Unit Titles Explained: Strata vs Community

Two Types of Unit Title

In South Australia, unit properties fall into one of two categories: strata title or community title. Both involve shared ownership of common areas through a body corporate, but they work quite differently — and knowing which type you have affects your rights, responsibilities, and costs. This article covers both in practical detail, from the underlying legislation through to the day-to-day questions of what counts as your unit, how voting works, and who owns which pipes.

How to Tell Which Type You Have

The quickest way is to look at your plan number:

• Plan number below 20,000 — strata title, governed by the Strata Titles Act 1988
• Plan number 20,000 or above — community title, governed by the Community Titles Act 1996

You'll find the plan number on your certificate of title or in any body corporate correspondence.

Strata Title: Dividing a Structure

Strata title divides a building or structure into individual units. Your lot boundaries are defined by the physical structure — typically the inner surface of walls, the upper surface of floors, and the undersurface of ceilings. Everything inside those boundaries is yours. The building fabric itself — external walls, roof, common areas — belongs to the corporation.

Unit Boundaries Under Section 5

Section 5 of the Strata Titles Act sets out three boundary principles that apply unless the strata plan explicitly says otherwise:

• Wall or fence — the boundary runs along the inner surface
• Floor — the boundary runs along the upper surface
• Ceiling or roof — the boundary runs along the undersurface

In plain language: your unit is the air inside the skin of the building. The bricks, the slab, and the roof structure aren't yours to maintain — they belong to the corporation as common property.

What's a Unit Subsidiary?

A lot of the useful stuff that comes with a unit isn't physically attached to the main structure — carports, garages, porches, balconies, courtyards, and private gardens. The Strata Titles Act treats these as unit subsidiaries: they're deemed to be part of the unit even though they're separate from the main building.

You'll find your unit subsidiaries marked on the strata plan. Where a subsidiary has no obvious height limit (for example, a garden or parking space), the plan will specify how far up and down the subsidiary extends.

Unit subsidiaries can only be used for the purpose for which they were created. A carport can't be walled in and converted to a storage room without corporation approval. The character of a unit or its subsidiaries must not be altered without approval — an important rule that ties directly into the Alterations and Additions section below.

Unit Entitlement

Each unit in a strata scheme has a unit entitlement — a number shown on the last sheet of the strata plan. Unit entitlement is based on the capital value of each unit as a proportion of the capital value of all the units in the group. A bigger or more valuable unit has a higher entitlement than a smaller one.

The most common use of unit entitlement is to calculate each owner's contribution to the Maintenance Fund. Unless the owners unanimously agree to use a different allocation (usually equal shares), levies are charged in proportion to unit entitlement. Changing that allocation requires a unanimous resolution — see our glossary entry on unanimous resolution.

Community Title: Dividing the Land

Community title divides land into individual lots. Boundaries are defined by reference to the land itself rather than by the building structure. This creates two distinct sub-types.

Primary Community Plan

In a Primary Community Plan, each building sits on its own separate lot. As the lot owner, you have title to the land and everything above it — so you are responsible for maintaining and insuring your own building. The corporation's common property typically covers shared areas like driveways, garden areas, and visitor parking.

Where two lots share a wall (a party wall), that wall is generally the joint responsibility of both adjoining owners.

Community Strata Plan

A Community Strata Plan looks more like traditional strata title. Lot boundaries are defined by the building structure, and at least one lot is situated above another (for example, two-storey flats with an upstairs and downstairs unit). The corporation maintains the building fabric — external walls, floors, dividing walls, foundations, roof, and gutters. Individual owners are responsible for internal fixtures such as kitchens and bathrooms.

If your property is a Community Strata Plan, the day-to-day experience of ownership is very similar to a strata title group.

Community Title Boundaries (Section 19)

Where a community title plan includes structures, the boundary rules under Section 19 of the Community Titles Act are:

• Wall — the boundary runs along the inner (interior-facing) surface
• Floor — the boundary runs along the upper surface
• Ceiling or roof — the boundary runs along the undersurface

These are the same three principles as Section 5 of the Strata Titles Act, so in practice the boundary rules are consistent across both types of title.

Meetings and Voting

Strata Title Meetings (Section 33)

The corporation must hold at least one general meeting — the Annual General Meeting — every calendar year, and no more than 15 months after the last one. The AGM is where owners elect the presiding officer, secretary, and treasurer, and (if the group has one) the Management Committee.

Any general meeting must be convened with at least 14 days' written notice to all unit holders, and the time and place must be reasonably convenient to a majority of members. A meeting can be convened by the secretary, any two members of the Management Committee, or unit holders representing one-fifth or more of the total number of units.

