Our team at The Strata Collective is often asked 'who should we invite to be on the Strata Committee'. The other similar question to this is 'what makes a good Strata Committee member' and 'how do we ensure that we have an active, functioning Strata Committee?
There are numerous articles written about how each Strata Committee should have a lawyer, an Accountant, an Engineer, a builder... to ensure that their Strata Committee is equipped with the right skills to effectively manage their Strata building.
The reality is that this is often not practical for a Strata building, as it is rare to have this level of disposable skill set within each building that is available and engaged to provide service to their Strata Committee.
The legislation is set out so that the Strata Manager and the Building Manager are the professionals responsible for providing expertise to a Strata Scheme. The Strata Committee is then required to make decisions based on the advice provided by experts to ensure that their Strata building is well managed.
The Strata Collective team believes that the below list is some of the characteristics of a great Strata Committee member:
- Enthusiastic and positive about serving their owners at their Strata building
- Is willing to work with other Strata Committee members
- Has sufficient time to attend to strata meetings, phone calls and emails promptly (this usually is about half an hour to an hour of time per week for larger buildings, less for smaller buildings)
- Is willing to report any issues at the property to management (such as by-law breaches and required repairs)
- Is familiar with receiving professional advice (eg from a lawyer or accountant) and has the common sense required to assess the information and advice provided to make decisions as and when required, even if the decision runs into thousands of dollars
- Has a basic understanding of trends and financial information to ensure that an independent review of the information from strata is provided
The above list does not include any technical skills as a pre-requisite to standing on the Strata Committee. Each Strata Committee member should bring their existing skill set and be willing to invest the time and energy to understand how their building works, the basics of Strata Law, how their Strata Scheme is designed to operate and how they can positively impact their Owners Corporation so that they can enjoy a positive strata culture with their neighbours.