Owners corporation & strata glossary
The terms Victorian owners and committees meet most often, explained in plain English. Every definition links to the regulator’s own guidance. For the services TOCS provides see our services; for the practical questions owners ask see resources.
Owners corporation and strata glossary for Victorian owners
- Owners corporation (OC)
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The legal entity made up of all the lot owners in a subdivision. In Victoria an owners corporation is created automatically when a plan of subdivision creates common property, and it is responsible for managing and maintaining that common property and the building’s shared services. The older term ‘body corporate’ means the same thing, and other states call it a strata corporation or strata company.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
- Lot
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A part of the land, buildings or airspace on a plan of subdivision that can be separately owned and sold – in practice, a single apartment, townhouse or unit. Technically a lot is the part of the plan that is not common property. Floor coverings and fixtures inside a lot are usually the property of the lot owner, not the owners corporation.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
- Common property
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Any parts of the land, buildings and airspace on the plan of subdivision that are not lots: gardens, passages, walls, pathways, driveways, lifts, lobbies, stairs and shared services. Common property is owned collectively by the lot owners as tenants in common, and the owners corporation is responsible for managing and maintaining it.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
- Plan of subdivision
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The plan registered at Land Use Victoria that divides a piece of land into lots and common property. Registering the plan is what creates the owners corporation, and it records each lot’s entitlement and liability. Land Use Victoria allocates the numbers to the plan itself and to any owners corporation the plan creates.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
- Lot entitlement
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A lot owner’s share of ownership of the common property, shown on the plan of subdivision. Lot entitlement determines voting rights at owners corporation meetings. Entitlements are set by the developer at the time of subdivision and can only be changed by unanimous resolution.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
- Lot liability
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The share of owners corporation expenses that each lot owner has to pay, also shown on the plan of subdivision. Lot liability is what owners corporation fees are calculated from, and it is not always in proportion to the size of the apartment – which is why two similar lots can receive different levy notices.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
- Owners corporation manager
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The professional manager an owners corporation appoints to run its day-to-day affairs: keeping records, issuing fees, arranging insurance, coordinating maintenance, preparing meetings and keeping the owners corporation compliant. Victoria’s owners corporation reforms, in effect since 1 December 2021, tightened the rules around how managers are appointed, what they must disclose and how an appointment can be ended.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Tiers of owners corporations
- Strata manager
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The name used in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and most other states for the person who manages the day-to-day affairs of a strata scheme. In Victoria the same role is called an owners corporation manager, so if you have moved from interstate, your strata manager and an owners corporation manager are the same job title.
- Owners corporation committee
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The group of lot owners elected at the annual general meeting to act for the owners corporation between meetings. Tier 1, 2 and 3 owners corporations must elect a committee; the others may choose to. A committee must have at least three and no more than seven members unless the owners corporation resolves to allow up to 12.
- Annual general meeting (AGM)
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The meeting an owners corporation holds each year to present the annual financial statements, report on the maintenance plan, elect the committee and set the fees for the coming year. Every lot owner is entitled to notice of the meeting, to attend and to vote. The minutes of the AGM are part of the records owners can inspect.
- Owners corporation fees (levies)
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The regular amounts each lot owner pays to fund the owners corporation’s budget: insurance, cleaning, utilities, garden and building maintenance, and management. Your share is calculated from your lot liability rather than the size or value of your apartment. Fees are set at the annual general meeting and are a debt owed to the owners corporation.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Finance, insurance and record keeping
- Maintenance fund
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The fund an owners corporation builds up to pay for future repair and replacement of common property – the lift, the roof, the facade, fire systems and the like – rather than raising a special levy when the work is needed. It is funded from the fees owners pay each year, you may also see it called the sinking fund, and it is reported on at the annual general meeting.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Finance, insurance and record keeping
- Model rules
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The default set of rules that applies to an owners corporation when it has not made its own. Model rules cover matters such as noise, behaviour, parking and use of common property. An owners corporation can replace them with its own rules by special resolution.
- Special resolution
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A decision that needs a 75 per cent majority rather than a simple majority of votes. Special resolutions are required for significant decisions such as changing the owners corporation’s rules. A smaller set of decisions – changing lot entitlements or liabilities, for example – needs a unanimous resolution, with every lot owner in agreement.
- VCAT
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The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. VCAT decides most owners corporation disputes in Victoria, including disputes about rules, fees, common property, the conduct of a manager and how an owners corporation has exercised its powers. VCAT can make binding orders – for example requiring repairs to be done or a decision to be changed.
Source: Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal – Owners corporation cases
- Common seal
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A stamp that represents the signature of the owners corporation, used on documents created as the result of a resolution – contracts for services, transfers and similar instruments. Each use has to be witnessed by two lot owners and the authorising resolution recorded in the minutes, because misuse of the seal can have serious legal and financial consequences.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria – Owners corporations definitions
Sources
The definitions and answers on this site are written from the primary sources below, rather than from memory. Where the law sets a threshold or a figure, we point to the source so you can read it directly and confirm it still applies.
- Owners corporations – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Owners corporations definitions – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Tiers of owners corporations – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Rules – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Finance, insurance and record keeping – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Meetings and committees – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Property maintenance – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Buying into an owners corporation – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Complaint handling and resolving disputes – Consumer Affairs Victoria
- Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic) – Victorian legislation
- Public register of owners corporation managers – Consumer Affairs Victoria & Business Licensing Authority
- Owners corporation cases – Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal