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Home » Maintenance & Common Property » Maintenance NSW » NSW: Our backyard floods with water coming from a neighbouring property — is drainage the owner’s or owners corporation’s cost?

NSW: Our backyard floods with water coming from a neighbouring property — is drainage the owner’s or owners corporation’s cost?

Published April 30, 2026 By Robert Fothergill, Strata Life Leave a Comment Last Updated April 30, 2026

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Question: Our backyard gets badly flooded whenever it rains. The water comes from a neighbouring property, not from within our complex. We need drainage along the fence line and maybe a pit somewhere else in the yard. Is this my cost or would the owners corporation be responsible?

Answer: The responsibility on installing additional drainage in your backyard will depend on who is responsible for the ‘air space.

The responsibility on installing additional drainage in your backyard will depend on who is responsible for the ‘air space’, be it the owner or the Owners Corporation . This will depend upon what is specified on the registered strata plan for your particular scheme.

Because a strata plan is a 2 dimensional diagram trying to define 3 dimensional details, strata plans are often written with notations on the plan. Below are examples of common notations that describe the area of the lot and the items contained within the lot.

Each plan will be different and needs to be read carefully so that you can understand how your ‘lot space’ is defined vs ‘common property space’.

Strata Plan

All Courtyard fences, Walls....png

Robert Fothergill
Strata Life
E: Robert@thestratalife.com.au
P: 02 9456 9917

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About Robert Fothergill, Strata Life

Robert has worked in the construction and property industry for over 20 years, specialising for the last 15 years in strata management.

After looking after large complex portfolios as a strata manager and progressing into various senior management roles for large strata companies, Robert branched out to open his own company as Director and Licensee of Strata Life Pty Ltd.

He has a passion for increasing the profile and public perception of the strata management profession and continuing to develop Strata Life as an industry leader in providing exceptional service for their clients.

View Roberts LinkedIn here.

Robert is a regular contributor to LookUpStrata. You can take a look at Robert’s articles here .

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