What is the role of a Strata Manager, and what the heck does he or she actually do? To answer this question, I first have to start by telling you that we prefer the term Strata Agent to Strata Manager? We feel that it more accurately describes the agency relationship created between the Strata Corporation and the Strata Management Company.
Essentially, the Strata Agent is a licensed employee of the Strata Management Company, appointed to oversee all aspects that are laid out in the Strata Agency Agreement.
What does a Strata Agent do?
Now that we’ve gotten some technicalities out of the way, I will explain what the role of a Strata Agent looks like. As mentioned before, the exact details will be laid out in the contract, and can vary greatly from Strata to Strata, depending on the needs of the Council.
Some typical activities that Strata Management company will do;
- Assisting with collecting strata fees and special levies
- Helping to plan the strata’s budget, Contingency Reserve Fund needs, as well as Capital planning for future expenditures.
- Organizing and implementing Strata Council meetings, as well as General Meetings.
- Preparing minutes from each meeting, as well as agendas to go out before meetings.
- Offering a 24 hour/ 7 days a week emergency contact and response line.
- Assisting with enforcing bylaws and rules.
- Arranging quotes on behalf of Strata Council for maintenance and repairs.
- Keeping and maintaining accurate records for legal documents, minutes, payables and receivables, monthly financial statements, strata fee schedules, operating budgets, and payroll.
- Obtaining and negotiating insurance rates.
- Keeping records of correspondence with individual owners, responding to all owners requests, dealing with any complaints, and reporting to Strata Council.
- Maintaining records of all owners and registered tenants.
- Receiving and paying invoices .
- Providing the required documents for any strata lot that is sold.
- Answering lot’s and lot’s of emails!
- Being the bad guy so that there is a buffer between Council members and owners when conflict arises.
As you can see, there are quite a few tasks and responsibilities that a Strata Management Company will take care of through their designated Strata Agent. Again, these can vary greatly from building to building.
Some Strata Corporations prefer to do their own bookkeeping, others prefer to contract out their own maintenance, so it really just depends on what the needs of the Strata Corporation look like. Very often this will depend upon the makeup of what skill set is available from Strata Council members.
Looking for some Strata Management advice? Reach out to our Property Management Company today and we can point you in the right direction!