straita

Renovations

What renovations need owners corporation approval?

Short answer

Work that goes beyond cosmetic changes inside your own lot generally needs owners corporation approval. In NSW, minor renovations — such as replacing carpet with timber floors, or a kitchen renovation — need approval by ordinary resolution, and major work that is structural, affects waterproofing, or changes common property needs a special resolution or a by-law. Purely cosmetic work inside your lot usually needs no approval at all.

The dividing line

The question that decides whether you need approval is how far the work reaches:

  • Stays cosmetic and inside your lot — painting, hanging pictures, minor fittings. Generally no approval needed (around section 109 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015).
  • Reaches into a defined “minor renovation” — new hard flooring, kitchen renovations, changes to internal walls, recessed lighting. Needs owners corporation approval by ordinary resolution (around section 110). This approval can be delegated to the committee by a by-law.
  • Touches structure, waterproofing or common property — a major renovation. Needs a special resolution or a by-law (around section 108 for common-property changes).

Section numbers are given as a guide; if you’re not certain which tier a specific job sits in, check the current Act or confirm with the scheme before starting.

Common jobs that catch owners out

Some work looks like it should be “your own business” but isn’t, because it reaches shared elements:

  • Hard flooring — replacing carpet with timber or tiles is a minor renovation and usually comes with acoustic conditions.
  • Bathrooms — waterproofing and shared plumbing push most bathroom jobs into the approval tiers, often as major work.
  • Anything on an external or structural wall — external appearance and structure are common property or structural, so approval is needed.

The cost of skipping it

Unapproved work that affects common property or structure can be ordered undone at the owner’s expense. That’s the real reason classification matters: a floor laid without approval, or a wall opened without a by-law, can become an expensive reinstatement rather than a renovation.

Keeping the approval on record

A self-managed committee decides these requests itself. A system such as Straita tracks each renovation request against the right approval tier and the scheme’s by-laws, and records the decision and any conditions, so what was approved — and on what terms — is documented rather than remembered.

Primary sources