Voting Rights (Section 34)

The default rule in Section 34 is straightforward: each unit gets one vote, regardless of how many people own it. The details:

• Where a unit has two or more owners, they need to agree who will cast the vote. If they can't agree, the vote goes to whichever owner's name appears first on the certificate of title.
• A unit holder can appoint a proxy to vote on their behalf.
• A unit holder who can't attend can cast an absentee vote by giving the secretary written notice at least six hours before the meeting.
• Unfinancial members — owners who are behind in their payments — cannot vote on most matters. The exception is matters requiring a unanimous resolution, where everyone's vote is needed.

For non-residential (commercial or industrial) strata groups, the corporation can unanimously decide to adopt a weighted voting system where votes are counted in proportion to unit entitlement. For more on owner voting rights specifically, see Your Rights and Roles as a Strata Unit Owner.

Community Title Meetings and Voting

Community corporations follow parallel rules — an AGM each year, a Management Committee optional but common, and one vote per lot. The statutory framework sits under the Community Titles Act 1996 rather than the Strata Titles Act, but the day-to-day experience is very similar. For the full community title governance framework, see Community Title Management Committees.

The Maintenance Fund

Both strata and community corporations fund their operations through a Maintenance Fund (sometimes called the administration fund). Typical expenses include:

• Lawn cutting and grounds maintenance
• Drain and gutter cleaning (see gutter cleaning)
• Insurance premiums
• Management fees (where a professional manager is engaged)
• Common area lighting and utilities

Strata groups typically run one combined fund. Community corporations are more likely to split their finances into two: an administrative fund for ongoing costs, and a sinking fund (reserve fund) for future capital expenditure like driveway resurfacing, major repairs, or replacement of common fixtures. For more detail on how the two funds work, see Administration and Sinking Funds Explained.

In a community corporation, the Management Committee has limited spending authority. There's a prescribed monetary limit on what the committee can authorise without a general meeting, and the committee cannot fix or change the levies — that decision always stays with the full corporation in general meeting.

Who Owns the Services?

Shared service infrastructure — sewer pipes, water pipes, and electrical cables — can be a source of confusion. The general principle under both Acts is:

• Services that pass through or serve multiple lots are common property and the corporation's responsibility to maintain
• Once a pipe or cable serves only a single lot, it becomes that owner's responsibility from the point where it branches off

A practical test for water supply: shut the water off at a given point, and if only one unit is affected, the pipe from that point onward belongs to the owner. The same principle applies to drainage and electrical cabling.

There are two important exceptions worth knowing about. First, sewer vent pipes that serve the common sewer line remain common property, even if the vent physically passes through a single owner's lot or building. Second, for electrical supply, a cable that travels through the common roof space but serves only one unit is still that owner's responsibility — the test is what the service serves, not where it runs.

For more detail on plumbing specifically, see our plumbing article.

Alterations and Additions: Section 29

This is the rule that catches many owners by surprise. Under Section 29 of the Strata Titles Act, a unit holder must obtain approval from the strata corporation — specifically a Special Resolution — before starting any of the following:

• Building or structural work
• Work that alters the external appearance of the unit

Examples that fall under this requirement include:

• Installing a pergola, awning, or shade structure
• Fitting an air conditioner unit on an external wall
• Building a shed on a unit subsidiary
• Installing a satellite dish or aerial
• Changing a front door, window, or facade element
• Enclosing or converting a carport

Many groups have standard approvals in place for common items (air conditioners, screen doors, satellite dishes) so owners don't need a separate meeting for every small change. Check with your corporation secretary or manager before you start — going ahead without approval can result in the corporation ordering the work undone at your cost.

For community title groups, similar approval rules apply through the by-laws — see our guide to by-laws for the community title framework.

Buying Into Either Type — What to Expect

Before settling on a purchase, you or your conveyancer should obtain a corporation search. This gives you the financial position of the corporation, meeting minutes from recent years, the current by-laws or Articles, and any known upcoming expenses. For a full buyer's checklist, see Buying a Strata or Community Titled Unit.

For community title, you should also receive the scheme description (required where the group has more than six lots) and the current community plan. Understanding which sub-type applies — Primary Community Plan or Community Strata Plan — will make clear whether you're responsible for maintaining your own building or whether the corporation handles it.

Get independent legal advice before you sign. Don't rely on the vendor's conveyancer to protect your interests.

Questions?

If you're unsure which type of title applies to your property, or what your maintenance obligations are, get in touch with us. We manage both strata and community title groups across South Australia and are happy to help you work it out.

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