straita

Owners Rights

Can I run a business from my strata lot?

Short answer

Whether you can run a business from a residential strata lot depends on the scheme’s by-laws and the nature of the business. A quiet home office is usually fine; a business that brings extra traffic, clients, noise, deliveries or signage can breach a by-law or the residential character of the scheme. Council zoning and other approvals may also apply. Because it turns on your by-laws and the specific activity, check before you set up rather than assuming.

The quiet home office end

Working from home in a way that’s invisible to your neighbours — a laptop, calls, no clients coming and going — generally doesn’t trouble the by-laws, because it doesn’t change how the lot or common property is used or affect anyone else.

Where it can run into trouble

The picture changes as the business becomes visible to the scheme:

  • Extra traffic and visitors — clients, patients or staff using common areas and parking.
  • Noise, hours or deliveries — activity outside normal residential patterns.
  • Signage — advertising on or visible from the lot, which by-laws commonly restrict.
  • Change of use — anything that shifts the lot away from residential use can engage both the by-laws and council planning rules.

Any of these can put you in breach of a by-law or of planning approvals, so they’re the things to weigh up.

Approvals beyond strata

Strata is only one layer. Council zoning and development rules govern what activities a residential property can host, and some businesses need their own licences or approvals. Clearing the by-laws doesn’t clear those, and vice versa — you generally need both.

Checking before you commit

The safe move is to read your by-laws and, if it’s a close call, ask the committee before you start. In a self-managed scheme run on Straita, the current by-laws are kept in one place and easy to check, and a question to the committee is logged rather than lost — so an owner can get a clear answer before investing in the setup.

Primary sources