QLD: Navigating Strata Maintenance and Disputes [Includes Flowchart]

For those who joined our recent live webinar this article serves as a concise summary of strata maintenance in QLD, with invaluable insights shared by property law specialist Todd Garsden from Mahoneys. If you missed the session, we strongly encourage you to watch the recording to gain a crucial understanding of your maintenance obligations and how to avoid costly disputes in your strata community.

QLD: Strata maintenance: Understand your responsibilities and avoid disputes

The webinar aimed to help attendees confidently navigate the complex landscape of QLD strata maintenance by breaking down legislation and providing practical examples. Todd Garsden, an experienced property lawyer specialising in body corporate law and a body corporate committee member himself, provided the practical understanding needed to confidently address maintenance complexities.

Key Pillars of QLD Strata Maintenance Responsibility

The default position for maintenance is straightforward: the body corporate is responsible for common property, and the lot owner is responsible for their lot. However, Todd explained that most disputes arise from exceptions to this default position. He focused on six main exceptions:

1. Causation
2. Incidental Works
3. Improvements
4. Utility Infrastructure
5. Exclusive Use
6. Building Format Plan

Exceptions in detail

Causation

This exception applies when damage is caused by something else, not merely a lack of maintenance of the item itself. This is where the majority of disputes arise. For example, if a lot is damaged by water ingress because the body corporate failed to maintain the roof, the maintenance obligation for the lot damage shifts back to the body corporate. Key evidence is needed to show that the body corporate’s failure to maintain caused the damage. Common examples of the causation of strata maintenance in QLD include cars damaging common property, flexi hose leaks from one lot into another, drilling holes into rooftop membranes, or not maintaining tiles or grout.

A crucial distinction was made with an example: if a gutter (body corporate responsibility) is in good condition but cannot cope with severe rainfall, leading to water backflow and lot damage, the lot owner is responsible for the repair because the body corporate did not fail to maintain anything.

Incidental Works

This refers to additional works required when carrying out necessary maintenance. The two most common examples are tiling works when the body corporate is replacing a waterproof membrane and patching holes cut to access utility infrastructure. The Esplanade adjudicator’s decision confirmed that if a body corporate needs to remove tiles to access and repair a membrane, and those tiles were in good condition, the body corporate must also pay for replacing the tiles, as the need to re-lay them is incidental to their maintenance obligation. However, if the tiles were not in good condition or caused damage to the membrane, the lot owner might bear some responsibility, requiring an expert report to determine the percentage of contribution.

Improvements

When a lot owner carries out an improvement on common property, they typically become responsible for maintaining that part of the common property. An exception exists if the body corporate explicitly excuses them from this obligation.

Utility Infrastructure

This is described as the most complicated of the six exceptions. The default position is that all utility infrastructure in a scheme is common property unless specific exceptions apply. An exception applies if the infrastructure only supplies utility services to a lot, is within the lot boundaries, and is not in a boundary structure.

Even if utility infrastructure is common property, the maintenance obligation can still be placed on the lot owner if the utility infrastructure only services that lot and falls into specific categories listed as a “device”. The concept of a “device” is a key issue, often understood as something you can “turn on or push a button on,” like a toilet, but not a gutter. The complexity extends to how pipes connected to devices service other parts of the scheme. Examples clarified that a pipe connected only to one toilet would be the lot owner’s responsibility, but an electricity cable servicing multiple lots, even if broken to one lot, could remain the body corporate’s responsibility based on recent adjudication. A gutter, even if serving a single lot, remains the body corporate’s responsibility because it’s common property and not a “device”.

Exclusive Use

Exclusive use is often misunderstood. The default position is that exclusive use bylaws transfer maintenance and operating costs to the lot owner if the bylaw is silent on maintenance. However, if the bylaw mentions any maintenance obligation, even a small one like “clean standard,” it can unintentionally reduce the lot owner’s obligations, placing the rest of the maintenance responsibility back on the body corporate. For building format plans, the body corporate generally remains responsible for roofing membranes in good condition and structural elements in structurally sound condition unless the bylaw specifically states otherwise.

