Resources
Our resource hub contains essential tools and information, designed to support Owners Corporation members and stakeholders. This page will provide everything you need to stay informed and engaged.
Owners corporation questions, answered
Straight answers to the questions Victorian owners ask most often, with links to the regulator’s own guidance. Last reviewed 2026-10-02.
Understanding your owners corporation
What is the difference between lot liability and lot entitlement?
Lot entitlement is a lot owner’s share of ownership of the common property, and it sets voting rights. Lot liability is the share of owners corporation expenses that owner has to pay, and it is what fees are calculated from. Both are set on the plan of subdivision by the developer, and changing either of them needs a unanimous resolution.
What is common property, and who is responsible for it?
Common property is everything on the plan of subdivision that is not a lot – lifts, lobbies, stairs, driveways, gardens, walls and shared services. It is owned collectively by all lot owners as tenants in common, and the owners corporation is responsible for managing, maintaining and repairing it. What is inside a lot is generally the lot owner’s responsibility.
What do the tiers of owners corporations mean?
Since 1 December 2021 Victorian owners corporations sit in one of five tiers, based on the number of lots and the fees levied. Higher tiers carry more obligations: Tier 1, 2 and 3 owners corporations must elect a committee and prepare annual financial statements in line with the Australian Accounting Standards, Tier 1 must also have those statements audited, and Tier 1 must appoint a manager unless it opts out by special resolution.
Fees, budgets and records
What is the maintenance fund, and how is it different from the annual budget?
The annual budget funds the coming year’s running costs – insurance, cleaning, utilities, garden and building maintenance, management. The maintenance fund accumulates money for larger future repair and replacement, so the owners corporation is not forced into a special levy when the lift or the roof needs work. Both are funded from owners corporation fees and both are reported on at the annual general meeting.
What happens if a lot owner does not pay their owners corporation fees?
Owners corporation fees are a debt owed by the lot owner to the owners corporation, and interest can be charged on overdue amounts. If the amount cannot be resolved between the parties, either side can apply to VCAT, which can order that a fee be paid or adjusted. In the meantime the owners corporation still has to meet its obligations to the building.
Does our owners corporation need audited financial statements?
It depends on the tier. Tier 1 owners corporations must have their annual financial statements audited by a registered or authorised auditor, or an accredited accountant. Tier 1, 2 and 3 must prepare statements in accordance with the Australian Accounting Standards and present them at the annual general meeting; Tier 4 owners corporations must prepare statements in any year they levy annual fees.
Meetings, committees and decisions
Who can be on the committee, and how big can it be?
Any lot owner can stand for election to the committee at the annual general meeting. A committee must have at least three and no more than seven members, unless the owners corporation resolves to allow up to 12. Committee members have duties to act in the interests of the owners corporation and not to misuse their position for personal advantage.
What is the difference between an AGM and a committee meeting?
The annual general meeting is the once-a-year meeting of all lot owners. It receives the financial statements and the maintenance plan, elects the committee and sets the fees for the coming year. Committee meetings happen between AGMs and deal with the day-to-day decisions the owners corporation has delegated to the committee, and those decisions are recorded and reported back to owners.
What kinds of resolutions can an owners corporation pass?
Most decisions are ordinary resolutions – a simple majority of votes at a meeting. Bigger decisions need a special resolution, which requires a 75 per cent majority; changing the owners corporation’s rules is the common example. A small number of decisions, such as changing lot entitlements or lot liabilities, need a unanimous resolution with every lot owner agreeing.
Repairs, maintenance and insurance
Who is responsible for repairs – the owner or the owners corporation?
The owners corporation is responsible for common property and the building’s shared services: lifts, stairs, lobbies, the roof, external walls and the like. Individual owners look after what is inside their own lot. Where damage in a lot spreads into common property, the owners corporation still has to repair the common property, and the plan of subdivision is what defines where each responsibility starts and ends.
Does the owners corporation have to insure the building?
Yes. An owners corporation must take out reinstatement and replacement insurance covering damage to and destruction of the buildings on the plan, and public liability insurance for the common property. The policy is arranged in the name of the owners corporation for the benefit of all lot owners, and additional cover such as office bearers’ liability can also be taken out.
What is a maintenance plan, and does one have to be prepared?
A maintenance plan sets out the common property the owners corporation is responsible for, what condition it is in, and what maintenance is planned over the coming years with indicative costs. It is the document that steers how much the maintenance fund needs to hold. What is required of a particular owners corporation depends on its tier, and the requirements for plans were tightened under the 2021 reforms.
Rules, disputes and changing manager
How are owners corporation disputes resolved in Victoria?
Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes guidance on how disputes are handled, and VCAT is the body that decides most owners corporation matters. VCAT can make binding orders – for example requiring repairs to be carried out, a fee to be refunded or a decision to be changed. Going straight to court is not the usual route for owners corporation disputes.
What are model rules, and can we replace them?
Model rules are the default set of rules that applies to an owners corporation that has not made its own. They cover matters like noise, behaviour, parking and use of common property. An owners corporation can adopt its own rules instead, by special resolution.
What records must the owners corporation keep?
The owners corporation has to keep records including the register of lot owners, minutes of meetings, financial statements and records for the maintenance fund, contracts and insurance policies. Owners are entitled to inspect the records they are prescribed to see, and a fee can be charged for copying. Where a manager holds the records, they have to be handed over when the management appointment ends.
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