Strata Manager Duties, Ethics, and Regulatory Compliance
The manager's role and duties
A strata manager acts as agent for the strata corporation, not for individual owners or the council personally. Duties include maintaining records (strata roll, minutes, financials, contracts), preparing budgets and notices, coordinating meetings, and ensuring compliance with the SPA and bylaws. Managers must act honestly, in good faith, and in the best interests of the corporation, avoiding conflicts of interest and self-dealing.
Licensing and regulatory framework
In BC, strata managers must be licensed under the licensing regime administered by the regulator (historically the Financial Institutions Commission, now BC Financial Services Authority). Licensing requires education, bonding, and continuing professional development. Managers must keep client funds in trust accounts, separate from their own, and account for them.
Ethics and traps
- Accepting commissions or gifts from contractors without disclosure.
- Acting on council instructions that conflict with the Act or bylaws.
- Failing to disclose a personal interest in a contract.
- Commingling trust funds with operating funds.
- Breaching confidentiality of owner records.
Rule of thumb
If an instruction would require the manager to breach the Act, bylaws, or fiduciary duty, the manager must decline and document the refusal. Loyalty to the corporation trumps loyalty to the council majority.
Worked example
A council asks a manager to award a maintenance contract to a councillor's company without tender. The manager must disclose the conflict, decline to proceed without owner approval, and document the advice given.