How to resolve a strata dispute

Common property is generally everything not inside the boundaries of a lot: external walls, the roof, the structural slab, common stairwells, driveways, gardens, and the pipes and cabling serving more than one lot. Lot property is what is inside your boundaries — typically the internal surfaces inward, fixtures you installed, and services exclusively serving your lot. The registered strata plan is the authoritative document and it is worth actually reading.

The boundary is usually at the surface, not the centre of the wall, in most residential schemes. That means the plaster, paint and tiles are commonly yours and the structure behind them is common property. It also means a leak originating in a common property pipe that damages your paint is a shared problem: the owners corporation repairs the pipe, and liability for the consequential damage depends on the circumstances and the insurance.

Windows and doors on the boundary are a classic ambiguity. In many schemes the frame is common property and the glass, or the internal fittings, are not. Balconies frequently have the structure and waterproof membrane as common property while the tiles above the membrane are the lot owner's. Get this right before spending money, because paying for a repair that was the owners corporation's duty is rarely recoverable afterwards.

Air conditioning units, hot water systems and exhaust fans usually serve one lot but are often mounted on or vent through common property. The equipment is generally the owner's; the penetration through common property usually requires approval, and installing without it is a standing source of dispute years later when someone notices.

The owners corporation's duty to repair and maintain common property is strict in most jurisdictions — meaning it is not excused by lack of funds, by an argument that the defect is minor, or by a decision at a general meeting not to do the work. Owners frequently accept a committee's refusal as final when it is directly challengeable.

Insurance sits across the boundary. The owners corporation must hold building insurance covering the building and common property, and owners hold contents and their own liability cover. A water damage claim commonly involves both policies, and the excess question is a frequent flashpoint. Ask for a copy of the certificate of currency — owners are entitled to it.

Where a defect is a building defect in a newer building, a different set of remedies may apply, including statutory warranties against the builder, defect bond schemes in some states, and regulator involvement. Chasing the owners corporation for a builder's defect wastes time that may be running against a warranty period.

Put it in writing to the strata manager or the secretary of the owners corporation, and keep a copy. Describe the problem, when it started, what damage it is causing, what you want done, and by when. Verbal complaints to a committee member at the letterbox generate no record and no obligation.

Ask for the relevant documents at the same time. Owners can inspect the scheme's records: minutes, financial statements, the by-laws as currently registered, insurance certificates, contracts with the strata manager, and correspondence about the issue. If a committee is refusing to act, the minutes usually explain why, and that reasoning is what you will need to challenge.

Check the by-law you are being asked to comply with, or relying on, against the register rather than against the booklet you were handed at settlement. By-laws change, model by-laws have been amended by legislation, and some provisions have been rendered invalid by later law. Enforcing or obeying a by-law that no longer stands is common.

Escalate to the committee formally if the manager does not act. Ask for the matter to be listed on the agenda for the next committee meeting, and ask for the decision and reasons in writing. Owners can generally also require a general meeting if enough owners support it, which is the lever for matters a committee will not put to the owners.

Follow the internal dispute process if the scheme has one. Several jurisdictions require or encourage internal complaint handling before external steps, and a tribunal will ask what you did first.

Keep paying your levies throughout. Withholding levies to force action is the single most self-defeating move in strata: it exposes you to recovery action with interest and costs, it damages your position in any dispute, and it does not create any obligation on the owners corporation.

Set a deadline and mean it. If a reasonable written request with a reasonable timeframe has produced nothing, move to mediation rather than sending a fifth letter. Delay favours whoever does not want the work done.

Mediation is the mandatory or strongly expected next step in most jurisdictions and it is free or inexpensive. In New South Wales it is run through the state's fair trading service; in Victoria, Consumer Affairs Victoria provides conciliation for owners corporation disputes; in Queensland the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management runs conciliation as a formal step before adjudication.

It works more often than people expect, because most strata disputes are about deadlock rather than principle. A neutral third party who can explain to both sides what a tribunal would probably do resolves a large share of matters without anyone paying for a hearing.

Prepare for it like a hearing anyway. Bring the strata plan, the by-laws, the correspondence, photographs, any expert report, and a written statement of the orders you want. Vague grievances get vague outcomes; specific proposals get agreements.

If mediation fails, the pathway is the state tribunal — NCAT in New South Wales, VCAT in Victoria, and equivalents elsewhere — except in Queensland, where body corporate disputes go to adjudication through the Commissioner's office rather than to the general tribunal in the first instance.

