Resources · Legislation
The laws behind your building.
Owners corporation law is spread across several Acts, regulations and codes. These are the instruments we work with every day, with links to the current official versions.
The core framework
Start here.
- Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic) — the principal Act: functions and powers, fees, maintenance, insurance, meetings and resolutions, committees, managers, rules, records and dispute resolution.
- Owners Corporations Regulations 2018 (Vic) — prescribed information and fees and, in Schedule 2, the model rules. Under section 139 of the Act, the model rules apply where the owners corporation has made no rules and are deemed included for matters its own rules do not address.
- Subdivision Act 1988 (Vic) — the Act that creates an owners corporation when a plan of subdivision is registered, and defines lots, common property, lot liability and lot entitlement.
Frequently in play
The Acts a matter often turns on.
- Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic) — vendor disclosure on the sale of a lot, including the owners corporation certificate that accompanies a section 32 statement.
- Building Act 1993 (Vic) — building permits and enforcement, and the ten-year limitation period that governs most building actions.
- Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic) — the implied warranties and contract rules behind most residential defect claims.
- Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic) — the procedure, powers and costs rules of the tribunal where most owners corporation disputes are decided.
Codes, regulators & forums
Beyond the statute book.
- National Construction Code (Building Code of Australia) — the technical standards buildings must meet; central to defect and cladding matters, and to the Act’s definition of short-stay accommodation.
- Consumer Affairs Victoria — owners corporations — the regulator’s plain-language guidance and approved owners corporation forms.
- Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria — voluntary dispute-resolution assistance where the parties agree to participate.
- VCAT — owners corporation disputes — application information, fees and procedural guidance for owners corporation proceedings.
- Building and Plumbing Commission Dispute Resolution — the preliminary dispute-resolution process for eligible domestic building disputes before a VCAT application.
- Owners corporation manager registration — the Business Licensing Authority register that professional managers must be on.
Links go to the official published versions, which are updated as the law changes. Reading an Act is not the same as knowing how a tribunal applies it; if a provision matters to your situation, ask us about it.
Reading the Act is our day job