Owners corporation legal services
Governance, rules, repairs, defects, levies, contracts and disputes: advised and run for owners corporations, committees, managers and lot owners across Melbourne and Victoria.
Start with your role
The law treats each role differently. Go straight to the advice written for yours, or read the full list of services below.
You are the corporation, its committee, or acting for either. Governance, money, works, recovery and disputes.
Services for owners corporations →You own or occupy a lot and have a levy, a leak, a notice or a renovation to deal with.
Services for lot owners →You manage buildings day to day and need reliable support with arrears, enforcement, governance, works and disputes.
Services for owners corporation managers →General services
The best time for advice is usually before the decision. A review at that point strengthens the resolution, tightens the contract or stops the escalation.
Victorian law says owners corporation; many people still search for a body corporate or strata lawyer. It is the same shared-property work, run under the Victorian Act, regulations and VCAT’s current owners corporation jurisdiction.
Where a dispute already exists, we start from the outcome you need and the evidence you hold, and choose the most proportionate route to a resolution.
Who has authority, which resolution is required, and how to get from a proposal to a valid, recorded decision the building can rely on.
A rule only helps if it is valid, registered where required, and enforced with the right notice at the right time. We draft rules that work and run enforcement that holds.
Leaks and damage stall while everyone argues about whose problem it is. The plan of subdivision, the Act and the maintenance plan usually answer it — we get to that answer quickly.
Defect claims are won by early coordination: the right experts, the right parties, and limitation periods protected while the technical case is built. We run that process.
We assess merits and jurisdiction first, then pick the cheapest path that can actually deliver the outcome — internal process, negotiation, conciliation, a VCAT proceeding, or litigation in court. When a matter has to be fought, we run it properly.
Read the first practical steps in a Victorian owners corporation dispute.
For corporations: levies struck correctly and arrears recovered efficiently. For owners: a clear view of whether a charge, allocation or recovery process is valid before you pay or fight.
Clear authority and balanced terms for the people who run the building — managers, building managers, facilities and maintenance providers.
Renovations and changes to common property need the right approvals before the work starts. We paper the arrangement so it cannot come apart later.
Advice by role
The services above apply to every building. What changes is who is asking, what they are exposed to and what a good outcome looks like.
We act for the entity itself and support the committee that runs it: decisions valid, notices enforceable, the corporation’s position protected.
We give you a clear view of where you stand when the corporation, the manager or a neighbour is on the other side.
We act as a reliable legal escalation path across your portfolio, with the Act’s registration, authority and disclosure regime always in view.
Plain answers
An owners corporation manages the common property in a residential, commercial, retail, industrial or mixed-use development. It is created automatically when a registered plan of subdivision creates common property, and the owners of affected lots become its members.
Yes, in ordinary Victorian usage. The entity formerly called a body corporate became an owners corporation when the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic) commenced. “Strata” is used informally; Victorian legislation says “owners corporation”.
The owners corporation generally must manage, administer, repair and maintain common property and relevant common services. The registered plan of subdivision is the starting point for deciding whether the affected area is common property or part of a private lot.
Advice is useful before a significant vote or contract, when repair responsibility is unclear, when a complaint or breach process has stalled, or when a deadline, urgent risk or VCAT proceeding appears. Early advice usually preserves more practical options.
Official context: Consumer Affairs Victoria, What is an owners corporation? and Owners corporation definitions.
How to start
In owners corporation work, the documents usually decide it. The plan of subdivision, the registered rules, the minutes, the notices and the contracts tell us where you stand.
Where we work
Based in Southbank, we assist owners corporations, committees, managers and lot owners throughout metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Meetings are available by video and by appointment. The first step is a short, non-confidential summary of the parties, property, issue, outcome and any deadline.
Need a view on your matter?
