Quick answer
Maintenance requests get lost when there's no single place they're logged, so they live in whoever happened to receive them. Fix it with one intake point for all requests, a simple status for each (reported, quoted, approved, done), and a habit of confirming receipt so owners know their request was actually received.
Sounds familiar?
- Owners report the same issue multiple times because they're not sure it was received
- Requests raised in person or by phone are never written down anywhere
- No one can say how many maintenance requests are currently open
- A committee member remembers a request only when the owner follows up again
- Quotes get requested but no one tracks whether they came back or were approved
- Urgent issues (like a safety hazard) get treated the same as minor cosmetic requests because there's no way to see priority
Why it happens
- Requests arrive through multiple uncoordinated channels — email, text, phone, in the corridor
- There's no single record of what's been reported, by whom, and its current status
- Responsibility for maintenance isn't clearly assigned to a specific committee role
- Owners have no way to check on a request themselves, so they re-report instead
- There's no distinction made between routine and urgent requests when they come in
Key takeaways
- Requests get lost most often because they arrive through too many uncoordinated channels
- One clear intake point, used consistently, fixes most of the problem
- A simple status for each request stops duplicate reports and confusion
- Separate urgent, safety-related requests from routine ones
- Check your state's spend approval thresholds before assuming a repair can be approved on the spot
What to do about it
- 1Set up one clear channel — a form, an inbox, or a shared system — for all maintenance requests, and tell owners to use it
- 2Log every request as soon as it's received, including ones raised verbally or in passing
- 3Give each request a simple status: reported, being quoted, approved, in progress, done
- 4Acknowledge receipt to the owner, even briefly, so they know it's been logged and don't need to re-report it
- 5Flag anything that looks urgent or safety-related for immediate attention, separate from the routine queue
- 6Assign a specific committee member or the strata manager to own the maintenance list, so it's someone's clear responsibility
- 7Review the open list at every committee meeting, not just when someone complains
- 8Check your state's requirements around spend approval thresholds before assuming a committee member can approve a repair on the spot
Why requests fall through the cracks
Maintenance requests rarely get lost through negligence — they get lost because they arrive through too many different doors at once. An owner might email the secretary, mention it to a committee member at the letterbox, and also leave a voicemail, assuming one of those will get through. Each channel feels reasonable to the owner, but none of them create a record anyone else on the committee can see.
One intake point changes everything
The single most effective fix is making it clear to owners where maintenance requests should go, and sticking to that channel. It doesn't need to be complicated — a dedicated form, inbox or shared system is enough — but it needs to be the one place committee members check, rather than one of several places a request might be sitting.
Status beats memory
Even with a single intake point, requests can still stall if there's no visible status. "Reported," "being quoted," "approved," "in progress," "done" — a simple status attached to each request means anyone on the committee can see where things stand without having to ask the one person who remembers. This also stops the same request being raised twice because no one could tell if it was already being handled.
Acknowledge receipt, even briefly
A large share of repeat reports happen because the owner has no way of knowing whether their original request landed anywhere. A short acknowledgment — "thanks, this has been logged and we'll update you" — resolves most of that anxiety and reduces the volume of follow-up messages the committee has to manage.
Separate urgent from routine
Not every maintenance request carries the same weight. A dripping tap and a loose balcony railing shouldn't sit in the same undifferentiated pile. Flag anything that looks like a safety issue for immediate attention and keep routine items in a normal review cycle, so urgency isn't just a matter of who shouted loudest.
Give the list an owner
If maintenance tracking is "everyone's job," it's often no one's job in practice. Assign a specific committee member, or the strata manager if the scheme has one, to actively own the maintenance list — chasing quotes, updating status, and bringing it to each meeting — rather than leaving it to whoever happens to notice something is overdue.
Know the limits of who can approve what
Spend approval thresholds — how much a committee, or an individual, can approve without a general meeting or owners' vote — vary by scheme and by state. Before treating a repair as approved on the spot, check what your by-laws and state legislation actually allow, particularly for anything beyond routine, low-cost maintenance.
Keep the list visible to the whole committee
A maintenance list that only one person can see recreates the same bottleneck as scattered email requests, just in a different format. Make sure the full committee — and ideally the strata manager — can see the current status of every open item, not just the person managing it day to day.
Where Flex Strata fits
Flex Strata's maintenance board gives every request one place to land, with a clear status from report through to completion, so nothing depends on a single person's inbox or memory. Owners get visibility on their own requests, and the committee can see the full open list at a glance — Flex Strata tracks the requests and work orders themselves, not levies or budgets.
Common follow-up questions
Related answers
Step-by-step guides
Strata Maintenance Work Orders: A Clear Process
From a resident's report to a signed-off invoice — the stages a strata maintenance work order should go through, and why skipping steps causes disputes.
Choosing and Vetting Strata Contractors: An Insurance Checklist
What to check before engaging a contractor on common property — licences, insurance cover, certificates of currency, and how to keep the register current.
Cite this page
Flex Strata (2026). Maintenance requests getting lost or forgotten. Flex Strata by Strata Pages. https://flexstrata.com.au/committee-problems/maintenance-requests-getting-lost
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