The short version
- Strata management software runs the administration of a strata scheme: the roll, levies, meetings, records, by-laws, maintenance and communication.
- It is used by strata managers, committees, building managers and residents — often through different views of the same system.
- It is not property management (rent roll) software and not a building management system (mechanical plant).
- The best fit depends on whether your scheme's pain is accounting, operations or communication.
What a strata scheme actually has to manage
Every strata scheme — an owners corporation in NSW or Victoria, a body corporate in Queensland, a strata company in WA — is a small organisation with legal obligations. It keeps a roll of owners, raises levies into administrative and capital or sinking funds, holds an annual general meeting and committee meetings, maintains common property, enforces by-laws, keeps records for set periods, insures the building and communicates with residents who may be owners, tenants or neither.
Twenty years ago this ran on paper, a bank account and the strata manager's filing cabinet. Strata management software is simply the system that now holds all of it.
The five things it covers
The roll and the records
Owners, tenants, agents, voting entitlements, unit entitlements, contact preferences and the document register — with retention rules that match the Act.
Levies and funds
Budgets, levy notices, receipting, arrears, interest, payment plans and the trust account. In most agencies this is the hardest, most regulated part.
Meetings and decisions
AGM and committee meeting notices, agendas, motions, proxies, voting — increasingly electronic — minutes and the resolutions register.
Maintenance and compliance
Work orders, contractors, the asset register, preventive schedules, fire safety and essential services, insurances and the capital works or sinking fund plan.
Communication
Notices, emergency broadcasts, resident requests, bookings, by-law breaches and the two-way channel between residents, committee and manager.
Reporting
Financial statements, arrears, compliance status, open jobs, engagement and the statutory reporting some states now require (such as NSW Strata Hub).
Who uses it
Strata managing agents
Licensed agencies running dozens to thousands of schemes. Their core need is trust accounting and administration at scale, so they buy accounting-first systems and often add a separate operations or communication tool.
Strata committees
Volunteer owners who make decisions between AGMs. They need to see the finances, approve work, run meetings, manage by-laws and communicate with residents — without learning an enterprise accounting package.
Building managers and concierge
On-site staff in larger buildings. Their day is maintenance, contractors, parcels, visitors, bookings and incidents — the building management side of the scheme.
Residents
Owners and tenants who want to lodge a request, book the function room, read a notice or pay a levy without phoning anyone. Resident self-service is where most of the workload reduction actually comes from.
What it is not
Property management software (rent rolls, tenancies, landlord statements) manages individual lots on behalf of landlords. A building management system (BMS) controls mechanical plant — air handling, pumps, lighting. Strata management software sits between them: it manages the scheme and the common property, not the tenancy of a lot or the chiller in the basement. Some platforms, TowerDesk among them, also cover the building manager's operational work, which is why the categories blur.
Cloud, portals and "per building"
Older strata systems were installed at the agency; owners received paper or PDF statements. Modern platforms are cloud-hosted and give each scheme a portal that owners, committee members and residents log into. The newest design, which TowerDesk uses, gives every building its own portal on its own address — its own residents, committee, facilities, rules and records — while the manager sees the whole portfolio from one screen. When you are comparing options, ask what a resident and a committee member actually see, not just what the manager sees.
What to look for
- Built for Australian legislation — state terminology, fund names, notice periods and electronic voting rules.
- Australian hosting and data isolation — strata data is personal information.
- Resident self-service — requests, bookings, notices and payments without a phone call.
- An audit trail — who changed what and when, for the committee and the auditor.
- Honest pricing — per lot or per scheme is easier to budget than per user or per module.
- Continuity at handover — records stay with the building when the manager changes.
For a vendor-neutral way to shortlist, read our 2026 buyer's guide to strata management software.
See what a building portal looks like
TowerDesk gives each building its own portal covering operations, residents and committee governance, with financial management as an optional add-on. Book a walkthrough on your own building.
Frequently asked questions
What does strata management software do?
It holds and runs the administration of a strata scheme: the roll of owners and residents, levies and funds, meetings and voting, by-laws and breaches, maintenance and compliance, communication with residents, and the records and reports the legislation requires.
Is strata software the same as property management software?
No. Property management software manages tenancies and rent on behalf of landlords for individual lots. Strata management software manages the scheme and its common property on behalf of all owners.
Do small self-managed schemes need software?
Small schemes can run on spreadsheets, but they lose the audit trail, the reminders and the continuity when the volunteer doing the work moves out. Lot-based pricing means a small scheme can use a proper portal for a modest annual cost — see our guide to software for self-managed strata.
Do residents need to install an app?
Not with TowerDesk. Residents use their building's portal in a browser on any device, with email and SMS notifications. Some other platforms require a native app.
Is strata data kept in Australia?
It depends on the vendor. TowerDesk hosts on Australian infrastructure and isolates each building's data. Ask any vendor where data is hosted and who can access it.