Short answer
The owners corporation is the legal body made up of all the lot owners in a strata scheme. It’s responsible for managing and maintaining the common property and running the scheme — holding the insurance, setting and collecting levies, making and enforcing by-laws, and making decisions at general meetings.
Who’s in it
Every strata scheme automatically has an owners corporation, and every lot owner is a member — you don’t opt in, you’re in it by owning a lot. It comes into existence when the strata plan is registered.
What it does
- Owns and maintains the common property.
- Holds the scheme’s insurance and manages the two funds.
- Sets and collects levies.
- Makes and enforces by-laws.
- Makes the big decisions at general meetings.
How it acts
Day-to-day, the owners corporation acts through its elected strata committee, and may (but need not) appoint a strata managing agent. Where a scheme self-manages, the corporation runs itself — a system such as Straita does the administrative work and surfaces what needs deciding, so the owners keep control and just approve the decisions.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — the owners corporation, its functions and duties.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — the role of the owners corporation.