Consultancy & F.A.Q.s

The term Strata has many different meanings, depending on context. The term is used interchangeably to refer to a building or complex of buildings with more than one separate owner, Strata Management, the Owners Corporation or the Strata Committee. Colloquially and most commonly, however, it simply means a building with multiple separate owners.

Strata "Scheme" - the Building

A Strata Scheme refers to the building, and applies to any building or complex of buildings where parts of the land are owned by multiple different parties. For instance, in your typical apartment building, every unit owner owns their lot, and also owns a portion of common facilities like the roof/foyer/basement, driveway/garage, stairs/elevators, and infrastructure like the switchboard and water/sewerage pipes. This collectively owned portion is called 'common property'. A Strata Scheme, in the context of the building, can also be referred to as a Scheme, building, complex, 'the Strata', or Strata Title.

Owners Corporation - the Legal Entity

The Owners Corporation is the name for all owners, collectively, as well as the legal entity representing the Strata Scheme. If the Strata Scheme is a nation, the Owners Corporation is the citizenry. The Owners Corporation is the ultimate authority within a Strata Scheme, and certain decisions - like appointing a Strata Committee, changing the appearance of the Scheme, approving major renovations or appointing a Strata or Building Manager - must be made by the Owners Corporation at a General Meeting.

Strata "Committee" - the Governance

A Strata Committee is a group of people, usually (but not always) lot owners, who make interim or day-to-day decisions on behalf of the Owners Corporation. If the Strata Scheme is a nation, the Strata Committee is the government. It is the responsibility of the Strata Committee to make decisions on behalf of the Owners Corporation in matters of repairs, by-law enforcement, minor renovation approvals, as well as gather information and present proposals for improvements and new/amended by-laws to the Owners Corporation for approval.

Strata "Management" - the Administrator

Your Strata Manager is a trained and qualified professional that assists the Owners Corporation and Strata Committee in the management of your scheme. The Strata Manager actions instructions from the Owners Corporation and Strata Committee, obtains quotes and issues work orders, proposes budgets for approval, issues levy notices, issues, runs and minutes meetings, and more. The Strata Manager is only allowed to make decisions as instructed by the Strata Committee/Owners Corporation, or as required by law.

A Strata Scheme, Community Association or BMC will be implemented when there are Shared Facilities or Common Property owned by multiple separate owners, or where there are rules by which the multiple different owners must abide. Examples of these are common gardens, driveways and carparks, pools and other recreational facilities, infrastructure like power and water, or simply shared structures like a wall dividing two lots or a single roof covering more than one lot. Common property also applies colloquially to financial responsibilities of the Owners Corporation or Association, like fees for Strata or Building Managers, cleaners and gardeners, or paying for building insurance.

The amount of common property will vary by building. A standard apartment complex will have more common property, and therefore more expenses, than a standalone townhouse complex where each townhouse is physically separate from the others.

Beyond the tangible, Strata also exists to apply uniform rights and responsibilities on owners and occupants, such as noise, use of common property, appearance of the lot, and more.

The beginning

Most typically, a building is built with the intention of being registered under Strata or Community Title upon completion by the original developer. However, an existing structure or group of structures could be converted to Strata or Community Title at any time after completion. Examples of this include large houses, commercial, or industrial spaces converted into apartments. While Strata is typically applied when there are (or an intent to have) multiple separate owners, nothing prevents a single owner from owning every lot in a strata scheme. At that point, the single owner may preserve the Strata/Community Title (for instance, if they wish to be able to sell some of the lots in the future) or terminate it to remove unnecessary compliance requirements under legislation.

The end

A Strata or Community Title remains in place until terminated by the Owners. This is exceptionally rare, and would only be applicable when the entire complex is owned by a single owner, or it is destroyed (and won't be rebuilt) or will be destroyed following a collective sale. Less commonly, a termination could also be implemented if the land was to be subdivided, after which a new or different Title could be registered.

Unfortunately, these questions don't really apply to Strata, but we didn't want them to feel left out.

Your Strata Manager is a trained and qualified professional that assists the Owners Corporation and Strata Committee in the management of your scheme. The Strata Manager actions instructions from the Owners Corporation and Strata Committee, obtains quotes and issues work orders, proposes budgets for approval, issues levy notices, arranges, runs and minutes meetings, and more. The Strata Manager is only allowed to make decisions as instructed by the Strata Committee/Owners Corporation, or as required by law.

Your Strata Manager will usually be your first port of call for any questions or issues you have with your scheme.

Think of these different Associations like a Russian nesting doll; each group is responsible for their own specific governance while also complying with the requirements of the larger Association in the same way as individual units are responsible to comply with strata laws.

Moving from largest to smallest:

Community Association

Think of a Community Association like a strata scheme that spans an entire suburb, and may include facilities like roads, pools, parks, tennis courts, etc. A developer will implement a Community Assocation if they want to create and maintain a masterplanned community; this allows the Community to manage the appearance of the buildings within the scheme, collect mutual funds to maintain common facilities like roads, streetlights and pools, and enforce rules for behaviour of private lots and usage of common facilities. A Community Association may be comprised of Neighbourhood Associations, Precints, Strata Plans or individual lots like homes, offices, public facilities etc.

