OC · StrataCommon property cleaning for Melbourne owners corporations and body corporates
G05Guide · Responsibilities
Strata cleaning responsibilities split along one line: the owners corporation looks after common property, and each owner looks after their own lot. Most arguments happen where that line is blurry, on balconies, windows, courtyards and garage doors. What follows is the typical Victorian position, plus the ways schemes resolve the leftovers.
Reviewed 27 September 2026Victorian law, general informationAbout 9 minutes to read
This guide is for committees fielding complaints about who should clean what, owners wondering why their levies do not cover their balcony, and managers who want a clear page to point residents to. It is general information, not legal advice. Your plan of subdivision and rules decide the details, and this guide shows you where to look. It sits in our series of strata cleaning guides; if you are new to the terms, start with what is strata cleaning?
01Foundation
Under Victoria's Owners Corporations Act 2006, the job of repairing and maintaining common property falls to the owners corporation, while each lot stays with its owner. Anything the registered plan does not carve out as a lot counts as common property. That single idea settles most cleaning questions.
Consumer Affairs Victoria fills in the practical detail. Carpets and fittings within a lot are normally the owner's. Owners have to keep the outside of their lot in "good and serviceable repair"; if one does not, the owners corporation may give written notice and, once 28 days pass without action, have the work done and recover the cost from that owner. Going the other way, an owner who repairs or maintains shared areas without the owners corporation's express authority is stepping outside their role.
Owners corporations can also make rules on the subject. Consumer Affairs Victoria lists, among the topics rules may cover, requirements for owners to clean the exterior windows and doors of their lots, and restrictions on leaving rubbish uncovered on common property. So a scheme's own rules can shift some cleaning onto owners where it makes sense.
Sources: Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic); Consumer Affairs Victoria on maintaining lots, common property and rules. Checked 27 September 2026.
02The clean split
Shared circulation and service spaces sit with the owners corporation: entries, lifts, stairs, corridors, bin rooms, carparks, driveways and shared gardens. Everything inside an apartment or townhouse, plus anything shown as part of the lot, sits with its owner.
| Area | Usually cleaned by | Paid for by |
|---|---|---|
| Foyer, lifts, stairs, corridors | Owners corporation's cleaner | All owners, by lot liability |
| Bin rooms, carparks, driveways | Owners corporation's cleaner | All owners, by lot liability |
| Shared gardens and paths | Owners corporation's contractors | All owners, by lot liability |
| Inside an apartment or townhouse | The occupant or owner | That owner or tenant |
| Car spaces and storage cages that are lots | The owner | That owner |
Car spaces are worth a note. In many buildings each space is an accessory lot, so the space itself belongs to an owner while the aisle beside it is common property. A carpark scrub cleans the aisles and works around parked cars; heavy oil staining under one car is usually a conversation with that owner. Our strata cleaning services are all scoped on this basis.
03Grey zones
It depends on your plan of subdivision and rules, which is why these are the areas where disputes start. The usual position is set out below, but always check the plan first: two buildings on the same street can draw these boundaries differently.
Usually part of the lot, so the owner cleans the floor and the inside of the balustrade. On some plans balconies are common property, or the outer face of glass balustrades is only reachable from outside. Check the plan, then any rule.
Inside faces are the owner's. Outside faces of windows that cannot be reached from the lot are often cleaned by the owners corporation as part of external glass work, and rules can require owners to clean their own exterior windows and doors. Check the rules.
A courtyard shown as part of a lot is the owner's to keep tidy. A shared courtyard or one marked as common property is the owners corporation's. Some schemes grant an owner exclusive use of a common courtyard with cleaning attached. Check the plan and any resolution.
A garage within a lot, including its door, is usually the owner's. A shared garage entry or roller door serving several lots is usually common property. Front doors of individual lots are the owner's. Check what the door serves.
Other items come up less often but cause just as much debate: air-conditioning units on balconies (usually the owner's, including the drip tray), shared letterbox banks (common property, though each box's contents are the owner's), and private gardens behind townhouses (the owner's if shown in the lot). In each case, the plan answers the question faster than any discussion.
The same test works for anything else that turns up: is it inside a lot on the plan, or does it serve more than one lot? If it is in the lot, the owner cleans it. If it serves several lots or sits outside every lot, it is likely common property and belongs to the owners corporation.
04Disagreements
By working up a short ladder: check the plan of subdivision, check the rules, let the committee decide and record the decision, and only then use the formal dispute process. Most cleaning disputes end at the first or second step once someone actually reads the plan.
The plan of subdivision shows what is a lot and what is common property.
Your rules, or the model rules if you have none, may assign specific cleaning tasks.
Where both are silent, the committee decides a practical approach and minutes it.
If an owner still disagrees: the internal complaints process, then DSCV or VCAT.
Consumer Affairs Victoria explains that every owners corporation must have an internal complaints process, and suggests using it before asking the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria for help or applying to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. For cleaning, getting that far is rare. A clear note on who cleans what, circulated to all owners, usually stops the argument.
See Consumer Affairs Victoria, complaint handling and resolving disputes (checked 27 September 2026).
05Prevention
Because residents stop guessing. A one-page notice that lists what the owners corporation's cleaner does, what owners are expected to do and how to report a problem prevents most complaints before they reach the committee, and it helps tenants who never see the plan.
Sample notice for residents
Tenants deserve particular attention. Many apartments in Melbourne are rented, and tenants rarely see the plan of subdivision or the rules. A clear notice, and a line in the welcome information agents give new tenants, answers their questions before they turn into complaints to the committee.
Put the notice in the lift, the mail area and the welcome pack for new owners and tenants, and send it to agents who manage rented apartments. Update it when the cleaning days or contractor change. It takes an hour to write and saves many hours of emails.
06Contracts
The owners corporation's cleaning contract should cover common property only, described area by area. Anything in a grey zone that the committee decides to include, such as external balcony glass, should be written in explicitly. Anything owners handle themselves should be left out, so nobody pays twice.
If the committee decides to take on a grey-zone item, such as external balcony glass for every lot, record the decision in the minutes and reflect it in the contract. Otherwise a future committee may not know why the owners corporation is paying for it, and the question will come back at the next budget.
Where owners want their own balconies or windows cleaned at the same time as the building's glass, a contractor can quote them individually and bill them directly. That keeps the scheme's costs fair and gives owners a convenient option without blurring the line on the owners corporation's invoice.
A good cleaner also helps enforce the split without taking sides. When our crews find rubbish left on common property, items stored on stairs or damage in an owner's area affecting common property, they photograph it and tell the manager rather than acting on their own. If you would like help writing a scope that follows your plan, get a quote and ask for it.
07Grey-zone questions
Three questions committees answer again and again.
