What is Common Property?

Photo by George Becker from Pexels

Adelaide’s rapidly developing property market is resulting in a greater amount of Body Corporations throughout the greater metropolitan area. As more and more people buy into body corporates, new owners seek clarity on what exactly is involved in the ownership of a strata or community property. The matter of “common property” is one of those areas, so we thought that we would hopefully clear a few of these questions up.

Common Property as the government defines it is:

• any pipe, cable, wire, duct or drain that is not for the exclusive use of a unit (any that service only one unit are considered part of that unit, not common property)
• any structure that is not for the exclusive use of a unit installed before the deposit of the strata plan
• any structure installed by a strata corporation as part of the common property
• any other structure on the site committed to the care of a strata corporation as part of the common property.

What is the responsibility of the strata and what is the responsibility of the owner isn’t so easy to distinguish at times. Common property is property that is not owned by any one owner, but the owners as a collective – the body corporate.  Such areas include the Foyer, lifts, hallways, stairs, and gardens outside the bounds of the unit subsidiary. As it is common, and involves the body corporate, common property is managed and maintained by the body corporate manager. The body corporate (the collective of owners) are not responsible for maintenance matters that only affect one unit – for instance, the replacement of carpet, or internal painting. Each body corporation differs from the next, depending on what it is the owners want and what has been brought forth in the meetings, provided it doesn’t circumvent the Strata titles act. The body corporate must adhere to the Strata Titles Act.

We hope that this has cleared up a few of your questions, as sometimes these sort of things can be difficult to get your mind around.