straita

Special Situations

What is a large strata scheme?

Short answer

Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, a large strata scheme is one with more than 100 lots, not counting utility lots such as car spaces or storage that don’t have a building on them. Once a scheme crosses that line it picks up a set of extra obligations around finances, accountability and transparency, on top of the rules every scheme follows.

The threshold

The test is a lot count, not a resident or building count: more than 100 lots makes a scheme large. Utility lots (broadly, lots used for parking, storage and services rather than occupation) are excluded from the count, so it’s the number of substantive lots that matters. Just under the line, a scheme is treated as an ordinary scheme; cross it, and the large-scheme rules apply.

The extra requirements that follow

Being large raises the compliance bar because bigger schemes handle more money and affect more people. The additional obligations are aimed at accountability at scale, and typically include:

  • a mandatory annual audit of the scheme’s accounts and financial statements (see does our scheme need an audit);
  • getting more than one quote for larger items of expenditure;
  • tighter controls and reporting around budgeting and spending; and
  • stricter notice, record-keeping and communication requirements.

These sit on top of, not instead of, the general obligations every scheme has.

Large doesn’t mean you must hand it over

A large scheme is more work, but it doesn’t force the owners corporation to appoint a professional strata manager — self-management remains lawful at any size. What changes is the volume and rigour: more deadlines, more financial discipline, more that has to be documented and shown to owners.

Carrying the extra load without a manager

The real challenge of a large scheme is keeping every added obligation — the audit, the multi-quote steps, the tighter reporting cycle — tracked and on time when there’s simply more of everything. Straita is built to carry exactly this: it keeps the recurring obligations and deadlines of a larger scheme in one place and surfaces each one before it’s due, which is what makes running a 100-plus-lot scheme yourselves practical rather than overwhelming.

Primary sources