Maintaining Carports: Rust, Asbestos, and Owner Misuse

Carports: Common Property, Often Neglected

Carports get less attention than the building itself, but they're exposed to the same weather, used as storage by residents who shouldn't be using them that way, and often built from materials that are now decades old and nearing the end of their service life. For most strata and community groups, the carport is one of the worst-maintained pieces of common property on site.

Who Owns the Carport?

Strata Title

Under Section 25 of the Strata Titles Act, carports are common property and the corporation is responsible for their maintenance. The unit holder owns the space inside the carport if it's designated as a unit subsidiary on the strata plan, but the structure itself belongs to the corporation.

Community Strata Plan

Carports and garages on community titled Strata Divisions are treated the same way as in strata title — common property, with the corporation responsible under Section 75 of the Community Titles Act.

Primary Community Plan

Where lots sit side by side, each lot owner owns the carport or garage on their lot and is responsible for its maintenance.

Carport Construction Types

Most older carports fall into one of two categories:

• Post-supported — the most common type, with vertical posts at the corners and edges holding up the roof.
• Cantilevered — uses fewer posts (usually just along one side, anchored back to the building), giving more clear usable space underneath. Useful where you need to fit a vehicle into a tight footprint.

Steel Rust — The Most Common Structural Problem

Rusting steelwork is the single most common defect found on carports, and it's the one that creeps up unnoticed until a section needs replacing. The good news is that early-stage rust can be treated and the structure preserved for many more years if you act before the metal is significantly weakened.

How to Treat Rusting Steel

1. Remove all loose, flaking paint.
2. Mechanically abrade the rust scale with a wire brush until you reach sound metal.
3. Sand thoroughly and dust down all surfaces.
4. Treat the affected metal with a rust converter.
5. Spot-prime all bare and treated metal with a zinc phosphate anti-corrosive primer.
6. Apply one coat of all-purpose undercoat.
7. Finish with one coat of high-gloss enamel.

This is straightforward work for a competent painter or contractor and is dramatically cheaper than waiting until structural members need to be replaced.

Asbestos Cement Roofs

Many older carports — particularly those built before the mid-1980s — have asbestos cement roof sheeting. These roofs are now decades old, often cracked, and prone to surface flaking. Once those flakes become airborne, they're a serious health hazard.

The recommended approach is removal by a licensed asbestos removalist, with the existing sheets replaced by Colorbond or equivalent. If immediate removal isn't practical, the corporation should:

• Ensure no one walks on the roof without crawl boards (asbestos cement sheeting is also brittle and won't take a person's weight)
• Install warning signs (mandatory in commercial groups; best practice in residential)
• Maintain an Asbestos Register identifying the location and condition of the material — see our guide to asbestos management for the full legal framework

Never attempt to clean, scrape, paint, drill, or repair asbestos cement sheeting yourself or with a general handyman. Any work on it must be done by a tradesperson licensed to work with asbestos.

Owner Misuse: Oil, Storage, and Rubbish

Carports are designed to shelter vehicles. Many owners use them instead as outdoor storage rooms — for furniture, building materials, rubbish, anything that doesn't fit inside the unit. Some let oil leaks build up on the concrete year after year. None of this is acceptable.

This kind of misuse falls squarely under the owner's duty to maintain their unit or lot, set out in the corporation's Articles or by-laws. The corporation has clear powers to compel a clean-up, and committee members shouldn't be shy about using them.

Enforcement: Strata Titles Act, Section 28

Section 28 of the Strata Titles Act gives strata corporations the power to enforce maintenance and repair obligations. The corporation may, by written notice to a unit holder, require them to:

• Carry out specified work in line with their duty of maintenance under the Articles
• Carry out specified work to remedy a breach of the Act or the Articles
• Carry out specified work required by a public authority or council

If the unit holder doesn't comply within the time set in the notice, the corporation can authorise a person to enter the unit (using reasonable force where necessary) and carry out the work. The unit holder must be given reasonable notice of the proposed entry, and the corporation can recover the cost of the work as a debt from the unit holder.

Where the breach was actually caused by someone else (a tenant, a contractor, a visitor), the unit holder may then recover those costs from the responsible party.

Enforcement: Community Titles Act, Section 101

Section 101 of the Community Titles Act gives community corporations the same enforcement powers — with one important difference. Force may not be used to enter a strata lot or a building on any other lot without an order from the Magistrates Court. This means that for community lot enforcement involving entry to a building, the corporation needs to get a court order before going in.

Section 75 of the same Act reaffirms the corporation's broader duty: managing the common property, maintaining it in good order, and enforcing the by-laws and any development contracts. Enforcement isn't a discretionary nice-to-have — it's a formal function of the corporation.

For more on the principles of enforcement and how to choose between the formal and informal routes, see our guide to enforcing owner maintenance obligations.

Best Practice for a Carport Clean-Up

For routine clean-ups (rubbish, stored goods, oil) the formal Section 28 / Section 101 process is overkill if you can resolve things informally. Our recommended process:

1. Send the owner (or their managing agent, if it's a tenant situation) a seven-day written notice identifying the specific problem and what needs to be done.
2. Make clear in the notice that failure to rectify within seven days will result in the corporation engaging a contractor to do the work, with the cost charged back to the owner.
3. If the matter isn't resolved by day eight, instruct a suitable contractor to attend and undertake the work.
4. Recover the cost as a debt from the owner.

Always confirm verbal discussions in writing. Even where the owner agrees on the phone, follow up with a short email or letter confirming what was agreed and the deadline. Without documentation, you have nothing to fall back on if the matter ends up in court.

Get in Touch

If your group has a carport that needs attention — whether it's a structural problem, an asbestos roof, or an owner who won't clean up after themselves — we're happy to help work through the options.

Call us on 1300 792 255 or email hello@acaciacollective.com.au.