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The difference between a Strata Manager, a Facilities Manager and a Property Manager

If you don’t already know, you’d be surprised like most people out there to find out that there is quite a significant difference between a Strata Manager, a Building Facilities Manager and a Property Manager. So if you’re an apartment owner, tenant, or intend to be either, then this information is for you.

Different roles of real estate managers

Strata Managers are engaged by and work for all the owners of a building collectively as a group typically known as the Owners Corporation or the Body Corporate. These Managers are usually off site and they provide Legislative Compliance advice, Financial management, Administrative and Secretarial Services. Strata Managers are neither Building Facility Managers nor are they Property Managers.

The Strata Manager

If you own or live in an apartment or a town house, chances are your apartment block or town house complex has a Strata Manager also known as Body Corporate or Owners Corporation Manager. If not, then the building or complex is self-managed by the owners which means all of the owners have agreed do the management themselves.

What most people don’t realise is that a Strata registered property has a lot of legislative and regulatory compliance requirements. There is a law in every state that governs how Strata registered properties operate under the law including Building maintenance requirements affecting fire safety and OHS compliance, financial management affecting how money is collected from lot owners and how it is spent, administrative and annual reporting requirements to the lot owners, and building insurance requirements.

A Strata Manager is appointed by the owners primarily to provide advice to the lot owners and assist with legislative compliance and provide financial management to ensure that funds are collected from owners and spent on the building or complex in accordance with the legislation. This means they do things like organising and placing the building or complex’s insurance, providing legislative compliance advice to the committee and the owners, receive and manage the fees or levies and ensure that these funds are collected in accordance with the legislation, that they are not misused or misappropriated and that they are only used for the repair and maintenance of the common and shared property and other administrative operations as legally allowed.

While Strata Managers often organise repairs and maintenance of buildings that they manage, their responsibility to repairs and maintenance is limited to  seeking and referring qualified and insured contractors on behalf of the owners to carry out required repair and maintenance on the building or complex. This limitation is because Strata Managers typically have no expertise in repair and maintenance work.

The Strata Manager is also responsible to provide advice to the lot owners about repair and maintenance responsibility when it is not clear to the owners where the responsibility lies for a certain repair or maintenance based on the lot boundaries as required by the legislation. In most cases the owners do not know who is responsible to repair or maintain a water leak for example or what can be claimed under the building insurance or who pays the insurance excess after a claim is lodged.

If a building is not properly maintained and someone is injured as a result, the owners of the building can be held legally responsible and be up for thousands of dollars in compensation as well as fines and the Strata Managers advice in this regard is invaluable.

Strata managers make sure that the correct valuations are done so that the building is insured for the full replacement cost. Again if something were to happen to the building and the insurance was too low, the owners would have to make up the short-fall from their own pockets.

The Strata Manager is often called upon to assist with all kinds of disputes between owners and residents and are expected to acts as peacemakers and all round problem-solvers. Often they are called in when people can’t get along to try and sort out the issues. They ensure the committee meets regularly to discuss matters affecting the building management and put forward committee resolutions to be passed to address all matters affecting the building or complex and residents.

Building Facilities managers

Facility Managers are usually located onsite and they manage the life cycle of building assets, typically focusing on the long term and preventative maintenance aspects of those assets. These managers are responsible for the day to day operations of the building to ensure that all the assets and facilities are operating the way they should.

Building managers also supervise and manage movement of people in and out of the building like residents moving in or out of the building or contractors engaged to carry out repairs and maintenance within the building.

Property managers

Property managers work for the individual lot owners.

If you’ve ever rented then you have dealt with a property manager. These are the people who usually work in real estate offices and are the liaison between renters and landlords. They negotiate lease agreements and collect the rent for the lot owner and organise repairs and maintenance of the lot on behalf of the lot owner. They regularly inspect the rental property to ensure that it is being kept in good condition and to also ensure that there are no issues.

Of course if you’re a landlord you don’t have to use a property manager but many people find it saves them time and makes having an investment property simpler.