Short answer
Common property is owned jointly by all the owners, so an individual owner generally can’t alter it alone — you need the owners corporation’s approval first. Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), adding to common property, altering it, or erecting a structure on it is a matter for the owners corporation, and the more permanent changes are approved by a special resolution at a general meeting, sometimes through a by-law. Where your lot ends and common property begins is set by the registered strata plan.
What counts as altering common property
Alterations to common property include things like attaching a structure to an external wall, changing flooring in a way that affects the building’s structure or acoustic layer, building a deck or pergola over a shared area, installing a fixture that penetrates shared walls or the roof, or changing a common driveway or garden. Minor cosmetic work inside your own lot is a different question — that’s usually lot property. The dividing line is the registered plan for your scheme, which is always the final word on what is common property.
How approval works
The Act treats changes to common property seriously because the property is shared:
- More substantial or lasting changes generally require a special resolution of the owners corporation at a general meeting, rather than a simple majority. The precise threshold depends on the nature of the work, so confirm which pathway applies before starting.
- Changes that give one owner an ongoing right over part of the common property are commonly handled through a common property rights by-law, which also sets out who maintains the alteration and who bears the cost afterwards.
Doing the work without the required approval can lead to the owners corporation ordering it reversed and the area made good, so approval comes first.
Handling alteration requests as a committee
A self-managed committee decides these requests itself, and the workable way to do that is to keep the whole request on file from the start. Straita walks a committee through an alteration request — capturing what’s proposed, the resolution or by-law that approved it, the conditions attached, and the ongoing maintenance obligation — so the approval and its terms are recorded and the same alteration doesn’t resurface as a dispute later.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — s 108 (changes to common property) and ss 142–143 (common property rights by-laws).
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — renovations and common property.
- NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) — disputes about common property and by-laws.