OC · StrataCommon property cleaning for Melbourne owners corporations and body corporates
OC · StrataCommon property cleaning for Melbourne owners corporations and body corporates
G01Guide · Basics
What is strata cleaning? Put simply, it is keeping clean the parts of a building or site that the owners share, paid for by all of them together through their owners corporation. Think foyers, lifts, stairs, corridors, bin rooms, carparks and driveways, rather than anyone's own apartment or townhouse.
Reviewed 27 September 2026Victorian lawAbout 9 minutes to read
This guide is for new committee members, first-time apartment buyers and anyone who has been handed a cleaning quote and wants to understand what it actually covers. It explains the idea of strata title, the words Victoria uses for it, every area a strata cleaner usually looks after, how the work is paid for and how a scheme hires a contractor. It is part of our series of strata cleaning guides, written for committees rather than lawyers.
01Definition
Strata cleaning is the ongoing cleaning and upkeep of common property in a strata scheme, carried out under a contract with the owners corporation. It combines routine visits, weekly or more for busy areas, with periodic jobs such as gutters, windows and carpets booked a few times a year.
The word strata comes from the idea of layers: a building divided horizontally and vertically into separately owned lots, stacked like layers of rock. Each owner holds their own apartment or townhouse, and they share everything in between. Strata cleaning is simply the cleaning of that shared part.
Strata cleaning is also defined by who it answers to. An office cleaner works for one tenant; a strata cleaner works for a group of owners who meet a few times a year, share the cost and live with the results every day. That shapes everything from the hours of work to the way results are reported.
In practice, the work is defined less by the word than by the building. A walk-up with no lift needs stairwells cleaned properly every week. A tower needs lobbies done daily. A townhouse group may need nothing indoors at all, only a tidy driveway and bin bay. All three are strata cleaning.
02The boundary
A lot is the part of a scheme that one owner owns and can sell, such as an apartment, a townhouse, a car space or a storage cage. Common property is everything on the plan of subdivision that is not a lot, owned by all lot owners together, and it is what strata cleaning covers.
| Usually common property | Usually part of a lot |
|---|---|
| Foyers, lifts and stairs | The inside of each apartment or townhouse |
| Corridors and landings | Floor coverings and fixtures inside the lot |
| Driveways, paths and gardens | Private courtyards shown on the lot |
| Bin rooms and shared laundries | Accessory lots such as car spaces and cages |
| Walls, fences and shared roofs | Balconies, on many (not all) plans |
The official definition, from Consumer Affairs Victoria, is any land, building or airspace on the plan that has not been made into a lot. Its own examples read like a strata cleaner's checklist: passages, stairs, lifts, foyers, pathways, driveways, gardens, walls and fences. Carpet and fittings within an apartment, by contrast, normally belong to whoever owns that apartment.
The exact line is drawn by each scheme's plan of subdivision, which is why two buildings on the same street can treat balconies or courtyards differently. Grey areas like those are covered in detail in our guide who pays for what: cleaning responsibilities in a scheme.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, owners corporation definitions. Checked 27 September 2026.
03The words
In Victoria they describe the same thing. Strata is the everyday word most people search for. Owners corporation is the legal name under Victoria's Owners Corporations Act 2006. Body corporate is the older name, still found on many plans and in long-standing owners' vocabulary.
| Term | Where it comes from | When you will see it |
|---|---|---|
| Strata | Common speech; the legal term in some other states | Searches, real estate ads, interstate owners |
| Owners corporation | Victorian law since the 2006 Act | Contracts, levy notices, meeting minutes |
| Body corporate | Victoria's earlier term | Older plans, long-time owners, some managers |
Consumer Affairs Victoria explains that when a plan of subdivision creating common property is registered with Land Use Victoria, an owners corporation, formerly called a body corporate, is created automatically. Every lot owner is a member.
This matters for cleaning because the contract should name the right party. A quote addressed to a committee member personally, or to the building, rather than to the owners corporation, can cause confusion about who is responsible for paying it.
