When SWH was appointed by NSW Fair Trading, there were no books and records for the schemes, and the original records could not be located. This remains the position today, despite extensive efforts by both NSW Fair Trading and SWH to identify and recover them.
After SWH was appointed, it was not able to gain access to any 4S emails that occurred prior to its appointment.
Steadman Williamson Hart, was appointed by NSW Fair Trading to investigate and report back to NSW Fair Trading and become the Licensee in Charge of the business of 4S Strata Pty Ltd.
4S Strata has not been successful in obtaining a renewal of the 4S Strata Businesses Professional Indemnity Policy beyond 23rd December 2025.
Professional Indemnity Insurance is mandatory for the holder of the license under the Property Stock & Agents Act 2002 and Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW).
Without a valid current Professional Indemnity Insurance Policy, 4S Strata Pty Ltd cannot continue to legally provide any strata management services to its clients (Owners Corporations, Community Title, etc).
4S Strata will be able to generate all available Offboarding Reports.
As such, all strata schemes will be required to be offboarded as clients. Each Owner's Corporation / Community Title will need to discuss between themselves two options.
Each client must decide between the following two options.
The Strata Manager will be the point of contact with 4S Strata and will open the new Trust account as such 4S Strata will transfer the funds held directly to the new Strata Schemes Trust account.
Your scheme may choose not to appoint a new strata managing agent and instead become self-managed, in which case the committee and/or owners will take on all management responsibilities in accordance with the legislation.
Option 2
The nominated person will be the point of contact with 4S Strata and will open the new Trust account. Provide 4S Strata the new Bank Accounts details. 4S Strata will transfer the funds held directly to the new Strata Schemes Trust account.
In addition. The Owners Corporation will also need to notify the NSW Strata Hub. Further details can be located by this link Strata Hub | NSW Government
In both options 4s will assist in providing the code for the HUB notification in the change of Management.
Prior to the SWH appointment, 4S Strata paid for the Third-Party software programme to maintain the electronic Strata Schemes records; however, 4S Strata failed to pay its invoices to the Third-Party. The Third-party was in the process of deleting all data. SWH was able to prevent this from occurring and was provided access to their software programme. SWH were advised by the Third-party provider Legal that;
there is not to be any changes made to the vault or for content to be deleted or removed and for the vault to remain the same state as it was prior to the received
As such, content held in [redacted] should be viewed on a read only basis and should not be downloaded.
We do not know how long [redacted] are prepared to provide access to the repository for. Given that access is being provided in the context of an expired subscription,
The Vault/repository refers to the entire 110,000 files.
Why can’t we just have the entire files sent to us,
As 4S Strata uses this third-party cloud-based document management system, which utilises a metadata-driven approach to organise client files and classify documents based on their content rather than their storage location. This means that each document must be searched and viewed independently. Documents are NOT held in a file under the Owners Corporation's individual file. The vast majority of the documents are copies of invoices that are over 7 years old. Currently, there are over 110,000 documents held in the Vault relating to both current and past Strata Schemes as a combined repository.
Regretfully, as these are Read-Only Files, this means that clients are unable to obtain the transfer of their scheme documents for an individual client.
Documents can only be viewed by using the Third-Party Software system.
4S can and will provide you with the Standard Offboarding Reports once the above is complied with.
We look forward to receiving the SP’s letter seeking Mutual Termination of the contract (along with supporting meeting minutes) by return.
Thank you for your understanding.
Dear Owners,
We wish to inform you that the agendas for the upcoming Extraordinary General Meetings (EGM) have now begun being distributed. This meeting will be conducted via online voting only (Strata Vote), and you do not need to wait until the scheduled meeting date to cast your vote. A manager will not be in attendance for each meeting either, all motions are a yes or no.
As we can't confirm the validity of the accounts at present, all owners have been deemed eligible.
We strongly encourage you to vote as soon as possible. Once a majority is reached, we can promptly resume effective management of your building’s day-to-day operations.
Additionally, we would like to clarify that Steadman Williamson Hart (SWH) has been officially appointed to manage 4S. This means that the meetings and appointments you are confirming relate specifically to 4S, which now has Greg Williamson as the Licensee in Charge. This appointment is necessary to be included in the investigation.
Your prompt participation is appreciated and will help ensure smooth and timely progress.
We wish to inform you that Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) agendas are currently being prepared and will be distributed in batches commencing next week.
To assist us in managing correspondence efficiently, we kindly request that all email subject lines begin with the relevant SP number.
We fully acknowledge the stress and uncertainty many of you may be experiencing and understand the desire for comprehensive updates. However, due to current operational demands, our team must remain focused on addressing critical matters only. At this time, we are prioritising genuine emergencies, which include:
For all other updates and general information, we encourage you to monitor the website: www.dubbostrata.com.au
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation during this period.
If you are an affected contractor, an information session to help clarify your understanding it will held online Saturday 18th October at 2:30pm and a recording will be posted on the www.dubbostrata.com.au website during the following week. The live session will be available via the link;
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZGYwNWU4YjAtYTQ2MS00N2MwLWFiYmEtOWQ3ZjI1NDE5YTgx%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2257d03d3e-1df4-4e05-8ef4-dd7286587824%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22c05d37e4-08e0-4c45-829f-504f4361f44a%22%7d
We sincerely thank everyone who joined us in person for the recent Town Hall information night at the Dubbo RSL. Your presence and engagement are greatly appreciated.
