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Overview
Consumer Affairs Victoria administers the Owners Corporation Act 2006 which regulates owners corporation matters, including insurance and dispute resolution. For information about owners corporations, please visit Consumer Affairs Victoria.
An owners corporation (formerly body corporate) manages the common property of a residential, commercial, retail, industrial or mixed-use property development.
Owners of flats, apartments or units are usually members of an owners corporation.
Land Use Victoria registers plans of subdivision which create or alter owners corporations, as well as recording applications to record owners corporation rules or changes of address. The latter occur after the creation of an owners corporation.
Consumer Affairs Victoria’s website contains further details about what an owners corporation is and what it means for owners of land affected by an owners corporation. This includes information on the responsibilities of an owners corporation, decision making and an explanation of common property.
Land Use Victoria cannot provide advice or assist customers with owners corporation queries. Please contact Consumer Affairs Victoria or seek professional assistance via our how to get help page.
Lodging a plan of subdivision
Lodging parties that are SPEAR Electronic Lodgment Network (ELN) subscribers must lodge plans of subdivision using the SPEAR ELN from 4 March 2024.
From 29 April 2024, all plans of subdivision lodged by a represented party must be lodged using the SPEAR ELN.
A plan of subdivision lodged at Land Use Victoria may create a single owners corporation or multiple owners corporations. Each owners corporation being created must also be accompanied by a document which sets out additional information about the owners corporation, including its postal address and how the lot entitlements and liabilities were allocated. For more information refer to the Guide to owner's corporation additional information.
Plans of subdivision can be complex and we recommend that you use a conveyancer or lawyer to lodge them. The plan itself must be drawn by a licensed surveyor.
For more information about owners corporations visit Consumer Affairs Victoria.
Lot entitlements and lot liabilities
The owner/developer must engage a licensed surveyor to set out the initial allocation of lot entitlement and lot liability which is set out on the owners corporation schedule in the plan of subdivision.
The basis of which must be described on the owners corporation additional information form and be in accordance with section 27F(4) and (5) Subdivsion Act 1988.
Once a plan is registered, the entitlements and liabilities will be publicly searchable in an owners corporation search report. For more information on entitlements and liabilities visit Consumer Affairs Victoria.
If there is a unanimous resolution to alter the lot entitlements and liabilities, an application to Land Use Victoria can be made at a later date to record the new lot entitlements and liabilities.
Owners corporation additional information
When lodging a plan of subdivision that creates owners corporation(s), an Owners Corporation Additional Information (OCAI) document is required for each new owners corporation that will be created upon registration of the plan.
From 31st July 2023 this document transitioned from being supplied by the lodging party to being provided by the licensed surveyor when an Owners Corporation spreadsheet has been uploaded in SPEAR. For more information refer to the Guide to owner's corporation additional information.
Common property
Common property is defined in the plan of subdivision, and may include parts of the land, buildings and airspace that are not defined as lots, roads or reserves.
There may be multiple separate common properties defined in a plan, which will each have a separate identifying number (e.g. Common Property No. 1, Common Property No. 2).
Multiple common properties usually indicates that the lots in the plan are affected by multiple owners corporations.
Common property may include areas such as gardens, passages, walls, pathways, driveways, stairs, lifts, foyers etc.
Unlimited owners corporations
An unlimited owners corporation is the most common type of owners corporation and has no limits to how the functions and powers as determined by the Owners Corporation Act 2006 apply.
An unlimited owners corporation manages the land affected by the owners corporation and generally includes the management of any common services and/or common property (except the use of any common property affected by a limited owners corporation).
Limited owners corporations
Limited owners corporations may be defined as 'limited' or 'limited to common property'.
Limited owners corporations which have no common property are usually to manage any common services within the land. The purpose of the owners corporation is usually set out on the owners corporation schedule notations in the plan.
The owners corporation additional information document must define the specified limitation for a limited owners corporation other than ‘limited to common property’. The details of limitation(s) of an owners corporation may vary depending on its purpose(s) and should accord with owners corporation schedule in the plan.
Multiple owners corporations
These are common in large, multi-storey apartment buildings, commercial properties, or developments that combine residential and non-residential lots, but they may be present when only certain lots within the development are entitled to use common property.
There may be one or more limited or limited to common property owners corporations, which include only some of the lots as members. These limited owners corporations define a set of lots who have exclusive use and responsibility for the common property affected by the limited owners corporation or the service managed by it.
Rules
All owners corporations have rules for the control, management, administration, use and enjoyment of common property and lots such as matters relating to security protocols, parking and noise.
A set of model rules apply to all owners corporations. These rules are set out in schedule 2 of the Owners Corporations Regulations 2018.
A developer may set out rules for the owners corporation which are to be recorded with the plan of subdivision, or an owners corporation may resolve to create rules once it is established. An application must be made to Land Use Victoria to record these rules.
When lodging rules with Land Use Victoria, a ‘consolidated copy' of the rules must be supplied. This means a current copy of all rules in place, as only one set of rules will be recorded against an owners corporation. Note that this does not include the model rules that may or may not apply.
Page last updated: 25/09/24