Tribunals can make a wide range of orders: requiring repairs to common property, invalidating or varying a by-law, ordering a person to stop conduct in breach of by-laws, appointing a compulsory strata manager where governance has broken down, invalidating a resolution passed improperly, and resolving levy and record-access disputes.

Costs are usually modest and each party generally bears its own, which is deliberate — these forums are designed to be accessible without lawyers. Representation is often only permitted with leave. That changes the preparation task: the documents and a clear chronology matter more than advocacy.

Enforcement is a separate step. A tribunal order that is ignored can be enforced, and breaching certain orders can attract penalties, but nothing happens automatically. Build the follow-up into your expectations rather than assuming the order ends the matter.

For a small number of disputes — large defect claims, insurance disputes over significant sums, or matters involving a developer — the tribunal may not be the right forum at all, and proper legal advice at the outset is worth the cost.

Water ingress is the most common and the most expensive. It usually involves common property, it usually damages lot property, and it usually takes longer to fix than anyone accepts. The productive approach is to separate the three questions — who repairs the source, who pays for the damage, and who pays the insurance excess — because conflating them stalls all three.

Noise disputes turn on the by-laws and on whether the noise is unreasonable rather than merely audible. Hard flooring installed over carpet without approval is the archetype, and in many schemes the by-laws require approval and an acoustic underlay. Where noise involves a tenant, the owner is generally responsible for ensuring their tenant complies.

Pets have shifted significantly. Blanket bans have been curtailed in several jurisdictions, with by-laws that prohibit pets outright now invalid or unenforceable in some states, and assistance animals protected everywhere. Where approval is required, a refusal generally has to be reasonable and reasons given.

Parking and common property use — storing goods in car spaces, using visitor parking permanently, obstructing common areas — is usually straightforward under by-laws but hard to enforce socially. Notices to comply, and then tribunal orders with penalties, are the mechanism where informal requests have failed.

Renovations are a frequent source of retrospective disputes. Most works affecting common property or the structure require approval by resolution, and cosmetic works generally do not. Owners who renovate without approval can be ordered to reinstate, and buyers inherit the problem — which is why a strata search before purchase matters.

Levies and special levies produce disputes about both amount and process. A levy validly struck must be paid, but a resolution passed without proper notice, without a quorum, or beyond the owners corporation's powers can be challenged. The question is almost always procedural rather than about whether the work is necessary.

Strata managers themselves are increasingly the subject of complaint, particularly about disclosure of commissions and conflicts of interest. Managers have disclosure obligations, owners can inspect the agency agreement, and where the relationship has broken down the owners corporation can terminate and appoint another.

Governance failure — a committee that will not meet, will not produce records, or acts outside its powers — is itself a ground for tribunal intervention, up to appointing a compulsory manager. Owners often endure this for years without realising it is remediable.

Renters are bound by the by-laws but are not members of the owners corporation, and cannot bring most strata disputes themselves. The route is through your landlord or agent, who is the owner and the party with standing. Where the problem is common property affecting your habitability, it is also a tenancy repairs issue, and the tenancy pathway may move faster than the strata one.

Renters should be given a copy of the by-laws at the start of the tenancy, and it is worth asking specifically about pets, parking, rubbish, noise and use of common areas before signing. A tenancy in strata carries obligations a standalone rental does not.

Buyers should order a strata search or inspect the records before exchange. What you are looking for is the balance of the administrative and capital works funds, any special levies struck or foreshadowed, minutes referencing defects or litigation, the insurance position, and any unapproved works on the lot you are buying. A cheap search prevents an expensive surprise.

The capital works fund matters more than the levy amount. A scheme with low levies and an underfunded capital works fund is deferring costs to whoever owns the lot when the roof needs replacing. A ten-year plan should exist and is worth reading.

Committee members are volunteers with real duties. Acting honestly, avoiding conflicts, keeping proper records, holding meetings with notice, and complying with the duty to maintain common property are obligations rather than aspirations, and failing them can result in tribunal orders and, in some cases, personal exposure.

Committees should get advice before enforcing a by-law that may be invalid, and before refusing a request that a tribunal would likely grant. The cost of a short legal opinion is much lower than the cost of a contested application, and committees that lose on invalid by-laws lose credibility on everything else.

For everyone: the state fair trading body publishes plain-language guidance on all of this, updated as the legislation changes, and it is free. Reading the current guidance for your state before acting is the highest-return twenty minutes available in strata.