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Victoria only · Owners corporations

Strata management in Victoria: owners corporations, box by box

If you own a flat, apartment or unit in Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria says you are likely to be a member of an owners corporation, the body that manages the common property of a development. This guide opens six boxes: what an owners corporation is, who may manage one for a fee, its fees and maintenance plan, its rules, the certificate a buyer receives, and what happens when people disagree.

Published by Dotto as a plain-language guide to Victoria’s owners corporation law, drawn from Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Business Licensing Authority, VCAT and the legislation. General information, not legal advice. Every rule here is Victoria’s; the other states and territories have their own laws and their own bodies, listed below.

The six boxes

  1. Lot 01What an owners corporation isLots, common property, the five tiers, and why a car space can be a lot of its own.
  2. Lot 02Registered managersWho must be registered to manage an owners corporation for a fee, and how to check the public register.
  3. Lot 03Fees and the maintenance planAnnual and special fees, the fee notices, and the plan for the next ten years of repairs.
  4. Lot 04The rulesThe model rules, making new ones, and the vote and registration a new rule needs.
  5. Lot 05The owners corporation certificateWhat a buyer receives when a lot is sold, and what the certificate must contain.
  6. Lot 06When there is a disputeThe internal process first, then the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria and VCAT.

The building’s own box

The owners corporation has a letterbox of its own, or a sign. Consumer Affairs Victoria says every owners corporation must keep one or the other, showing its current contact details, and keep those details up to date. It is one way to reach the body that looks after the shared parts of the building.

Behind that box, the owners corporation works at four levels. In Consumer Affairs Victoria’s words:

  1. All the owners“The owners corporation, consisting of all the lot owners.”
  2. The committee“The committee, consisting of elected lot owners or lot owners’ proxies.”
  3. A delegate of the owners corporation“A delegate of the owners corporation. For example: the chairperson, the secretary, a committee member, a lot owner, or an employee of the owners corporation.”
  4. A delegate of the committee“A delegate of the committee. The committee may delegate to a lot owner, a manager or sub delegate to a member of the committee.”
A wall of brass letterbox doors with patterned borders, each with a round lock and a number plate, numbered from 544 to 624.
Numbered brass letterbox doors, a round lock on each. Photo by Pexels on Pixabay

Where the official word is kept

Each guide here is drawn from these Victorian bodies and laws. For anything about your own building, they are the places to check.

Outside Victoria

Nothing in this guide applies outside Victoria. Each state and territory has its own strata, body corporate or unit titles law, and its own body to explain it. These are their pages; this guide does not summarise them.

About this guide

stratamanagement.net.au is a guide published by Dotto. It explains how owners corporations work in Victoria, from the pages of Consumer Affairs Victoria, the Business Licensing Authority, VCAT and the Victorian legislation site. It names no management company and quotes no manager’s prices. Where this guide and a source differ, the source is right.

Sources for this page