What strata records software does

Strata records software is a database for a shared building. It keeps the lists, money records, meeting papers and messages that a scheme builds up, and it ties them to each lot. That's the whole idea.

A "strata scheme" is a building or estate where people own their own unit and share the common areas. Wikipedia calls strata title a form of ownership devised for multi-level apartment blocks and for subdivisions with shared areas¹. The group of owners is called an owners corporation in New South Wales and a body corporate in some other places. The names differ by state and country.

The jobs it takes on

The NSW Government's record-keeping page lists the kinds of records a scheme there keeps². They include:

• the strata roll, which is the list of owners
• financial records, such as receipts, invoices, bank statements and a record of levies
• communications sent and received
• documents from meetings, such as notices and minutes

The NSW page says nothing about software. Check each maker's own documentation for the jobs a product covers. This site has a page on each:

• Levy notices and payment records for each lot. See levy tracking and arrears records.
• Agendas, minutes and votes. See meeting minutes, agendas and resolutions.
• Repair requests and contractor jobs. See maintenance requests and work orders.
• Contact details for owners and tenants. See owner and tenant contact records.
• A portal or email system for sending notices. See owner portals and sending notices.

Which of these you need depends on who is doing the work. A volunteer committee in a small block has different needs from a manager who looks after dozens of buildings.

Where the lot sits at the centre

Good tools hang everything off the lot. One lot has an owner, maybe a tenant, a levy balance, a few emails and a repair history. If the tool stores these in separate places with no link, you're back to a spreadsheet and an inbox.

That's the first thing to check. Ask the maker to show how a single lot's page pulls these records together. Ask what happens when a lot is sold and the owner changes.

Who looks after repairs, and why the record matters

In NSW, owners are told to ask their strata manager or strata committee for common property repairs³. That request needs an owner, a date, a decision and a result. A tool that logs each step gives the next committee something to read. Without it, the story leaves with whoever held the inbox.

Why a lot-by-lot view helps a changing committee

Committees change. Volunteers move out, managers lose contracts, and a new secretary inherits a mailbox. The records in the list above don't stop being needed when the people do. A system that keeps them under the scheme, rather than under one person's login, is worth asking about. So is the question of who owns the login.

What to ask before you pay

Nothing here is a ranking. These are questions you can put to any maker, and the answers should come from their own documentation.

• Can you export every record, including old ones, in a format another system can read?
• Who can see what? Can a tenant see levy balances, and can a committee member see another lot's payments?
• Is there a history of changes, showing who edited a record and when?
• What does it cost, in which currency, and what's the date on the price page? Prices can change, so write down the day you checked.
• Which country's rules was it built around? Record-keeping rules differ between states and countries, so a tool built for one place may not fit another.

The record-keeping rules in this site's examples come from New South Wales. They apply there, and only there. Your scheme's own regulator, or a strata lawyer, is the place to confirm what you must keep. Software doesn't decide that for you.