Building Format Plan (BFP)

As mentioned earlier, understanding if a scheme is a building format plan is crucial because it significantly shifts maintenance obligations to the body corporate. The body corporate becomes responsible for maintaining certain items in good condition (e.g., railings, doors, windows in boundary walls, roofing membranes providing protection) and others in structurally sound condition (e.g., foundation structures, roofing structures, essential supporting framework). The distinction between “good condition” and “structurally sound condition” is vital; for instance, a structurally sound roof might not need painting if the paint is cosmetic and within a lot. This can lead to shared responsibilities, with the body corporate covering structural repairs and the lot owner covering cosmetic ones. Balconies are considered a “roofing structure” for the lot below, falling under the body corporate’s structural maintenance obligations, provided they offer “protection”.

Common Maintenance Issues and Case Studies About Strata Maintenance in QLD

The webinar explored the specifically problematic areas of waterproof membranes and flexi hoses:

• Waterproof Membranes: These are a significant source of disputes due to their cost and finite life.
  • Standard Format Plans (SFP): Membranes within a lot are the lot owner’s responsibility.
  • Building Format Plans (BFP): This is more complex. While lot owners are generally responsible for membranes within their lot, the body corporate takes on responsibility for roofing membranes that provide protection for lots or common property.
  • Bathroom Membranes: Despite common misconception, these are the lot owner’s responsibility.
  • Balconies and Rooftops: Membranes here typically fall to the body corporate in a BFP, as balconies often act as roofing structures for the lot below. However, they must still “provide protection” (e.g., a ground floor unit’s balcony without anything underneath may not qualify).
  • No Membranes in Older Buildings: Bodies corporate are generally not obligated to install a membrane where none previously existed, as they cannot maintain something that doesn’t exist. However, if the lack of a membrane causes another maintenance issue that the body corporate is responsible for (e.g., structural damage), then they might be obliged to install one.
  • Ancillary Works & Damage: If the body corporate is responsible for a membrane, it also covers incidental works like replacing tiles (if in good condition). If a lot owner damages the membrane (e.g., by improvements or poor tile/grout maintenance), the lot owner becomes responsible for that damage. Conversely, if the body corporate fails to maintain the membrane and it causes damage to a lot, the body corporate is liable for the lot’s damage as well.
• Flexi Hoses: These are a very common cause of disputes due to their frequent bursting. Flexi hoses are the lot owner’s responsibility as they are wholly within the lot, service only that lot, and are not in a boundary structure.
  • The Soleil Case Study: This case highlighted that even when a body corporate proactively reminds owners about flexi hose risks (which they aren’t legally obliged to do), an owner is still responsible if their hose bursts and causes damage. The adjudicator upheld the body corporate’s decision to pass on the insurance excess to the responsible lot owner, stating that an expensive excess isn’t necessarily unreasonable, especially considering it saved the owner from much larger repair costs.

The QLD Strata Maintenance Flow Chart: Your Navigational Tool

Todd also presented a comprehensive flow chart designed to help parties determine maintenance responsibilities. The flow chart integrates the default position and all six exceptions, serving as a helpful guide to ascertain who may be responsible for a maintenance issue. While it’s not “gospel,” it’s a valuable resource to understand the nuances and whether exceptions apply. The flowchart can be found at the end of the presentation slides.

This webinar provided an incredibly detailed and practical guide to Queensland strata maintenance obligations. The nuances of causation, incidental works, utility infrastructure, and the specifics of building format plans mean that no two situations are exactly alike. For a full appreciation of these complex issues and to hear Todd Garsden’s explanations firsthand, viewing the recording in full is highly recommended.

Presentation slides

Download the slide pack from the presentation here: Body corporate maintenance

Presenter

Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: [email protected]
P: 07 3007 3753

Resources mentioned during the webinar

• Ocean Plaza Apartments [2023] QBCCMCmr 9 (12 January 2023)
• Glen Oaks Estate [2025] QBCCMCmr 45 (7 February 2025)
• Esplanade [2014] QBCCMCmr 449 (15 December 2014)
• Soleil 501 Adelaide [2023] QBCCMCmr 29 (27 January 2023)
• Waves [2024] QBCCMCmr 269 (24 July 2024)

This post appears in Strata News #747.

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Read next:

• QLD: Steps to take for non-compliance with maintenance obligations
• QLD: Waterproofing Maintenance in Bodies Corporate

Visit Maintenance and Common Property OR Strata Topics by State pages.

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