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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 LIT: WHAT THE SHARES PAY FOR8/100: INVENTED EXAMPLE SHARES 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
  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
  7. LIT: WHAT THE SHARES PAY FOR 8/100: INVENTED EXAMPLE SHARES
Question 4 of 6

Who pays for cleaning the common areas?

In Queensland each lot’s contributions must be based on the contribution schedule lot entitlements recorded for the scheme, unless the legislation says otherwise.

Covers Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania. General information about strata law in seven jurisdictions, not legal advice; your scheme’s own plan and by-laws decide.

The official pages

The pages behind this answer, jurisdiction by jurisdiction:

Where the money comes from

Queensland’s body corporate must have an administrative fund and a sinking fund, with budgets prepared every financial year.

How a cleaning bill is met: New South Wales pays regular expenses such as carpet cleaning and garden maintenance from the administrative fund, and major repairs and maintenance from the capital works fund, which is filled by strata levies.

  • QLDAn administrative fund takes all expenditure not required to come from the sinking fund; some expenses, such as the replacement of major items like fences or common property carpets, can only be paid from the sinking fund.
  • NSWAn administrative fund takes the day-to-day expenses, carpet cleaning and garden maintenance among them, and a capital works fund takes major repairs and maintenance.
  • VICAnnual fees cover general administration, maintenance, insurance and other ongoing costs, and an owners corporation with a maintenance plan must have a maintenance fund for the cost of works in the plan.
  • WAAn administrative fund takes administrative expenses, among them the control and management of the common property; the reserve fund, in most cases raised by levies, funds the upkeep of common property and its repair, renewal or replacement, as set out in the 10 year plan.
  • SAA strata corporation is not required to have a sinking fund (unlike a community corporation, which must), and it presents an expenditure statement to each annual general meeting.
  • ACTAn administrative fund for the general administration of the owners corporation, and a sinking fund where the units plan has 4 or more units (Access Canberra; the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011).
  • TASA fund for meeting the body corporate’s financial obligations, into which all income is paid and from which all expenditure is made; the body corporate may split it into a part for recurrent spending and a part for capital spending.

A worked split of one cleaning bill

The figures below are an example only, not a real scheme’s budget. An invented annual cleaning bill of $10,000 is split across the eight lots of the block by a set of lot entitlements that adds up to 100.

The four townhouses are left out of the example.

A worked example: one cleaning bill, split across the block’s eight lots only
LotShare of the billWhy
1$8008 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
2$8008 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
3$8008 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
4$8008 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
5$1,20012 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
6$1,20012 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
7$1,20012 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements
8$3,20032 of the example’s 100 lot entitlements

The eight shares add up to the bill, because each lot pays its entitlement’s hundredth of it, $800 for 8, $1,200 for 12 and $3,200 for 32.

What sets a share: Queensland bases contributions on the contribution schedule lot entitlements listed in the community management statement, Western Australia’s unit entitlement determines contributions (subject to the scheme’s by-laws), and Victoria charges annual fees according to lot liability.

Unit entitlement and a lot’s share

What the share is measured by: in New South Wales unit entitlement represents an owner’s share of the strata scheme, and an owner with higher unit entitlements pays higher levies.

South Australia says the unit entitlements determine the amount each owner pays towards insurance and other fees, and that entitlements are annexed in the strata plan.

Its Law Handbook adds that a unit holder’s contribution is usually worked out from the unit entitlement recorded in the strata plan.

Where the figure lives: Queensland lists the contribution schedule lot entitlements in the community management statement, and Western Australia’s schedule of unit entitlement is registered with Landgate.

In Tasmania what an owner pays follows the general unit entitlement on the strata plan, or a special unit entitlement where one applies.

Long-term plans and the work behind them

Some jurisdictions require a long-term plan: New South Wales must make a 10 year capital works plan, which predicts what major repairs might be needed and forecasts their costs, reviewed at least every five years.

Western Australia requires a 10 year maintenance plan and reserve fund for strata companies with 10 lots or more, or with a replacement value of $5 million or greater.

Owners approve the plan by ordinary resolution at an annual general meeting, and it must be revised at least every five years.

The ACT’s owners corporation must approve a plan for its sinking fund for the 10 year period beginning on the first day of the financial year following the approval.

Queensland leaves the forecast optional: a body corporate may ask a professional to prepare a sinking fund forecast, but it does not have to get one.

What that means for a bill today: Victoria’s pages say cleaning gutters and changing light bulbs should be covered in the annual fees.

Money is paid out of the maintenance fund by ordinary resolution for items listed in the plan, and the owners corporation reports on implementation of the plan at each annual general meeting.

What a scheme can do when a lot does not pay

When a lot’s share is unpaid, New South Wales requires written notice of at least 30 days before the owners corporation can start legal action.

The owners corporation can approve a payment plan for an owner struggling to pay their levies.

Victoria requires a fee notice and a final fee notice before an owners corporation in dispute over a fee applies to VCAT for a ruling.

Tasmania says interest accrues on overdue contributions at a rate fixed by resolution of the body corporate.

Queensland puts the share in writing: the body corporate must give each owner written notice of the contributions they owe, at least 30 days before a contribution is due.

Where the rest of the question is answered

What the money pays for: Who cleans the common property in a strata building? Who the scheme engages to spend it: Who hires the strata cleaner, and on what terms?