We acknowledge that there were technical difficulties with the live stream, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. To ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate, we will be holding a second virtual Town Hall at 5:00 PM AEDT on Thursday, 9th October.
Which can be accessed via this link https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZGE2YzQzMGItMmQ1Ny00YzkyLWE1YjMtNTBhMGZmNzBlZmU4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2257d03d3e-1df4-4e05-8ef4-dd7286587824%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22c05d37e4-08e0-4c45-829f-504f4361f44a%22%7d.
Following the event, a recording will be available on the www.dubbostrata.com.au website within 24 hours for those who are unable to attend live.
Thank you again for your understanding and continued support.
Dear Owners and Stakeholders,
We wish to formally advise that Steadman Williamson Hart has been appointed by the Department of Fair Trading as the strata manager for 4S Strata Pty Ltd, which includes schemes previously managed by Dubbo Strata Management Pty Ltd, and to carry out and investigate the affairs of 4S Strata.
As part of the transition process, we are currently working to obtain access to the relevant books and records, software systems, and financial accounts. Currently, these are not being made available to us. Please note that this process may take some time, as it involves coordination with multiple parties, systems, and legal issues. Which, in conjunction with the Department of Trading, is being addressed as a matter of urgency.
These investigations include, but not limited to, tracing monies that have been disbursed from the previous Licensee’s trust and operating accounts to determine the nature of transactions; assisting 4S Strata and Dubbo Strata Management clients with regard to information about making a claim on the fund for missing monies.
We are aware that a number of Owners Corporations Insurance polices are either being paid monthly, and the freezing of the monthly invoices is not affected. If the Insurance policy is paid annually, we are working with the Insurance Brokers/ Underwriters to have the invoices set directly to us for payment.
If you were a client of Dubbo Strata Management, an information event is set for Tuesday, 7th October at Dubbo RSL commencing 5 PM.
There will be a teams live stream during the event should you be unable to attend which you can access via: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MjZhNmQ1NTgtNzE0NC00YWFhLWJjMjEtNDMzZDg2MmVjNWVl%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22d1621d00-0ee9-4d01-b8f8-6c94cce48224%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22634b88b3-b828-48b3-ba0f-b44f4e8072a1%22%7d
Further information will be sent out for clients of those clients who had a direct management agreement with 4S Strata.
We appreciate your patience and understanding during this interim period. Updates will be provided as soon as further information becomes available.
We have now set up a designated email address for communications, being 4SStrata@SWHservices.com.au
Please ensure that any and all inquiries are made via email only to the above address.
Should you have any urgent enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
Yours sincerely,
Greg Williamson
On behalf of Steadman Williamson Hart
4S Strata Pty Ltd is carrying out strata management functions for multiple schemes previously managed by Dubbo Strata Management Pty Ltd.
Following investigations by NSW Department of Fair Trading, Steadman Williamson Hart have been appointed by the Department under the Property, Stock and Agents Act and the Strata Scheme Managements Act. Steadman Williamson Hart’s appointment commenced on 29 September 2025.
Steadman Williamson Hart’s representative, Greg Williamson, is the principal point of contact for all affected stakeholders. He can be contacted by email 4SStrata@swhservices.com.au.
Please see the attached letter sent to all potentially affected Lot owners.
Dear strata committee member,
Our Strata Hub records list you as a chairperson or secretary of a strata scheme currently managed by 4S Strata Pty Ltd (trading as 4S Strata) under the licence number 10110440.
NSW Fair Trading is writing to inform you of recent developments in the management of your strata scheme, including our current investigation of 4S Strata Pty Ltd and the appointment of the strata managing agent Steadman Williamson Hart.
What is this about?
4S Strata Pty Ltd (ACN 632 927 890), under the direction of Ms Susan Elizabeth Cornish, began carrying out strata management functions for 79 schemes previously managed by Dubbo Strata Management Pty Ltd – possibly including your scheme. This transition followed the previous strata managing agent, Dubbo Strata Management Pty Ltd (ACN 130 335 063), being placed into liquidation by order of the Federal Court on 18 March 2025.
NSW Fair Trading is concerned that the transition to the new strata managing agent may have occurred without the owners corporations’ formal approval (required under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015). This would be in breach of strata laws because:
In response to these concerns, NSW Fair Trading is investigating the matter and has taken these steps:
Steadman Williamson Hart representative, Greg Williamson, is the principal point of contact for affected customers and strata schemes. He can be contacted by email Greg@swhservices.com.au.
What actions do I need to take?
Please share this information with other owners and residents in your strata scheme.
NSW Fair Trading will keep you informed of any key developments affecting your scheme so you can share updates with your strata community.
If your owners corporation believes they may have suffered financial detriment as a result of the actions of Dubbo Management Strata Pty Ltd, 4S Strata Pty Ltd and/or Ms Susan Elizabeth Cornish, you are encouraged to seek independent legal advice. For free legal information, you may wish to contact LawAccess NSW on 1300 888 529.
What if I need more help?
It is our priority to assist impacted strata schemes.
For questions or support with this matter, you can make an online strata enquiry using the link below or contact NSW Fair Trading by phone or in-person at a Service NSW centre:
Website: https://www.cas.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/icmspublicweb/forms/RealEstateEnquiry.html
Phone: 13 32 20 8:30am to 5pm, Monday-Friday
Language assistance: 13 14 50 and ask the interpreter to phone 13 32 20.
NSW Fair Trading nsw.gov.au/fair-trading