A Family Business
During the 1980s, Strata Choice founders Maria Linders and her husband Peter were active and experienced property investors in the strata title property market in Sydney’s Lower North Shore.
Over the years, Maria spent a large amount of her time serving on various strata committees in Sydney and regional New South Wales. This gave her insight into what to look for when determining the difference between a well-maintained apartment building and one requiring extensive levy contributions to bring it up to the standard required.
In 1984, Maria saw a need and gap in the market for an experienced pro-active strata management company. Maria undertook the necessary educational requirements to obtain her strata managing agent’s license and established her new company M Linders Strata Management Pty Ltd, trading from the family home in Lane Cove.
Maria’s business philosophy from the beginning was to provide a quality, personalised service to clients. Maria used her experience as a strata title property owner and active strata committee member to establish a network of suppliers she could trust to carry out professional and efficient repairs and maintenance at the properties under Linders’ management.
In 1993, after ten years of managing a small portfolio of properties, Linders Strata Management employed Maria’s daughter Jackie and son Daniel. Moving from the family home to its first office in the Lane Cove shopping precinct, Linders steadily grew and quickly became one of Sydney’s premier specialist strata management companies.
Maria’s son Geoff joined the business in 2002. Possessing a trade background, Geoff established a building and facility management offering assisting committee members and residents with onsite support at their buildings. Linders was one of the first strata management companies to offer this service to its clients.
Maria furthered her contribution to the strata industry by serving on the Board of Directors of The Institute of Strata Title Management for six years, holding various positions, including Vice President and member of the Ethics Committee.
In 2004, the Institute recognised Maria’s commitment to the advancement and collaboration of the industry by presenting her with the President’s Award, and in 2009 Maria was deservingly granted life membership.
Maria also held senior stakeholder positions in the industry, including serving 13 years as a council member of the Office of Fair Trading Property Services Advisory Council, who advised and made recommendations to the Minister for Fair Trading. Maria also held a position as a Small Business Advisory Group member for 10 years, advising the Australian Taxation Office in areas that would assist small businesses and their clients.
In 2008, Maria officially retired and handed over the reigns to her children to run the business. Shortly afterwards, Linders changed its trading name to Strata Choice.
In 2016, Strata Choice received the Strata Community Australia (NSW) Strata Management Business of the Year Award. Again, this success was achieved in 2017 & 2018 by winning the award for three consecutive years.
In early 2017, Strata Choice led the industry again by adding another service division providing repairs and maintenance services. This initiative was formally recognised and awarded the Excellence in Innovation Award by Strata Community Association (NSW) in 2019.
In 2018, Strata Choice expanded its service offering to include and become specialist Company Title managers by acquiring the prestigious and well-known company – Di Smithers Strata in Potts Point.
In 2020 and 2021, Strata Choice was again recognised as a finalist in the SCA (NSW) industry awards for their commitment to Excellence in Innovation and Strata Management.
In 2022, Strata Choice achieved remarkable success as they were crowned NSW’s Strata Management Business of the Year and stood out once more as Finalist for Excellence in Innovation. To ensure they kept ahead of the competition while providing superior coordination and communication among branches, Strata Choice centralised its offices to Sydney’s CBD – a move that increased efficiency and streamlined operations tremendously.
Strata Choice now employs 73 team members, servicing over 24,000 owners in Sydney.