Maintaining Roofs on Strata and Community Buildings

Who owns the roof?

For most South Australian strata and community-title groups, the answer is simple: the corporation does. Under Section 5(5)(c) of the Strata Titles Act 1988 (SA), where a unit boundary is defined by reference to a ceiling or roof, the boundary runs along the under surface of the ceiling or roof. Everything above that line is common property and Section 25 makes its maintenance the corporation's responsibility.

An important point that catches some committees out: the courts have ruled that roof repairs are not a "benefit" to the unit underneath. That means a corporation cannot use Section 27(6) to charge a roof repair exclusively back to the owner of the unit immediately below. The cost is shared across the corporation, like any other common-property maintenance.

Community Title: Strata divisions vs lot-beside-lot

Community-title groups need to look at how the plan was structured.

Strata Division (one lot above another): treated the same as a strata-title group. The corporation owns the roof and is responsible for its maintenance under Sections 28 and 75 of the Community Titles Act 1996 (SA).
Lot beside lot: each owner owns the buildings within their lot, including their own roof. The corporation is responsible only for buildings on common property (e.g., a shared shed or covered walkway).

For more on which structure your group sits in, see Unit Titles Explained.

Roof structure

Most South Australian unit groups are built on a timber framed roof, which is made up of a mix of rafters and pre-fabricated trusses bearing on the top of the framed walls, with purlins running across the top to carry the cladding. Whether the cladding is tile, steel or asbestos sheet, the underlying framing is similar.

Watch points: any visible movement in the roofline, cracking in the ceiling below or sagging between trusses are all signs of a structural problem which are usually a failed strut, a broken truss or a connection that has worked loose. None of these are DIY fixes so engage a licensed builder to inspect and quote.

Tiled roofs (terracotta and concrete)

Common in older South Australian unit groups. The two cladding materials behave differently.

Terracotta tiles delaminate with age especially in seaside suburbs. Second-hand replacements are often available, a roofing salvage yard is your friend. If most of the roof is degrading, it's usually more economic to recover with concrete tiles or steel.
Cement falls out of ridge and hip capping over time. Replacement bedding is cheap; but matching the existing colour with oxide is the part most jobs get wrong.
Tiles break from storm damage or from anyone walking on the roof without crawl boards. Storm damage is generally insurable - see our article on Insurance Claims.
Lead flashing deteriorates with age. Flashing seals around vents, pipes, skylights and the join between roof and parapet wall. A failed flashing is one of the most common causes of leaks.
Low-pitched tile roofs leak if the sarking under them breaks down. Sarking is the metal-foil membrane that catches any moisture that gets past the tiles; on low-pitch roofs it does most of the work.

Best practice: tiled roofs

For self-managed groups, employ a responsible officer to view the roofs before winter each year.
For professionally managed groups, ensure to arrange a roof check at the same time as the gutter clean, before winter.
#1 Rule: Replace cracked or broken tiles promptly. Second-hand tiles are usually available.

Steel-clad roofs (galvanised, zincalume, COLORBOND®)

These are more common in newer builds and replacement roofs. Generally, they are lower maintenance than tile, but with their own failure modes.

Whole-sheet rusting takes decades to develop and is rarely the first failure point.
Rusting at sheet joins or where sheets have been cut is much more common as the protective coating is broken at any cut edge.
Loosened nails let sheets lift, flap in wind and eventually leak. Re-securing with screwed fasteners is the modern remedy.
Low-pitched steel roofs can leak at the ridge and hips if flashings have failed.

Hint: "slippers" for localised rust

Where a steel sheet is rusted only at the join with another sheet, replacing the whole sheet is overkill. Roofers can fit slippers, which are short lengths of roofing slipped underneath the rusted are. These stop the leak at a fraction of the cost of full replacement.

Asbestos roofs

A small number of older South Australian unit groups still have asbestos-cement roofs. After many decades they often crack, leak, and develop a flaking surface, at which point fibres can become airborne, which is the health hazard.

The two safe options are:

Cladding over the asbestos using battens and steel roofing. This leaves the asbestos in place but encapsulated.
Removal by a licensed asbestos contractor.

Anyone walking on an asbestos roof must use crawl boards. For commercial groups, an Asbestos Register and on-site warning signs are required. For everything else asbestos-related, see our featured article on Asbestos Management.

Inspection rhythm

The single best maintenance habit a corporation can adopt is an annual pre-winter roof inspection, ideally tied to the gutter clean. The inspection costs a few hundred dollars but a roof leak that goes through a winter's rain can cost many thousands. The committee's job is to make sure the inspection happens, not to do it themselves.

Get in touch

If your roof is showing signs of trouble or you're weighing a major roof repair, we're happy to help you scope the work and get apples-to-apples quotes. Acacia Collective manages strata and community title groups across South Australia.

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