Strata Building Management
Appendix: Building management terms
A plain-English glossary of the terms in this course. Where states use different words for the same thing, they’re grouped together.
The scheme and its people
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Strata scheme | Land and buildings divided into lots and common property, under a state’s strata or unit title law. Also community titles scheme (Qld, SA), unit plan (ACT, NT) |
| Lot | The part a person owns: usually an apartment, sometimes with a car space or storage |
| Common property | Everything in the scheme that isn’t a lot, owned by all the owners together |
| Lot entitlement | A number for each lot that sets its share of levies and, for some votes, its voting weight |
| Body corporate / owners corporation / strata company / strata corporation | The legal entity made up of all the owners (the name depends on the state) |
| Committee / strata committee / council of owners / executive committee / management committee | Elected owners who make day-to-day decisions between general meetings |
| Strata manager / owners corporation manager / body corporate manager / strata managing agent | The professional who runs administration: levies, meetings, records, insurance |
| Building manager / caretaker | The person who looks after the physical building and its people, usually onsite |
| Caretaking service contractor (Qld) | A service contractor who is also, or is associated with, the scheme’s letting agent |
| Letting agent / onsite manager | A person who lets lots for owners who appoint them |
| Management rights (Qld) | A business made up of a caretaking agreement, a letting authorisation and usually a manager’s unit |
| Service contractor (Qld) | Anyone engaged by the body corporate for at least a year to provide services |
Documents and rules
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Strata plan / plan of subdivision / unit plan | The registered plan showing lots, boundaries and common property |
| Building format plan / standard format plan (Qld) | Plans where boundaries follow the building, or are surveyed lines on the ground |
| Community management statement (CMS) (Qld) | The scheme’s founding document: by-laws, lot entitlements, regulation module, exclusive use |
| Regulation module (Qld) | One of five sets of regulations (Standard, Accommodation, Commercial, Small Schemes, Specified Two-Lot) that govern a scheme |
| By-laws / rules / articles | The scheme’s own rules about use of lots and common property |
| Exclusive use by-law | A by-law giving one owner the use of part of the common property, usually with the duty to maintain it |
| Common property memorandum (NSW) | An optional standard by-law setting out who maintains particular items |
| Building management agreement (NSW) | The written contract appointing a building manager under the SSMA |
| Remedial action notice (Qld) | A notice to a service contractor or letting agent giving at least 14 days to fix a failure, before termination can be considered |
| Contravention notice (Qld) / notice to comply (NSW) / notice to rectify breach (Vic) / compliance notice (Tas) | The formal notice to someone breaching a by-law |
Money
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Levies / contributions / fees | What owners pay to the body corporate |
| Administrative fund | The fund for day-to-day running costs |
| Sinking fund / capital works fund / maintenance fund / reserve fund | The fund for major and long-term works |
| 10-year plan / forecast | The plan of major works and costs the long-term fund must cover |
| Major spending limit (Qld) | The amount above which the committee can’t approve spending alone |
| Special levy | A one-off extra levy for a cost the funds can’t cover |
| Excess | The part of an insurance claim the insured pays |
Maintenance and trades
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Planned (preventive) maintenance | Work done on a schedule to stop failures |
| Reactive (corrective) maintenance | Repairs after something breaks |
| Asset register | A list of the building’s plant and elements with the details needed to maintain them |
| Work order | A written instruction to a contractor for a specific job |
| Make safe | Temporary work to remove danger or stop damage, before the permanent repair |
| Scope of works | A written description of exactly what a job includes |
| Variation | A change to the scope or price after a job is ordered |
| Practical completion | The point where a job is finished apart from minor defects |
| Defects liability period | The time after completion when a contractor must fix defects in their work |
| Statutory warranty | Warranties for residential building work set by state law |
| Strata building bond (NSW) | A bond paid by developers of new high-rise residential strata buildings to cover defects |
| Concrete cancer | Rusting steel reinforcement that cracks and breaks off the concrete around it |
| Efflorescence | White salt deposits on concrete or masonry, a sign of water moving through it |
Safety
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PCBU | Person conducting a business or undertaking: the main duty holder under the model WHS laws |
| WHS / OHS | Work health and safety (model laws) / occupational health and safety (Victoria) |
| Hierarchy of controls | The order of preference for controlling risks: eliminate, substitute, isolate, engineer, administrative, PPE |
| SWMS | Safe work method statement, required for high-risk construction work |
| Notifiable incident | A death, serious injury or illness, or dangerous incident that must be reported to the regulator |
| Psychosocial hazard | A hazard to mental health at work, such as aggression, bullying or isolation |
| Asbestos register | A record of asbestos identified or likely in a workplace built before 31 December 2003 |
| Permit to work | A written authorisation for a high-risk task (roof access, hot work, isolation) |
| Fire safety measures / essential safety measures / essential safety provisions | The fire and life safety systems a building must maintain |
| AS 1851 | The Australian Standard for routine service of fire protection systems and equipment |
| AFSS (NSW) | Annual fire safety statement |
| AESMR (Vic) | Annual essential safety measures report |
| Form 3 (SA) | The annual certificate of compliance for essential safety provisions |
| Fire indicator panel | The control panel for the fire detection and alarm system |
| Isolation | Temporarily switching off part of a system (such as fire detectors) for work, under a controlled process |
| Backflow prevention device | A valve that stops water flowing back from a building into the mains |
Tribunals and regulators
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BCCM Commissioner (Qld) | The office that provides strata information and runs conciliation and adjudication |
| NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, SAT, ACAT, NTCAT, TASCAT | The civil and administrative tribunals of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, the ACT, the NT and Tasmania |
| Recorder of Titles (Tas) | The official who decides most Tasmanian strata disputes |
| QBCC | Queensland Building and Construction Commission |
| Building Commission NSW | The NSW building regulator with powers over residential apartment buildings |
| Building and Plumbing Commission (Vic) | Victoria’s building and plumbing regulator, which replaced the VBA |
| Landgate | WA’s land registry and strata information body |
| SCA | Strata Community Association, the national strata industry body |
| ARAMA | Australian Resident Accommodation Managers’ Association, for Queensland management rights |
General education, not legal advice. Strata law is different in every state and territory and it changes often (NSW and Victoria both changed theirs in 2025 and 2026), so check the current Act and your own agreement, and get advice before acting on anything here.