straita

Owners Rights

What are my rights as a strata owner?

Short answer

As a strata owner you have the right to use and enjoy your lot and the common property, vote at general meetings, stand for the committee, inspect the scheme’s records, and have the owners corporation maintain the common property and run the scheme properly. These rights are set by the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) and the scheme’s by-laws.

Rights over your lot and common property

You are entitled to occupy and use your lot and to share in the use of the common property, subject to the by-laws. The owners corporation must keep the common property maintained and in a state of good repair — that duty is owed to you as an owner.

Rights in how the scheme is run

  • Vote at general meetings — a financial owner may vote on motions; on a poll the count is weighted by unit entitlement.
  • Stand for the committee — owners are eligible to be nominated and elected.
  • See the records — you can inspect the scheme’s records, financial statements, minutes, by-laws and the strata roll, usually for a small fee.
  • Proper administration — the owners corporation must act within the Act, keep proper accounts, and hold meetings as required.

When rights are denied

If the scheme won’t let you inspect records, ignores its maintenance duty, or otherwise fails to run properly, you can raise it with the committee, use NSW Fair Trading’s information and mediation service, and ultimately apply to NCAT for orders. The point at which a “right” becomes enforceable usually depends on the specific facts, so serious disputes are worth getting advice on.

Making your rights real day to day

Rights like inspecting records or seeing where levies go only mean something if the information is actually there. In a self-managed scheme running on Straita, records, minutes, levies and obligations stay visible to owners as a matter of course — so exercising your rights is a matter of looking, not chasing.

Primary sources