Projections compares the current annual levy with the levy needed to keep the fund solvent across the 10 years, and shows the increase in dollars and as a percentage. It also breaks the recommended levy down into a quarterly amount for each lot by unit entitlement. Owners can see what the plan means for their own levy before the meeting.

Compare scenarios before the vote

Use Save Snapshot to save the plan's assumptions and items under a name, for example "Base case, 3% levy increase" and "Accelerated, 8% levy increase". Compare Scenarios puts saved scenarios side by side: total cost, average spend, the lowest fund balance across the 10 years, levy increase, inflation, contingency and fund health. The best value in each row is highlighted.

This is the comparison a committee needs when it has to choose between raising levies now, deferring work, or planning a special levy. You can restore a saved scenario as the live plan.

Export the NSW form for the AGM

The owners corporation exports the plan itself. There's no need to go through a strata manager or consultant. From the menu, choose Export NSW form. UnitBuddy produces a PDF that follows the prescribed form in Regulation cl 17I, including its fixed text and the "Understanding this form" glossary. It asks for two things the plan doesn't store: the owners corporation's GST status and the interest earned after tax for each year. Items are mapped to the form's prescribed categories, and any category with no items still appears with a placeholder row.

Submit the PDF with the AGM papers. Share to building also posts it as an in-app notice, either to the committee only or to all owners, so owners can read the plan before the meeting without anyone emailing attachments around.

Roll it forward each year

At the end of the financial year, Roll forward moves the plan on a year. Year-1 one-off items are removed as completed, and recurring items move down a year. Update the opening balance from your latest financial records after the AGM. Then the plan is ready for the next meeting's agenda item, and the five-yearly review starts from a current plan.

Keeping it current

The legal minimum is a review at least once every 5 years (s 80(3)). The plan comes up at every AGM anyway, because it's a required agenda item. Use that to keep it current:

After major works, record the actual cost and remove or reschedule the item.
When a new quote or condition report changes an estimate, update the plan rather than waiting for the five-year review.
Check the inflation assumption against recent costs.
When the building changes, for example new lifts or a new defects finding, add the items.

NSW guidance on the planner recommends reviewing the plan every year.

What happens if you don't have one?

Section 80 doesn't carry a penalty. An owner can still apply to NCAT for an order where the owners corporation has failed to carry out a function under the Act (s 232). The plan also shows up on every sale, because the strata information certificate has to state how the plan's work will be funded (s 184(3)(g)).

Common questions

Do we need a quantity surveyor?

No. The Act lets the owners corporation engage expert help, but doesn't require it (s 80(6)). For a large or complex building, a professional estimate is easier to defend at the AGM.

Do we have to redo our existing plan now?

Not according to NSW Government guidance, unless you revise or replace it. When you do, use the standard form.

Can we use our own spreadsheet?

You can use one to work things out. The plan itself must be in the prescribed form (s 80(4)).