An owners corporation (formerly body corporate) manages the common property of a residential, commercial, retail, industrial or mixed-use property development.

You are likely to be a member of an owners corporation if you own a flat, apartment or unit. Your ‘body corporate’ became an owners corporation on 31 December 2007, when the Owners Corporations Act 2006 came into force. This law sets out the duties and powers of owners corporations.

If you own property affected by an owners corporation then you become a member of that owners corporation automatically. As a member, you have legal and financial responsibilities to the owners corporation.

All payments go to a bank account established and operated in the name of that Owner’s Corporation. Balmoral Building does not hold any of these payments in its own bank account. Levy payments contribute to the annual budget for the Owner’s Corporation.

An owners corporation is automatically created when a plan of subdivision containing common property is registered at Land Victoria. Land Victoria registers and records owners corporation applications received either with a plan of subdivision, or lodged following registration of the plan of subdivision.

Common property is whatever it is stated to be on the plan of subdivision and may include gardens, passages, walls, stairwells, pathways, driveways, lifts, foyers and fences. The owners corporation is responsible for the common property – the Owners Corporations Act 2006 states that the owners corporation must, among other things, manage, administer, repair and maintain the common property.

The plan of subdivision shows the parcels of land that can be sold separately. These are called ‘lots’. Lot owners are the members of the owners corporation for the subdivision.

More than one owners corporation can be created in a subdivision of land or buildings.

The owners corporation operates at four levels:

1. The owners corporation, consisting of all the lot owners.
2. The committee, consisting of elected lot owners or lot owners’ proxies.
3. A delegate of the owners corporation. For example: the chairperson, the secretary, a committee member, a lot owner, or an employee of the owners corporation.
4. A delegate of the committee. The committee may delegate to a lot owner, a manager or sub delegate to a member of the committee.

Your owners corporation makes a decision or resolution when its members vote at a meeting or by ballot.

Votes are based on lots or lot entitlements, not by the number of individuals living in or owning a lot. This means:

• a person who owns more than one lot has more than one vote
• if two people own one lot, they only have one vote between them.

Decisions can be made by ordinary, special or unanimous resolutions, each requiring different percentages of the total votes.

The lot entitlements and lot liabilities of lot owners are set out in the plan of subdivision.

• ‘Lot entitlement’ refers to your share of ownership of the common property and determines your voting rights. A lot for example, may have an entitlement of more than one vote.
• ‘Lot liability’ represents the share of owners corporation expenses that each lot owner is required to pay.

These entitlements and liabilities are determined by the developer at the time of subdivision.

An Owners Corporation Cetificate includes information such as current fees for the lot, the date special levies were approved, details of insurance, total funds held by the Owners corporation and other relevant information.

Alongside an Owner’s Corporation Certificate, the following documents are also included:

• The Owners corporation rules. These must be the same as the rules registered with Land Victoria
• The Statement of advice and information for prospective owners corporation purchasers and lot owners
• All resolutions made at the last annual general meeting
• A statement that more information about prescribed matters is available by inspecting the owner’s corporation register.

Owners will not be able to receive an Owners Corporation Certificate unless all due levy payments have been received.