Renting in a Strata Unit: Your Rights and How to Get Things Fixed

Where you stand: your landlord, not the corporation

If you rent a unit in a strata or community titled group, it's easy to assume the body corporate — or its strata manager — is the one you deal with when something goes wrong. In almost every case, it isn't. Your legal relationship is with your landlord (the unit owner), under the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA). That tenancy agreement, not the corporation's rules, is what governs your rent, your bond, your repairs, and your right to live there undisturbed.

The corporation is a separate body made up of the owners. You are not a member of it, you don't get a vote at its meetings, and you can't directly instruct it or its manager to do anything. That sounds discouraging, but it actually clarifies the path: when you want something fixed, the person with the standing to make it happen is your landlord. Your job is to get the request to the right place, in the right form, so it can't be ignored.

You're bound by the by-laws — even though you can't vote

Here's the part that catches a lot of renters off guard. You don't get a say in the corporation's rules, but you're still bound by them. In a strata group these rules are called the Articles; in a community titled group they're called by-laws. They can cover parking, pets, noise, use of common areas, hanging washing, and more.

Your landlord should give you a copy when your tenancy starts. If they haven't, ask for it — you can be issued a breach notice for breaking a rule you were never shown, so it's in your interest to know what they say. For how the rules work and how they're enforced, see By-Laws Explained.

Separately, your tenancy agreement carries its own conduct obligations. Under Section 71 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA) you must not use the premises for an illegal purpose, cause a nuisance, or interfere with the reasonable peace, comfort or privacy of your neighbours — which lines up closely with what the by-laws ask of everyone in the group.

Two kinds of problems — and who fixes each

Before you raise anything, work out which kind of problem you have. The path is completely different.

Problems inside your unit

A leaking tap, a broken oven, a faulty light fitting inside your unit, a sticking door — these are between you and your landlord under your tenancy agreement. The corporation has nothing to do with them. Under Section 68 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA), it is a term of every tenancy that the landlord keeps the premises in a reasonable state of repair.

Problems with common property

A failed security light in the car park, a cracked common driveway, a leaking roof, a broken handrail in a shared stairwell — these are common property, and maintaining them is the corporation's legal duty (under Section 25 of the Strata Titles Act 1988 (SA), or Sections 28 and 75 of the Community Titles Act 1996 (SA)). But you can't demand the corporation act, because you're not a member. The move here is to tell your landlord, who is a member, and who can raise it with the corporation or strata manager. If you're not sure where the boundary between your unit and common property sits, Who Is Liable for Maintenance walks through it.

How to ask your landlord for help

Repairs get sorted faster when the request is clear, specific, and in writing. A phone call is fine to start, but follow it up in writing — because the landlord's repair obligation under Section 68 only bites once they have notice of the defect, and a written record is your proof of when that happened.

Put it in writing. Email or text your landlord or their property manager. Describe the problem, where it is, and when it started. A photo helps enormously.
Give them a reasonable chance to act. Once notified, the landlord must act with reasonable diligence to have the defect repaired. For ordinary repairs, ask for the work within a reasonable period and keep a note of when you asked.
Know your fallback for serious disrepair. Section 68(3) covers the situation where disrepair is likely to cause personal injury, property damage or undue inconvenience, and the landlord has either failed to act after you notified them, or couldn't be reached despite your reasonable attempts. In that case you can have the repair carried out and recover the reasonable cost from the landlord — but only if the work is done by a person licensed to do it, and that person gives the landlord a report on the work and the cause. Keep that report.
Keep every message. A clear paper trail is what makes the difference if the matter ever goes further.

If your landlord still won't act, you can contact Consumer and Business Services (CBS) for advice, and ultimately apply to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT), which decides residential tenancy disputes and can order the landlord to pay compensation. Keep this in proportion — most repairs never need to go that far.

How to get better from the strata manager

Renters often want to ring the strata manager directly and ask them to fix the broken gate or chase the gardener. It's worth understanding the relationship before you do. A strata manager is a service provider engaged by — and accountable to — the corporation. They act as its agent. They are not your landlord and they are not your service provider, so they have no obligation to take instructions from a tenant. For the full picture of what the role does and doesn't cover, see What Does a Strata Manager Actually Do?

That said, common-property maintenance is the manager's job, and a good one will act on a clear report of a genuine common-property problem regardless of who flagged it. So you can still help things along:

Report the facts, don't issue demands. "The light over bay 4 has been out for two weeks" is useful to a manager. "You need to fix this today" from someone with no standing usually isn't.
Copy your landlord in. This is the single most effective thing you can do. Your landlord is the member with the standing to follow up, and a request that visibly involves the owner carries weight a tenant's email alone doesn't.
Be specific and be patient. Give the location, the problem, and a photo. Then give it a reasonable window before chasing.
Escalate through your landlord, not around them. If nothing happens, the lever is your landlord raising it at a committee meeting or in writing to the corporation — not you escalating to the manager's boss.

Your right to quiet enjoyment and to be left alone

One set of rights is firmly yours as a tenant. Under Section 65 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 (SA) you're entitled to quiet enjoyment of your home, and the landlord must not interfere with your reasonable peace, comfort or privacy. Nobody — not the corporation, not the manager, not a tradesperson, and not even your landlord — can simply let themselves in.

Section 72 sets out the only circumstances in which a landlord or their agent can enter, and the notice required. The common ones:

In an emergency — no notice needed (a burst pipe flooding the unit below is the classic case).
For an inspection — no more than 4 times a year, and only with written notice given between 7 and 28 days beforehand, specifying a 2-hour window within normal hours.
For repairs or maintenance (other than an emergency) — only at your request, or at a time within normal hours of which you've been given at least 48 hours' notice.

A landlord can't sign your access rights away to the corporation, so any corporation or strata-manager access to your unit has to be arranged with you through your landlord under these rules. For how entry works on the strata side of the fence, see Right of Entry to Private Property.

If it's still not getting fixed

Match the escalation to the type of problem:

Inside-the-unit and tenancy matters — repairs, bond, rent, access — go to CBS and, if unresolved, SACAT.
Common-property and by-law matters run through your landlord as a member of the corporation. The corporation's own dispute pathway — conversation, breach notice, mediation, court — is set out in Resolving Disputes in Strata and Community Groups.

The throughline: know which bucket your problem is in, put your request in writing, and keep your landlord in the loop. That alone resolves the large majority of issues renters run into.

Get in touch

Acacia Collective manages strata and community title groups across South Australia. If you're a tenant in one of the groups we manage and you've reported a common-property problem that isn't moving, you're welcome to flag it with us — though the fastest path is almost always to loop in your landlord, who is the owner we're accountable to.

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