Western Australia does not license strata managers. Landgate’s WA Strata Living Guide says so in as many words, then lists what the law asks for instead: a minimum level of education (which takes effect on 1 November 2027), criminal record checks, and professional indemnity insurance kept at a set level. A paid manager also sends Landgate a periodic return, with general information about the schemes it looks after.
General informationThis page describes the Strata Titles Act 1985 and its regulations, which Landgate administers for the State. It is not advice about any scheme, manager or contract. Landgate’s Strata Enquiry Line is (08) 9273 7047, and the State Administrative Tribunal’s strata page says that legal advice on a strata matter means seeing a lawyer.
Requirements instead of a licence
The requirements come from the Strata Titles (General) Regulations 2019, and Landgate names three of them: a criminal record check, an educational qualification and insurance. The Act ties them to the manager’s authority itself. Section 144 says that, whatever a strata company has authorised, a person is not authorised to act as its strata manager unless:
- a contract or volunteer agreement is in force between the manager and the strata company;
- the manager, and each of its agents, employees and contractors, meets the regulations on criminal record checks, on educational or other qualifications, and on any other matter relevant to the work; and
- the manager keeps the professional indemnity insurance the regulations require.
In other words, the requirements are conditions of holding the company’s keys at all, rather than a card issued once by a regulator.
The three requirements and the return
- Criminal record check
A manager who is an individual gets a national criminal record check every three years. Where the manager is a company, each director needs one every three years.
- Professional indemnity insurance
The cover must relate to the manager’s work as a strata manager and be at least $1,000,000 for any one claim (Landgate’s figure, as at October 2026).
- Education
Set by role, and in effect from 1 November 2027; until then a manager’s contract need not warrant that its staff hold them. But a new contract made before then must state, among other things, whether each person working for the manager as a principal, a strata community manager or an assistant strata community manager holds them when the contract is made, and that the law requires the manager to see that each of them does by the end of 31 October 2027. An existing contract that met the former regulations’ warranty requirements must meet the new contract requirements by 30 October 2026. The qualifications are set out in the next section.
- Periodic return
Under section 153, the regulations can require a paid manager to lodge a return of aggregated information about the schemes it manages, which may be used to publish a list of strata managers and to advise the Minister.
The education changes, by date
The Lands Regulations (Community and Strata Titles) Amendment Regulations 2025 changed the 2019 regulations. Three dates matter:
- 30 October 2025
The amending regulations commenced.
- 30 October 2026
The end of the transition for existing contracts that met the former warranty requirements: by this date they must meet the new contract requirements.
- 1 November 2027
The new educational qualifications take effect, after a two-year transition. From this date a strata management business must warrant that each of its staff holds the qualification their role requires for as long as the contract runs (regulation 97), and must show the strata company evidence if it asks in writing.
| Role | Qualification | For a “qualified person” |
|---|---|---|
| Principal of the strata manager | Either a Diploma of Property (Agency Management – Strata), or the whole Certificate IV in Strata Community Management, fully completed (regulation 95). | 6 units of the Certificate IV. |
| Strata community manager | A Certificate IV in Strata Community Management. | 6 units of the Certificate IV. |
| Assistant strata community manager | 6 units of the Certificate IV, completed within two years of starting in the role. | 4 units, within the same two years. |
“Qualified person” is a term the regulations define; it does not carry its everyday meaning, and the education it requires sets a lower bar than for someone outside the definition. A Certificate IV in Strata Community Management that has since been superseded still counts as the qualification the regulations name.
Paid and volunteer managers side by side
Paid or not, a strata manager has to act in the best interests of the scheme, inside a framework of responsibilities the law sets. What each one carries differs:
| Point | Paid manager | Volunteer manager |
|---|---|---|
| Who and what for | Engaged under a strata management contract to take on set duties and powers of the strata company, for a fee. | An owner of a lot in the scheme who does the work personally, free or for an honorary fee of no more than $250 a calendar year for each lot (as at October 2026). |
| Agreement | A strata management contract. | A volunteer agreement, the volunteer’s version of that contract. |
| Criminal record check | Every three years. | A national check given to the strata company every 3 years. |
| Education | By role, from 1 November 2027, as above. | The regulations cannot require particular qualifications. |
| Indemnity insurance | Required. | Not required by section 144. |
| Money received | Paid into a trust account, or the company’s own account if it authorises that. | Paid into an account of the strata company, which must have one. |
| Periodic return | Yes. | Section 153 leaves volunteers out. |
The duties every manager carries
Landgate’s summary of the 2020 reform lists statutory duties for strata managers among its changes, meant to give the whole industry one clear standard. Section 146 of the Act sets them out. A strata manager must always act honestly and in good faith, use a reasonable degree of skill, care and diligence, and have a good working knowledge of the Act. It must not make improper use of information it gains in the role, or of the role itself, to win an advantage for itself or anyone else or to harm the strata company or one of its members, and it must take reasonable steps to see that its agents, employees and contractors follow the Act.
Two duties are about telling the company things in writing, as soon as practicable: any interest the manager has that conflicts, or may conflict, with its work (section 146), and the amount or value of any payment or benefit it receives from someone other than the strata company in connection with the work, above a threshold the regulations set (section 147).
Finding out who your manager is
An owner can find the manager’s name and contact details on the strata roll, which the strata company keeps. What the manager may do for the company is set by the company, which is the subject of the guide to what a strata company can lend a manager.