What is a Strata Manager?

I recently started playing lawn bowls at Morphett Vale and have been loving it on my Tuesday evenings but one of the most common questions is what do you do? followed very quickly by what is that when I mention I work in body corporate.

What I tend to find is that most people are aware of one type of property or another but they haven't considered that the people who try to help them with their properties work on more than one property or that we work with many varying types of properties but what is a Strata Manager?

Strata or Body Corporate Managers are property professionals who are responsible for the administration of multi dwelling units. In South Australia they are also commonly known as body corporate managers due to the presence of multiple pieces of legislation with both the Strata Titles Act 1988 and the Community Titles Act 1996 running concurrently.

The strata manager is responsible for ensuring that body corporates follow their relevant legislation and carry out their duties in accordance with that legislation to maintain the common areas; that is, maintain the areas that exist for the benefit of all owners and not specifically for one owner.

Strata managers are not property managers, caretakers or real estate agents, their role is to work with the owners and their appointed committee toward achieving decisions that protect, maintain and enhance the property for the majority of owners while taking away much of the stress and work associated with this from owners.

The work carried out by the Strata manager is generally administrative in nature with the manager performing the functions of the secretary and treasurer of the corporation (but not holding these positions in name) along with legislative advice and enforcement of the rules of the property in the form of articles or by-laws.

A strata management company is paid a set management fee which is agreed by a meeting of owners when appointing the manager and this is a portion of the levies contributed by owners toward the administration, insurance and maintenance of the property.

As legislation becomes more complex and life gets busier more and more owners are seeking the services of experienced professional managers who are here to assist and advise the Management Committee in carrying out their duties for the property and help client corporations make good decisions using the base of knowledge gained in assisting other properties with similar needs or prior experiences.