Who maintains what in a QLD body corporate: common property, lots, and the line between them

"Who fixes this?" is the most common question a Queensland committee gets, and the most common subject of adjudication applications. The answer is rarely a matter of fairness or who caused the problem; it is a matter of where the item sits and which plan of subdivision the scheme was registered under. The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (BCCM Act) sets the framework (ss 20, 152, 160 to 163) and the scheme's regulation module fills in the detail. This guide follows the Standard Module (the BCCM (Standard Module) Regulation 2020); the Accommodation Module uses the same maintenance rules with different section numbers.

The baseline is simple. Under Standard Module s 180 the body corporate must maintain common property in good condition, and where it is structural, in a structurally sound condition. Under s 211 the owner must maintain their lot in good condition. Everything else is working out which side of the line a given item falls on.

Start with the plan of subdivision

Every scheme is registered on one of two kinds of survey plan, and the plan type changes who maintains the building itself. The plan type is recorded on the title and in the community management statement (CMS).

	Building format plan (BFP)	Standard format plan (SFP)
Typical scheme	Apartment buildings, townhouses sharing walls and roofs	Townhouse and villa estates where each lot is a parcel of land
How a lot is defined	By the structure: the boundary is the centre of the floor, wall or ceiling that separates it from another lot or common property. A balcony inside the lot has its boundary at the face of the balcony	By survey marks on the ground; the lot extends upward and downward without limit
The building's structure and exterior	Body corporate, even where it is technically inside a lot (see below)	Owner, including exterior walls, roof, foundations, gutters and windows within the lot
Gardens, driveways and paths inside the lot	Not usually applicable	Owner
Common property roads, gardens, pools, lifts, fences on common property	Body corporate	Body corporate

Older schemes registered under the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 use "building units plan" and "group titles plan" for the same two concepts.

Building format plans: the s 180 list

On a building format plan the body corporate's duty goes further than common property. Standard Module s 180(2) makes the body corporate responsible for these elements even where they are not common property:

• In good condition: railings, parapets and balustrades on, or for all practical purposes on, the boundary between a lot and common property; doors, windows and their fittings in a boundary wall between a lot and common property; and roofing membranes that protect lots or common property.
• In a structurally sound condition: foundation structures, roofing structures providing protection, and essential supporting framework including load-bearing walls.

So a balcony balustrade, a front door opening onto a common corridor, and the waterproofing membrane under a roof terrace are all the body corporate's, regardless of the boundary. Adjudicators have also held that where the body corporate must lift an owner's balcony tiles to repair its membrane, it should reinstate the tiles.

The owner keeps everything inside the boundary that is not on that list: internal walls and finishes, kitchen and bathroom fit-out, floor coverings, internal plumbing fixtures, and doors and windows opening onto a balcony that forms part of the lot (those are not in a boundary wall with common property). Two carve-outs in s 180 cut against owners even further: the body corporate is not responsible for fixtures installed by an occupier for their own benefit (s 180(3)), and the owner maintains the tray of a shower servicing the lot whether or not it falls inside the lot (s 180(4)(b)).

Utility infrastructure: the s 20 test

Pipes, cables, wires, drains, sewers and the plant that supplies a utility service are utility infrastructure. Section 20 of the Act makes all of it common property unless it meets every one of three conditions:

1. it supplies a utility service to only one lot; and
2. it is within the boundaries of that lot; and
3. it is not within a boundary structure (a floor, wall or ceiling, other than a false ceiling, that contains the boundary).

A pipe inside a boundary wall is therefore the body corporate's even if it only serves one lot. A pipe serving two lots is the body corporate's even if it runs through one owner's ceiling space. Under s 211(5) the owner must maintain, and replace when needed, the utility infrastructure that falls outside common property.

Section 180(4)(a) then reverses the outcome for a short list of equipment that relates only to one lot, wherever it is located: hot-water systems, washing machines, clothes dryers, solar panels, air-conditioning systems, television antennae, and any other device providing a utility service to a lot. The module's own example is an air-conditioning plant installed on common property that serves one lot: the owner maintains it, together with its pipes and wiring.

Standard format plans

On a standard format plan the owner maintains the whole building on their lot: interior, exterior walls, roof, foundations, and everything within the survey boundary including lawns, gardens and driveways. The body corporate's job is the common property outside the lots (roads, visitor parking, shared gardens, pools, boundary fences on common property) and utility infrastructure that is on common property, in a boundary structure, or serving more than one lot. Where two lots share a party wall, the cost usually has to be divided between the two owners, and a dividing fence between lots falls under the Neighbourhood Disputes (Dividing Fences and Trees) Act 2011 rather than the BCCM Act.

Exclusive use areas

A courtyard, car space or rooftop area that is common property but allocated to a lot by an exclusive use by-law is maintained, and its operating costs paid, by the lot owner unless the by-law says otherwise (Standard Module s 192). On a building format plan the owner still does not pick up roofing membranes or structural elements in the area unless the by-law expressly says so. Read the by-law: well-drafted ones state who maintains the surface, the fence and anything the owner installs. Utility infrastructure under an exclusive use area still follows the s 20 test.

Maintenance or improvement?

Maintenance means keeping the item in good condition and, when it fails, replacing it like for like. Replacing a failed item with something different (a tiled roof with a metal one, a timber fence with masonry, a pool pump with a heated system) is an improvement, and improvements to common property are subject to the dollar thresholds in Standard Module ss 186 and 187 rather than the maintenance duty. The renovation and improvement approvals guide covers those thresholds and the owner-initiated process.

