Strata

For owners corporations and strata committees

You are being asked to
approve something you
were never trained to read.

A committee is a group of neighbours. It is rarely a group of architects, engineers and lawyers. Yet since July 2025 its members personally owe a statutory duty of due care in the decisions they make — and a renovation application that is not refused in writing within three months is approved whether the committee understood it or not.

What is actually at stake in a renovation application

An owner moves a toilet three metres. It is still inside their own bathroom, so it looks like nothing. But the new waste line means new penetrations through a slab that is common property, not part of the lot — and if it leaks in fifteen years, the owners corporation carries the duty to repair the common property, not the owner who moved it.

An owner enlarges a bathroom by a metre. Now there is a wet area sitting above the living room of the apartment below. Nothing in the application says so, because the applicant is not looking at the floor below. Somebody has to.

The committee that approved it is named in a record that must be kept for ten years.

None of this means applications should be refused. Most are entirely reasonable and come back approvable with sensible conditions. It means the committee needs to know which is which — and to have that in writing before it votes.

What you receive

  • A classification of the works against the statutory categories — cosmetic, minor renovation, or requiring a special resolution — and the approval pathway each part takes
  • Every other approval the works will need — development consent or CDC, construction certificate, heritage exemption or consent, certifier and consultant involvement, and whether a works by-law is required
  • Risk-rated findings across structure, waterproofing, acoustics, services, fire and common property
  • Where the two diverge — works that are technically minor but carry a consequence worth conditioning, and works that look alarming but do not
  • Recommended conditions the committee can adopt if it decides to approve
  • Annotated markups of the applicant's own drawings, so the issue is visible rather than described
  • A clear statement of what is still missing before a decision can properly be made
  • Referral of any legal question to the scheme's solicitor, identified specifically

What it costs the scheme

Nothing.

The assessment contribution is borne by the applicant as a condition of having their application considered — the same principle by which a council’s assessment is funded by the applicant’s DA fee, and by which your scheme already recovers the cost of by-law drafting and registration.

The committee receives an independent expert assessment at no cost to the administrative fund and no levy on other owners.

What we do not do

We do not approve anything. Only the owners corporation can approve works — the decision is yours, and it stays yours. Our report is evidence for that decision, not a substitute for it.

We do not give legal advice. Where an application raises a question about your by-laws, your rights or your obligations, we identify it plainly and refer it to the scheme’s solicitor. We are architects, and we stay inside that.

We do not act for the applicant. We will not accept a design engagement from any owner whose application we have assessed, and we do not discuss applications with applicants — everything goes through your managing agent.

General information about the current legislative framework, not legal advice. Advice about a particular scheme, by-law or application should be obtained from a qualified legal practitioner.
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Spicer Architecture — Nominated Architect Jonathan Spicer. Registered Architect: NSW 8851 · ACT 2959 · Victoria VIC00291.
Registered Design Practitioner (Architectural) and Registered Principal Design Practitioner under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW).

Office +61 2 8365 2489 · Mobile +61 404 139 557

Information on this page about the strata legislative framework is general information only and is not legal advice. Jonathan Spicer is trained in expert witness practice in construction and architecture, and provides assessments, recommendations and reporting within that field. He is also a Juris Doctor candidate, with completion expected in 2027, and is not an Australian legal practitioner. Spicer Architecture does not provide legal services — where a matter requires them, we identify it and refer it on. Questions about a particular scheme, by-law or application should be directed to a qualified legal practitioner.