Neighbourhood Association

A Neighbourhood Association is like a Community Association, but on a smaller scale. Within your larger Community, you may have a number of separate buildings that each share a pool, park, carpark or garden that isn't available for use by the public or other members of the Community. In this case, those buildings would form a Neighbourhood Association to collect maintenance funds and govern the use of their own facilities and members. A Neighbourhood within a Community Association represents all Neighbourhood members collectively. A Neighbourhood Associations may be comprised of Precints, Strata Plans or individual lots.

Precinct Association

A Precinct Association is the smallest grouping in this category, and may exist to apply specific rules to specialist needs within a Neighbourhood or Community Association. For instance, a shopping district would have different needs, and therefore rules, than the rest of the Association. Like a Neighbourhood, Precincts represent all members collectively. A Precinct is comprised of Strata Plans or individual lots only.

Individual lots

These are private houses, Strata Schemes, commercial/industrial facilities like offices, restaurants, and public facilities like religious structures or public services.

While they are self-governing, they are also required to adhere to all rules and responsibilities of all larger Associations.

General

Each group pays levies to the applicable level above them; a unit pays levies to the strata scheme, which pays levies to the Precinct, which pays levies to the Neighbourhood, which finally pays levies to the Community Association. You also must follow all rules of your level and each level above.

A Building Management Committee (BMC) is, essentially, "a strata scheme made of strata schemes". Envision a single tower: within that tower exists a shopping centre on the bottom floors, a hotel occupying the middle floors, and a normal residential strata scheme on the top floors. These three parts have very different needs and use the building very differently. For instance, the shopping centre may use more more water and power, as well as more of the carpark, but being on the lower floors they don't use the lifts as much. Meanwhile, the residential strata scheme at the top uses less water, power, and the carpark, but more of the lifts, as well as the common property pool. The hotel uses the building somewhere between these two ends of the spectrum. This is where the BMC comes in: a BMC is a contract between the parties that governs not only how the parties interact with the building and each other, but also how they apportion costs. In a typical Strata Scheme, each lot pays their share of levies based on their Units of Entitlement, determined by the value of the unit when the building was registered. In a BMC, however, each party pays based on how much they use a part of the building - referred to as a Shared Facility. Using the example above, the residential scheme would pay 100% of the costs of maintaining their pool, because neither the hotel nor the shopping centre use it. Meanwhile, the shopping centre may pay for 80% of carpark maintenance costs, because the majority of the space is used by them. The BMC will also have other rules governing interaction between the parties, such as timed noise restrictions for the shops or hotel events, behaviour of guests and invitees in common areas, as well as voting powers for each party on a given matter. Given that BMCs are custom designed to apply to their specific building, their needs and management requirements are often entirely unique. You should speak to your Strata Manager for specific advice.

Most simply, Common Property (Strata), Community Property (Community) and Shared Facilities (BMC) are building elements that are used by or affect more than one owner. However, there are many exceptions to this definition.

Items defined as common property or shared facilities will vary from building to building, be subject to by-laws/management statements, whether a Common Property Memorandum has been adopted and any variations, and the age and design of the complex.

The Owners Corporation/Community/BMC is responsible to repair and maintain any Common/Community Property or Shared Facilities.

A non-exhaustive list of examples and exceptions are:

• Floor slabs, ceilings, roofs and walls that separate parts of common property, a lot from the common property (a foyer or external area), another lot, or a balcony or courtyard, including any windows and doors.

  • Exceptions:

  • Walls separating a lot from their balcony or courtyard in buildings registered prior to 1 July 1974.

  • Any structures that have been renovated or are otherwise the subject of a Common Property Rights/Exclusive Use By-law.

  • In some schemes, the floor, walls and roof of townhouses that are physically separate from each other can be the responsibility of the lot owner, if stipulated by the Registered Strata Plan or in the by-laws.

• Any flooring affixed to the slab, such as tiles, affixed floorboards, glued linoleum etc.

  • Exceptions:

  • Floating floors (floorboards held down by gravity only).

  • Carpets

  • Any flooring installed before registration of the Strata Scheme.

• Infrastructure such as water and gas pipes, power conduits, sewerage and drainage pipes, ventilation systems, waterproofing.

  • Exceptions:

  • Water pipes within the airspace of the lot (such as flexihoses beneath a kitchen sink).

  • Any infrastructure servicing only one lot.

  • Any infrastructure that has been renovated and is subject to a Common Property Rights/Exclusive Use By-law.

• Lights recessed in ceilings (downlights).

  • Exceptions:

  • A by-law may make recessed lights the responsibility of the lot owner.

• Carparks/Garages

  • Exceptions:

  • Owners are responsible for the airspace of their garage/carspace and, subject to by-laws, may be responsible for the garage door and garage door motor, if applicable. If you have a storage cage within your carspace/garage, you may also be responsible for repairs.

• Lifts, stairs/fire escapes, foyers.

  • Exceptions:

  • Depending on the design and by-laws of your building, you may be responsible for a portion of these areas that relate to your lot.

• Recreation facilities (pool, garden, barbeque, gym etc.) and communal property (such as pool chairs, garden hoses/tools, BBQ utensils, gym equipment).

  • Exceptions:

  • None.

Insurance

It is important to note here that insurance can modify who is responsible to pay for repairs. Legislation requires that an Owners Corporation insures the building, not just the common property (which is why insurance can pay to rebuild a kitchen within a unit despite it not being common property). This doesn't change the definition of what is common property, only who is responsible to pay for repairs. This is less common in Community Associations and BMCs given the nature of those organisations.