Short version: one person, usually the secretary, sets the scheme up in five steps: register, create the scheme, add the lots with their unit entitlements, record every owner on the strata roll, then invite whoever will use the app. Owners who never sign up still appear on the roll, on notices and on levies.
Create an account. Only the first person needs to self-register: choose Register and sign up with your email and a password (8+ characters). Everyone else can be set up in advance and invited (below), or self-register and be attached later.
Create your scheme. If you don’t know your strata plan number, use Find it by address — the form searches the NSW register and fills the plan number and address for you; typed numbers are verified against the register too, and the optional ABN can be looked up from the plan number. The creator automatically receives all officer roles and can hand them out or give them up later.
Add lots. Under Owners & lots, on the Lots tab, use Add all lots at once — the row count is prefilled from the NSW register — or add them one by one. Either way you type each unit entitlement from your strata plan’s schedule (the register doesn’t publish them); entitlements drive levy splits and special-resolution counting, so copy them exactly, and check the running aggregate against your plan. Where to find your unit entitlements explains where the schedule is and how to get it.
Record owners on the roll. Under Owners & lots, use Add owner for every owner, individual or company, whether or not they will ever use the app. The same form records the lot they own (as a new owner after a sale, or as a co-owner) and can create their invite link.
Invite them (optional, everything pre-set). An officer can set a person up completely before they register: choose the roles the invite grants (owner by default — or committee, secretary, treasurer for incoming office-holders) and send them the single-use link. Registering with it links their account to the roll entry, grants the chosen roles and gives them access — no follow-up steps. The link expires 7 days after it is issued; until then the roll shows invited · expires … beside that person and an officer can Copy invite link again from their row, so a mislaid link is never a dead end. Once it has lapsed, Re-issue invite replaces it with a fresh one.
An invite is locked to one email. It needs the person’s email on the roll, and the link only works for that address. Strata doesn’t email it for you: copy the link and send it yourself. No email yet? Add the owner anyway and use Edit details… on their row when you have it. Changing the email cancels any unused invite, so a link sent to the wrong address stops working. Someone who already has a Strata account (in another scheme, or an officer adding themselves as an owner) signs in and opens the link to accept: nothing is duplicated, and the roles they already hold stay as they are.
Scheme settings. Set the financial-year start month (default July), opening fund balances if you’re migrating mid-year, and key compliance dates (last AGM, insurance valuation, capital works plan). These feed the reminders on Home. You can also disable arrears interest here if your owners corporation has resolved not to charge it.
Use Add owner under Owners & lots, pick their lot, choose that it replaces the previous owner, and set the date they took ownership. No account is needed. The previous owner isn’t deleted; they move into the lot’s ownership history (kept 7 years, as the roll requires). Optionally send the new owner an invite so their account arrives linked and ready.
A person can hold several roles at once, which is normal in small schemes. In a 3-lot scheme the same owner is often secretary and treasurer.
| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Owner | View their own ledger and levy notices, lodge maintenance requests, view documents and notices, vote their lot at meetings, request a payment plan |
| Committee | Everything an owner can, plus run the maintenance workflow and view all scheme records |
| Treasurer | Committee powers, plus strike levies, record payments and expenses, manage budgets |
| Secretary | Committee powers, plus manage meetings, notices, documents, members and roles, payment-plan intake |
| Chairperson | Committee powers, plus preside over meetings and close motions |
Rule of thumb: anyone in the scheme can read; committee and officers write — except actions that are naturally yours (your own maintenance request, your lot’s vote, your payment-plan request). Owners see their own money in detail; scheme-wide financial records are visible to the committee and officers.
Office-bearers without an account. Not everyone on the committee will use Strata, and they don’t have to. On the owner’s row in Owners & lots, Edit details… has On the strata committee and Offices held, so the secretary can keep them on the record. They count towards committee quorum, can be recorded as attending and voting, and are named as office-bearers on the minutes and on Scheme details. Holding an office puts them on the committee; taking them off the committee ends any office. If they join later, their seat and offices move onto their account.
Home opens with Needs you: everything that wants someone to act, most urgent first, each with the one thing to do about it. That covers urgent repairs, lots that owe money (the committee sees every lot, an owner only their own), a meeting notice still to send, and the compliance dates below when they are overdue or coming up. Under it are quick actions for the everyday jobs, the fund balances, the next meeting and recent notices. The compliance checks that watch the calendar for you:
A once-a-month look at Home is enough to never miss an AGM, a plan review or a Strata Hub report.
Current as at 6 October 2026. Strata surfaces statutory rules as guidance, but it is record-keeping software, not legal advice, and no page here accounts for the particulars of your scheme. Check the Act, your registered strata plan and your by-laws, and get advice before acting on anything with money or a dispute attached.