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Strata Cleaners Plan of common property
One strata scheme from above: eight lots off a corridor in a block, and four townhouses on their own land, with everything that is not a lot shaded 12345678 stair lift bin room corridor entry shared garden T1T2T3T4 shared driveway street common property a lot N One strata scheme from above, drawn tall: the corridor runs down the sheet with four lots either side, and the townhouse row sits below a ruled line marked on its own land 12345678 binrooma stairb liftc corridord entrye on its own land shared gardenf T1T2T3T4 shared drivewayg street

Lot lines sit on the inner face of the walls: New South Wales’s rule unless the floor plan describes the boundaries another way, and South Australia’s unless the strata plan says otherwise. Tasmania puts them at the centre of the wall, unless the strata plan says otherwise.

  1. a b c f g the bin room, the stair, the lift, the shared garden and the shared driveway: who cleans the common property
  2. d the corridor: who hires the cleaner, and on what terms
  3. e the entry lobby: what to do when the common areas are not being cleaned
  4. 1 to 8 the lots, and the share of the cleaning each one pays: who pays for cleaning the common areas
  5. T1 to T4 the townhouses on their own land: balconies and courtyards
  6. walls the wall between a lot and the common property: where a lot ends and the common property begins
A reader’s guide to strata cleaning, published by Dotto

The strata cleaner’s ground is everything that is not a lot

Covers Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania.

Common property is what is not contained within any lot: all the owners share it (Western Australia’s pages put it that way).

Who looks after it is a collective: in New South Wales the owners corporation or strata committee must repair and maintain it, and in Queensland the body corporate administers it.

General information about strata law in seven jurisdictions, not legal advice; your scheme’s own plan and by-laws decide.

The six questions

The shaded part is the common property: the parts of a parcel that are not a lot (New South Wales), the property jointly owned by all the owners and not contained within any lot (Western Australia).

  • Who cleans the common property in a strata building?

    The body corporate administers the common property for every owner’s benefit (Queensland’s pages), and in New South Wales the owners corporation or strata committee must repair and maintain it.

  • Where does my lot end and the common property begin?

    In New South Wales the line is the inner surface of the wall, or the boundaries the floor plan describes; in South Australia the inside face of the walls, floors and ceilings, unless the strata plan says otherwise. In the ACT a Class B unit, such as a townhouse, has a boundary defined by a surveyed line around the land.

  • Who hires the strata cleaner, and on what terms?

    Queensland’s pages define the roles: a service contractor supplies services that benefit the common property, and a caretaking service contractor is also authorised as a letting agent for the scheme.

  • Who pays for cleaning the common areas?

    A lot’s share is set by a recorded figure: Queensland’s contribution schedule lot entitlements, Western Australia’s unit entitlement, Victoria’s lot liability.

  • Can the body corporate make me clean my own balcony or courtyard?

    In Victoria a lot owner must keep the exterior of the lot in good and serviceable repair, and in South Australia a body corporate can require an owner to keep their property maintained, or do the work itself and bill them.

  • What if the common areas are not being cleaned?

    New South Wales says to report common property repairs to the strata committee or strata managing agent in writing; Queensland’s path starts with self resolution, then conciliation.

Where the line between a lot and the common property is drawn

  • QLDA lot owner maintains most things inside the boundary of the lot; the body corporate administers the common property.
  • NSWThe boundary is the inner surface of the wall, the upper surface of the floor and the under surface of the ceiling, or as described on the floor plan.
  • VICCommon property is whatever it is stated to be on the plan of subdivision, and a lot is a part of land, buildings and airspace that can be separately owned and sold.
  • WALand owned by all the owners and not contained within any lot is common property.
  • SAThe unit boundary sits at the inside face of the walls, floors and ceilings, unless the strata plan says otherwise; on a plan deposited before 1 September 1988 it is midway between the surfaces, unless an amendment to the plan changed it (the Law Handbook).
  • ACTThere are 2 types of units in the ACT, and unit plans can only be for one of these types. Class A: the boundary of the unit is defined by floors, walls and ceilings of the unit. Class B: units that have a footprint on the ground, such as a townhouse, where the boundary is defined by a surveyed line around the land.
  • TASA wall, floor, ceiling or fence that separates a lot from another lot or from the common property is a boundary structure. The boundary is the centre of that structure, unless the strata plan stipulates otherwise.