04The scope
Every part of the common property the owners want looked after, grouped into routine work and periodic jobs. Routine covers entries, lifts, stairs, corridors, amenities, bin areas and carparks. Periodic covers gutters, external glass, carpets and hard-surface washing.
| Area | Routine or periodic | Typical tasks |
|---|---|---|
| Entry and foyer | Routine | Glass, floors, mats, letterboxes, intercom |
| Lifts | Routine | Cars, mirrors, buttons, door tracks |
| Stairs and corridors | Routine | Sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, handrails |
| Bin rooms and chutes | Routine, plus washes | Spills, bins, floors, drains, chute doors |
| Carparks and basements | Both | Sweeping, then machine scrubs |
| Roofs and gutters | Periodic | Clearing gutters, valleys, downpipes |
| Glass and balustrades | Periodic | External windows and shared balustrades |
| Carpets | Periodic | Hot water extraction of corridors |
| Paths and driveways | Periodic | Pressure or soft washing |
Shared amenities add to the list where a scheme has them: residents' gyms, pool decks, rooftop terraces, barbecue areas and shared laundries. They are common property like any foyer, but they are used at odd hours and judged harshly when neglected, so they need their own place in the scope.
Few schemes need every row. Choosing which ones to include, and how often, is the main decision a committee makes when it hires a cleaner. For how each of these is done in practice, see our strata cleaning services overview, which links to a page for every scope.
05Money
All lot owners pay, through the annual fees their owners corporation sets. How much each owner contributes is set by the lot liability recorded against their lot. The committee estimates the year's costs, including cleaning, before the annual general meeting, and the owners approve the fees there.
Consumer Affairs Victoria explains that annual fees cover general administration, maintenance, insurance and other ongoing costs, and that the proposed budget goes to owners with the notice of the AGM. Cleaning sits within those ongoing costs. Owners corporations with a maintenance plan must also have a maintenance fund, which can pay for items listed in the plan, such as periodic gutter or carpet work.
Because the budget is set once a year, cleaning quotes need to arrive before it is drafted. A good contractor fixes prices for the contract term so the committee is not caught by a mid-year rise. For budgeting in detail, including a worked example, read what strata cleaning costs: a committee guide.
Fees and budgets are explained on the Consumer Affairs Victoria fees page (read 27 September 2026).
06Hiring
Usually in one of two ways: the committee compares quotes and passes a resolution to appoint a contractor, or the owners corporation's professional manager arranges it under authority the committee has delegated. Either way, the contract is with the owners corporation, not an individual owner.
Which route applies depends partly on size. Schemes in the three larger tiers have to vote in a committee every AGM; the two smallest tiers can decide whether to bother. The very largest, over a hundred occupiable lots, are expected to engage a professional manager unless the owners resolve otherwise. Small groups frequently manage without one.
Decide which areas matter and how often, ideally in writing.
Two or three contractors pricing the same scope, after a walk-through.
Insurance certificate, WorkCover, police checks and safety statements for height work.
A committee resolution or a delegated manager decision, then a written contract.
How committee and manager requirements vary by size is set out in the official tier summary (read 27 September 2026).
07Limits
It is not cleaning inside private lots, and it is not trade work. A strata cleaner will not clean an owner's apartment under the scheme contract, and will not repair plumbing, electrical faults, lifts or fire equipment. Those belong to the owner or to licensed trades.
Owners carry duties of their own too: their lot, inside and out, stays their responsibility, and they are not supposed to start fixing shared areas off their own bat. Clear lines on both sides keep everyone out of disputes.
It is also not a substitute for maintenance. A good strata cleaner notices and reports defects, such as a leak, a loose tile or a failed light, but fixing them is a separate job for the right trade. Contracts that blur this line tend to cause problems for everyone.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, maintaining individual lots. Checked 27 September 2026.
If you now have a sense of what your scheme needs, the next step is a figure. You can get a quote for your building, itemised so the committee can see exactly what each area costs.
08Quick answers
Three short answers to questions that come up after reading this guide.
