Owners corporation

An owners corporation (called a body corporate in some states) is the legal body made up of all the lot owners in a strata or community-title scheme. It is created automatically when the plan of subdivision (or strata plan) is registered, and it manages, insures, and maintains the common property.

The owners corporation is the entity that:

• owns and maintains the common property (shared structure, roofs, lifts, driveways, gardens, services),
• insures the building and common areas,
• sets and collects levies from lot owners to fund maintenance and a capital works (sinking) fund,
• makes rules (by-laws) for the scheme, and
• decides matters by meeting and vote of the owners (with a committee for day-to-day running).

The name varies by state (owners corporation in NSW and VIC, body corporate in QLD, strata company in WA, community corporation in SA), but the role is the same.

For a builder this matters whenever work touches a strata or community scheme. Renovating an apartment or doing remedial work usually needs the owners corporation’s approval for anything affecting common property (and most external work, waterproofing, and structural alterations do), plus compliance with the by-laws and often a works agreement and insurance. You cannot just deal with the individual lot owner: the owners corporation controls the common property and its consent (and conditions) are part of the job. For new strata builds, the owners corporation comes into being at registration and inherits the common property, so completion and defects obligations flow to it, not only to the original purchasers.

Also known as: Body corporate, strata company, community corporation, OC.

Category: Property / Strata.

Related

• Common property
• Plan of subdivision

See also

• Deposited Plan

References

• Common property (Chalkline) (verified 2026-06-04)

---

Last updated: 2026-06-04. Verified: 2026-06-04. Quarterly review for currency.