Deciding and paying for the work

Maintenance of common property is not optional: the body corporate cannot vote to let the roof leak. What it does decide is how and when, and that runs into the module's spending controls.

• Which fund. Recurrent maintenance (cleaning, servicing, minor repairs) comes from the administrative fund; capital items (repainting, roof replacement, lift overhaul) come from the sinking fund, which must be budgeted against a forecast of at least 9 years of capital spending beyond the current year. How the two funds are set and levied is in the levies guide.
• Committee spending limit (s 172). The committee can commit the body corporate up to $200 multiplied by the number of lots per item unless the body corporate has set a different limit by ordinary resolution. Above that, the committee needs an ordinary resolution, written consent of all owners, an adjudicator's emergency order, or one of the statutory exceptions (complying with a statutory order, court or adjudicator's order, or renewing a required insurance policy).
• Major spending and quotes (s 173). If a general-meeting motion involves spending above the major spending limit, the lesser of $1,100 multiplied by the number of lots and $10,000 unless the body corporate has set its own, owners must be sent at least two quotes with the notice of meeting. One quote is tolerated only where a second genuinely cannot be obtained.

Urgent work above the committee's limit is a recurring trap. The practical sequence is: make safe within the limit, obtain quotes, and call an extraordinary general meeting or seek an adjudicator's emergency authorisation, rather than commit the full spend on the committee's authority.

Getting into a lot

Much common property maintenance can only be done from inside a lot. BCCM Act s 163 lets a person authorised by the body corporate enter a lot, or common property under an exclusive use by-law, to inspect whether work is needed or to carry it out. Outside an emergency, entry must be at a reasonable time after at least 7 days' written notice to the owner, or to the occupier if the owner does not live there, and in compliance with the building's ordinary security arrangements. In an emergency (a burst pipe, water pouring into the lot below) the authorised person may enter at any time, with or without notice. The occupier's consent is not required, and obstructing an authorised person is an offence. Put the authorisation in a committee resolution, and send the notice with the names of the people entering, the date and time, the purpose, and a contact number.

When one side will not do the work

Owner fails to maintain. Under Standard Module s 212 the body corporate may carry out work the owner or occupier was obliged to do, under the Act, the by-laws, another Act's notice, or an adjudicator's, court's or QCAT order, and recover the reasonable cost from the owner as a debt. The body corporate still has to act reasonably: tell the owner what is wrong, give them a realistic chance to fix it, and keep the evidence. Where the failure is also a by-law breach, the contravention-notice process in the by-law enforcement guide runs alongside.

Body corporate fails to maintain. The owner's path is to put the request in writing to the committee, then if nothing happens apply to the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management for conciliation and, if needed, adjudication (from 1 July 2026, $117.90 for conciliation and $117.90 or $247.90 for adjudication). An adjudicator can order the body corporate to carry out the work, and can authorise an owner who has already paid for urgent work to be reimbursed where the body corporate should have acted. Damage to a lot's interior caused by the body corporate's failure to maintain common property (a stained ceiling under a leaking membrane) is routinely ordered against the body corporate.

Defective building work. If an owner's contractor did defective work that affects the scheme, s 213 lets the body corporate pursue the remedy under the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 in the owner's shoes.

Common mistakes

1. Deciding by fault instead of by location. The owner whose shower leaked into the lot below is not automatically liable for the ceiling; if the leak came from the shower tray it is theirs, if it came from a pipe in the boundary floor it is the body corporate's.
2. Assuming "inside my unit" means "mine". On a building format plan, boundary-wall windows, load-bearing walls and roofing membranes are the body corporate's even when they sit within the lot.
3. Assuming "on common property" means "the body corporate's". A hot-water system or air-conditioner on the common roof that serves one lot is that owner's.
4. Letting the committee commit the full cost of an emergency rather than the make-safe portion. Spending above the limit without an authorising resolution or adjudicator's order is a breach the committee members answer for.
5. Entering a lot on a phone call. Seven days' written notice, or a genuine emergency, every time.
6. Deferring sinking-fund work indefinitely. A body corporate that lets common property deteriorate is in breach of s 180 and exposed to orders and to liability for consequential damage to lots.
7. Not writing it down. Which plan the scheme is on, what the committee decided, and the notices sent all belong in the scheme's records.

How StrataPilot handles this

StrataPilot runs the maintenance cycle from report to repair. Owners and tenants lodge a maintenance report with photos against the lot or the common area affected; the committee acknowledges, assigns it to a committee member or the caretaker, and the submitter is emailed at each status change. The asset register holds the lift, fire safety, pool, electrical, plumbing and security assets with recurring maintenance schedules, so routine servicing is not forgotten between committees. Work is tracked as tasks with due dates and a comment trail, linked to contractors whose licence numbers and insurance expiry are monitored, and bills are tracked from quote through committee approval to payment against the administrative or sinking fund. The record of who decided what, and why, stays with the scheme.

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This guide is general information about Queensland legislation, current as at the "last updated" date above — it is not legal advice. Section numbers are from the BCCM Act and the Standard Module; the Accommodation, Commercial and Small Schemes Modules contain equivalent provisions with different numbering. For decisions that matter, check the current legislation, your scheme's plan of subdivision and CMS, or ask the Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management.