Common Property Maintenance

Common property maintenance is the discipline concerned with the physical upkeep of the shared building elements, services and facilities within a strata scheme or community title scheme, for which the owners corporation holds statutory responsibility on behalf of all lot owners. It encompasses structural components such as roofs, external walls and common stairwells, building services including lifts, fire systems and stormwater infrastructure, and shared amenities such as driveways, gardens and recreational facilities. Because these elements are jointly owned, no individual lot owner may unilaterally arrange for their repair; responsibility rests with the owners corporation acting through its elected committee.

The discipline sits at the intersection of governance, finance and physical asset management. An owners corporation must identify maintenance needs, obtain quotations, engage contractors, and fund the resulting works from either its administrative fund or its capital works fund, depending on whether the item constitutes routine maintenance or capital replacement. The distinction between these two categories, and the forward planning captured in a scheme’s capital works fund plan, materially affects both the annual levies charged to owners and the scheme’s capacity to meet major repair costs as they fall due.

Common property maintenance matters because deferred or inadequate maintenance is one of the most frequent sources of dispute within strata schemes and can materially diminish both resident amenity and the capital value of individual lots. Conversely, well-managed maintenance programs, underpinned by an accurate long-term capital works forecast, protect asset value and reduce the incidence of unbudgeted special levies.

This node covers:

• The identification, prioritisation, contracting and execution of maintenance and repair works to common property within strata and community title schemes
• The routine-versus-capital distinction that determines how such works are funded

This node does not cover:

• The committee decision-making process by which maintenance works are approved → refer to Node 34310
• The levy-setting and financial reporting obligations that fund maintenance activity → refer to Node 34320
• Defects arising from original construction, as distinct from wear-and-tear deterioration of an existing asset → refer to Node 32650
• Disputes arising from maintenance failures or delays → refer to Node 34340; maintenance of individual lots, which remains the responsibility of the relevant lot owner

• Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW)

  NSW Fair Trading

  Imposes the duty on an owners corporation to properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property of a scheme, and sets capital works fund plan requirements.
• Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld)

  Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management

  Establishes the maintenance obligations of a body corporate in respect of common property and body corporate assets, together with sinking fund budgeting requirements.
• Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic)

  Consumer Affairs Victoria

  Sets out an owners corporation’s repair and maintenance obligations and capital works fund contribution requirements.
• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and corresponding state legislation

  Relevant state or territory work health and safety regulator

  Imposes obligations on an owners corporation, as a person conducting a business or undertaking in respect of common property, to manage health and safety risks arising from the condition of shared building elements and facilities.

In practice, common property maintenance activity typically begins with identification of a defect or deterioration, whether through resident report, committee inspection or a scheduled building condition assessment. The strata managing agent or committee then assesses whether the item constitutes routine maintenance or capital works, obtains quotations where the estimated cost exceeds an applicable threshold, and proceeds to engagement once the relevant approval has been obtained under the scheme’s governance procedures.

Forward planning is typically anchored to the scheme’s capital works fund plan, which is reviewed periodically and updated to reflect changing asset condition, revised cost estimates and completed works. Where a capital works fund plan understates likely future costs, a scheme may face a shortfall requiring a special levy to be raised, a scenario that owners corporations generally seek to avoid through conservative forecasting and periodic plan review.