What Does a Strata Manager Do? Pay, Licensing and How to Start

More than one in seven Australians lives in a strata building, and every one of those buildings needs someone keeping the lights on, the books balanced and the neighbours talking to each other. That someone is the strata manager.

It's one of property's quiet achievers. It doesn't get the TV shows that sales agents do, but it's steady, people-focused, in demand right across Australia and New Zealand, and it's a brilliant career if you like solving problems. Here's what the job involves, what it pays, how licensing works state by state, and how to get started.

What is a strata manager?

A strata manager (called a body corporate manager in Queensland and New Zealand, and an owners corporation manager in Victoria) is engaged by the owners of a strata scheme to run its administration, finances and compliance. Think apartment blocks, townhouse complexes, retirement villages, and even commercial and industrial strata.

The scale is big. The Australasian Strata Insights Report 2024, produced by the Strata Community Association and UNSW City Futures, counts 368,234 strata schemes and 3,191,244 lots in Australia, with at least 4.2 million people (about 15% of the population) living in strata or community title. New Zealand has 15,678 schemes and 176,333 lots.

The workforce looks small next to that. The same report estimates 2,796 strata managers in Australia, backed by 3,656 other staff at strata management firms. Do the maths and you can see why good managers rarely struggle to find work.

What does a strata manager do day to day?

Each manager looks after a portfolio of buildings, and the week usually looks something like this:

• Meetings. Preparing agendas, running annual general meetings and committee meetings, recording minutes and making sure motions are passed properly.
• Money. Setting budgets, issuing levy notices, chasing arrears, paying invoices and keeping trust accounts reconciled.
• Maintenance and repairs. Getting quotes, briefing contractors and coordinating work on common property when the committee approves it.
• Insurance and compliance. Building insurance, fire safety, work health and safety, and the reporting the legislation requires.
• By-laws and disputes. Handling the barking dog, the parking fight, the renovation that went too far, and keeping it calm and fair.
• Big projects. Defect claims, cladding remediation and major upgrades. The Strata Insights report notes about half of Australia's strata buildings are more than 25 years old, so there's no shortage of this work.

You're part administrator, part accountant, part diplomat and part project manager. SEEK's strata manager career guide lists the skills employers ask for most: strata community management, property management, liaison skills, financial statements, customer service and thoroughness.

The skills that make a great strata manager

• Calm communication. You'll deal with frustrated owners. Staying fair and clear is half the job.
• Organisation. A portfolio means dozens of buildings, deadlines and contractors at once.
• Financial confidence. Budgets, levies and trust accounting have to be right.
• Knowing the legislation. Each state has its own strata laws, and committees will lean on you to explain them.
• Comfort with tech. Strata software, online voting and owner portals are now standard. AI tools such as Grok Bot, Claude or ChatGPT can be a useful start for drafting meeting notices, summarising long reports or writing plain-English updates for owners, as long as you check the details yourself.

Licensing in Australia and New Zealand

This is where it varies a lot, so always check the rules where you'll work.

• New South Wales has the strictest regime. You need a strata managing agent licence from NSW Fair Trading. There are two classes: a class 2 licence needs the Certificate IV in Strata Community Management (CPP40516, or CPP40521 including the trust funds unit), plus work experience tasks signed off in a logbook by a licensee in charge. Most people start with a certificate of registration as an assistant strata managing agent. You need to hold a class 2 licence for two years, and complete further training, before you can step up to class 1 and become a licensee in charge. Strata licence holders also need at least six hours of approved interactive CPD each year.
• Victoria requires anyone managing an owners corporation for a fee to be registered with the Business Licensing Authority. You need at least $2 million of professional indemnity insurance, and the 2026–27 application fee is $246.30. Big change coming: under new education rules, registered managers must complete any five core units of the Certificate IV in Strata Community Management by 30 June 2027, with annual CPD from 1 April 2028.
• Queensland currently has no licence. The Queensland Government says body corporate managers don't need to be licensed and there are no formal training requirements. You do have to follow the statutory code of conduct, including a good knowledge of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, and engagements can't run longer than three years.
• Other states and territories have their own rules, so check with your local fair trading or consumer affairs office before you start.
• New Zealand has no licence either, but the Unit Titles Act sets a code of conduct for body corporate managers. Developments with 10 or more principal units must engage a manager unless owners opt out by special resolution, which keeps demand steady.

My advice? Even where it's not compulsory, do the Certificate IV. The direction of travel is clearly towards more professional standards, and employers notice.

What do strata managers earn?

SEEK's career guide puts the typical strata manager salary at $98,000. Live job ads on SEEK in October 2026 show what experience can earn:

• A Sydney strata manager role focused on governance and committee advisory, advertised by Gough Recruitment at $145,000 plus super.
• A senior strata manager role in Caringbah, advertised by Linea Talent Group at up to $160,000 package plus Schedule B fees.
• A Brisbane "trainee to senior" role in Toowong at up to $115,000 package, and a remote Gold Coast role at up to $120,000 package.

Pay depends on portfolio size, building complexity, your state and whether you earn extra fees for out-of-scope work. Treat the top figures as what experienced managers can reach, not where you'll start.

Career path

1. Strata assistant or trainee strata manager. Plenty of firms advertise trainee roles. SEEK currently lists them in Canberra, Perth and Sydney Olympic Park.
2. Assistant strata manager. Supporting a senior manager's portfolio and learning meetings, levies and compliance.
3. Strata manager. Your own portfolio of buildings.
4. Senior strata manager. Larger, more complex buildings, high-rise and mixed-use.
5. Team leader, branch manager or licensee in charge, and eventually running your own strata business.

People often move into strata from residential property management, admin, bookkeeping or hospitality. Those customer service and juggling skills transfer beautifully.

How to get started

• Apply for trainee or assistant roles. Firms are used to training people up.
• Start the Certificate IV in Strata Community Management early, even part-time.
• Learn your state's legislation. Government strata and body corporate pages are a great free start.
• Join the Strata Community Association for networking, events and professional development.
• Practise running a calm meeting. It's the skill everyone remembers.

I genuinely think strata is one of the best-kept secrets in property. Australia is building more apartments and townhouses, older buildings need more care, and the profession is getting more professional every year. If you like people, numbers and fixing things, this could be your role.

Ready to find your first or next strata role? Browse strata and property jobs across Australia and New Zealand and get started today.

By Brett Iredale