Deciding what to buy
Owners corporations
Common property, fees, rules and how to actually research one before you buy into it — not just accept the quoted fee.
- An owners corporation is automatically created when a plan of subdivision with common property is registered — membership isn't optional if you buy the lot.
- Research fees, maintenance fund adequacy, proposed works, AGM minutes and any legal proceedings before buying.
- A special levy is an additional one-off charge — check whether one is being considered.
How an owners corporation is created
In Victoria, an owners corporation is automatically created when a plan of subdivision containing common property is registered with Land Use Victoria (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 29 Jul 2026). Membership isn't optional — if you buy a lot with common property, you're automatically a member with voting rights and financial obligations. New South Wales uses the same "owners corporation" term for the same automatic-membership concept under its own strata law (NSW Fair Trading, verified 12 Aug 2026) — but the name (owners corporation, body corporate, strata company, community corporation), disclosure document and research process all vary by state; see the owners corporations due diligence guide for the full comparison across all 8 states and territories.
The full research checklist
Before buying, research: current fees, levies and whether the owners corporation has a credit balance or debt; whether it has a maintenance fund and plan; any proposed or in-progress building works and whether funds have already been raised for them; recent AGM minutes and complaint history; whether it has a registered manager; and any legal proceedings or VCAT decisions affecting the building (Consumer Affairs Victoria, verified 29 Jul 2026). Available via the Section 32's owners corporation certificate, the public register of managers, and the AGM minutes.
Special levies
Beyond regular fees, an owners corporation can raise a special levy — an additional one-off charge — for unbudgeted works. Checking whether one is being considered, and the building's general maintenance-fund adequacy, is one of the single most valuable things to confirm before buying into any owners corporation. One concrete example: combustible cladding rectification has produced some of the largest special levies seen in Australian apartment buildings, with reported per-lot costs from roughly $10,000 to over $100,000 depending on the building and unit entitlement (bodycorporatefees.com (commercial strata-fees information site), verified 3 Aug 2026) — a real illustration of why the maintenance fund and any proposed works should be checked, not assumed to be minor.
Practical checklist
Researching an owners corporation
- Request the owners corporation certificate from the Section 32
- Check the maintenance fund's adequacy and any planned special levy
- Read the most recent AGM minutes and complaint history
- Check the public register of owners corporation managers
- Search for any VCAT decisions affecting the building
Questions for a professional
- Does the owners corporation have an adequate maintenance fund, or is a special levy likely?
- Are there any legal proceedings or disputes affecting this owners corporation?
Official resources
Sources and methodology
- Buying an apartment or unit - checklist — Consumer Affairs Victoria (retrieved 29 Jul 2026)
- Owners corporations — Land Use Victoria (retrieved 29 Jul 2026)
- Buying a strata property — NSW Fair Trading (retrieved 12 Aug 2026)
Figures on this page are drawn from Delora's local knowledge graph, refreshed from these primary sources and checked for changes on a regular schedule. If a figure here looks out of date, the official source above is always the authority — please let us know.
For advice specific to your situation, talk to your conveyancer and the owners corporation manager.