straita

Buying & Selling

What should I check before buying a strata property?

Short answer

Before buying into a strata scheme, check its finances (current levies, fund balances and any special levies), the insurance, the by-laws, recent meeting minutes, and any known building defects or major upcoming works. You’re buying a share of the whole scheme, so the scheme’s health matters as much as the apartment itself.

What to look at

  • Finances — the quarterly levies, the administrative and capital works fund balances, and any special levy already raised or planned. A low levy today can mean an underfunded scheme facing a shock bill later.
  • Capital works fund plan — the 10-year plan that forecasts major works (roofing, painting, lifts). A realistic, funded plan is a sign of a scheme that won’t surprise you.
  • Insurance — that the building is insured to full replacement value, and whether any claims or exclusions are on foot.
  • By-laws — the scheme’s rules, especially on pets, short-term letting, renovations and parking, since these will bind you.
  • Minutes and records — recent meeting minutes reveal disputes, defect history, and how the scheme is actually run.
  • The section 184 certificate — the owners corporation’s official statement of levies owing, fund balances and other prescribed information for a lot.

Where a strata inspection report fits

Much of the above is pulled together by a strata inspection report (a “strata search”) — an inspection of the owners corporation’s records prepared for a prospective buyer. It’s one of the most useful due-diligence steps, because it can surface problems the apartment viewing never shows.

Reading the signal: a well-run scheme

The strongest thing a buyer can find is a scheme that is simply run well — records in order, funds healthy, obligations met on time. A self-managed scheme running on a platform such as Straita keeps exactly those records straight, so the finances, by-laws and compliance history a buyer’s inspection is looking for are already in one place rather than scattered or missing.

Primary sources