Who is responsible for paying for repairs and maintenance in a body corporate property

No more confusion— here’s your comprehensive cheat sheet for who is responsible for paying for repairs and maintenance in a body corporate property

When it comes to community living, the body corporate is usually responsible for maintenance of common property, while the lot owner usually has the responsibility of maintaining his or her lot. While this seems simple enough, issues often arise due to the complicated nature of the division of property and responsibility.

In this article, we explain what lot owners and bodies corporate are responsibly for paying for when it comes to maintenance and repairs.

To truly understand who is responsible for what, it’s important to first know what subdivision survey plan your property falls under. Your subdivision survey plan will lay out the boundaries between common property and lots. In Queensland, there are two types of subdivision survey plans:

• Building Format Plan (BFP): This survey plan usually applies to multi-storey complexes (vertical developments), and in some cases, townhouses. While the term ‘strata title’ is not used in Queensland, most building format plans are a subdivision in strata.
• Standard Format Plan (SFP): This survey plan is typically used for community title schemes such as a townhouse complex where each lot has a building and garden. The boundaries of lots are defined by the measurements shown on the survey plan and any marks put on the ground when the survey was done.

In this article, we explain who is responsible for what when it comes to repairs and maintenance in a body corporate property, including:

1. What bodies corporate are responsible for
2. What lot owners are responsible for
3. How to determine who is responsible for utility maintenance

1. What bodies corporate are responsible for

A body corporate’s repairs and maintenance responsibilities vary slightly, depending on the property’s format plan.

A building format plan’s body corporate is responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the following:

• Garage doors and their fittings, which can include any springs, gears, and various mechanisms
• Roads, gardens and lawns on common property
• The foundations and roof, including the roofing membranes
• Essential supporting framework of the building, including load-bearing walls
• Facilities on common property such as swimming pools, gyms and barbeque areas
• Pipes, cables, wires, drains, sewers, plant and equipment that services the building
• The outside of the building including doors, windows and fittings, and balcony railings.

A standard format plan’s body corporate, on the other hand, is responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the following:

• Pest control on common property
• Roads, gardens and lawns on common property
• Facilities on common property like swimming pools or BBQs
• Pipes, cables, wires, drains, sewers, plant and equipment that supply a service to more than one unit or apartment.

2. What lot owners are responsible for 

Similar to body corporate responsibilities, each lot owners repairs and maintenance responsibilities also vary slightly with each type of format plan.

Lot owners in building format plan properties are responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the following:

• Doors and windows leading onto a balcony
• The inside of the lot, including all fixtures and fittings inside the lot
• Any fixtures or fittings that were installed by the owner for their benefit
• Exclusive use areas the owner has the benefit of (unless the exclusive use by-law says otherwise)
• Pipes, cables, wires, drains, plant and equipment such as air conditioning, a clothes dryer, hot water system, that services the unit or apartment only.

Lot owners in standard format plan properties are responsible for the repairs and maintenance of the following:

• Pest control within their lot
• Their lot, including all lawns and gardens within their boundary
• Any fixtures or fittings that were installed by the occupier for their benefit
• Exclusive use areas, if applicable or unless the exclusive use by-law says otherwise
• Pipes, cables, wires, drains, plant and equipment that only services their unit or apartment
• Their building’s foundations and roof and the painting, exterior walls, doors, windows and roof.

If the buildings in a standard format plan property have common walls, the owners sharing a common wall are jointly responsible for any maintenance issues relating to it. The body corporate has no maintenance responsibility because there is no common property involved.

3. How to determine who is responsible for utility maintenance

The pipes, ducts, cables, wires, sewers, drains, plant and equipment, that supply utilities such as water, electricity, telecommunications, drainage, and sewers, are the responsibility of the body corporate if these are located on common property or it services more than one lot.

If the utility infrastructure is not part of common property, the lot owner is generally responsible for repairs and maintenance.

For example, a lot owner is responsible for the body corporate repairs and maintenance of pipes and wires connected to the air conditioning that services his or her individual lot. If the air conditioning system was part of a centralised system, that serviced multiple lots, the body corporate would be responsible.

Body corporate is usually responsible for the repairs and maintenance of common property areas and their inclusions, while lot owners are obligated to maintain their own lot and the facilities within its boundaries. However, the rules may vary depending on the format plan your property under. This is why it’s important to keep an open line of communication with your body corporate manager and committee prior to beginning repairs and maintenance projects.

When it comes to caring for and protecting your strata property, our facilities management team at BFMS are the experts for the job.  Known for their professionalism and personal service, our team offers everything from expert full and part-time building management to a range of other related repairs, maintenance, and management services.  Or, download our FREE Community Living guide series on defects here. If you would like to learn more about Community Health & Safety and related services to ensure your protection, click here.