A South Australian strata scheme lives by articles and a community scheme by by-laws; an ACT owners corporation has rules; a Tasmanian body corporate has by-laws. Each binds more than the owners, each is changed by a vote of the owners, and each change must then be lodged for registration. In the ACT and Tasmania, a change not lodged within 3 months fails.
General informationAbout the rules of strata schemes in three places, not legal advice about any rule or breach. The place guides for South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania link each one’s official pages.
1Three names, and who they bind
- South Australia
For strata schemes, Schedule 3 of the Strata Titles Act 1988 sets out model articles, and each corporation settles its own articles within the Act’s legal obligations, which it cannot avoid. The articles bind the corporation and the unit holders, and those about using the units or the common property bind tenants too. A landlord must take reasonable steps to see that a tenant keeps them.
Community schemes have no standard set: the Community Titles Act 1996 has developers draft by-laws to suit each scheme. They bind the community corporation, the owners and occupiers of the lots, and anyone entering the community parcel.
- ACT
The rules are the Act’s default rules, as changed by any alternative rules registered for the plan. An occupier who is not the owner is bound as if they were, except for rules requiring payments into the funds. An owner who does not live in the unit shares liability for an occupier’s breach unless they show they took reasonable precautions to prevent it.
- Tasmania
The by-laws are those the body corporate has made and registered with the Recorder of Titles or, where it has made none, the Model by-laws in Schedule 1 of the Strata Titles Act 1998. They bind the body corporate, each owner, each occupier, and an invitee of an owner or occupier.
2Changing them: the clock after the vote
| Scheme | The vote | After the vote |
|---|---|---|
| South Australia, strata | A special resolution of the members. | It takes effect only once lodged with the Registrar-General at the Lands Titles Office. |
| South Australia, community | A special resolution at a community corporation meeting. | Lodged with Land Services SA within 14 days of the resolution. |
| ACT | A special resolution making an alternative rule. | If it is not lodged within 3 months of the resolution, the resolution is treated as never made. |
| Tasmania | An ordinary resolution at a meeting, the Land Titles Office says. The Act names no vote for this; where it names none, the Office reads it as an ordinary resolution unless the scheme’s by-laws provide otherwise. | Lodged with the Recorder of Titles within 3 months or the resolution lapses; the by-law has no effect until it is registered. |
Tasmania adds a clock of its own for exclusive use by-laws, which give one lot special rights over part of the common property: such a by-law lapses after 5 years unless the body corporate confirms it by ordinary resolution within that time, and again within 5 years of each confirmation, unless the by-law is expressed to be permanent.
3What the rules cannot do
- South Australia. Articles cannot stop a unit holder selling the unit, leasing it, or letting someone live there. Articles that lower a unit’s value or unfairly discriminate against a unit holder can be struck out by the Magistrates Court or the District Court, on an application made within 3 months of the person learning, or being reasonably expected to have learned, that they were made.
- ACT. An owners corporation can refuse consent for an animal only on reasonable grounds, and any conditions must be reasonable.
- Tasmania. A by-law may set a minimum term of up to six months for letting a lot. The Land Titles Office explains that this lets a body corporate ban short leases, but never leases of six months or more.
Each place also speaks to assistance animals. South Australia’s articles cannot prevent an occupier with a disability from keeping an assistance dog or a therapeutic animal. In Tasmania, the Model by-laws entitle a person who reasonably needs a guide dog because of impaired sight or hearing to be accompanied by it, and an occupier cannot be made to remove one. In the ACT, an alternative rule is not invalid merely because it asks for evidence that an animal is an assistance animal.
4Pets
In the ACT, an animal that is not an assistance animal needs the owners corporation’s consent unless it is kept in line with a pet friendly rule in the owners corporation’s rules; the owners corporation must answer a request in writing, and is taken to consent if it has not done so within 3 weeks, and owners can pass, by special resolution, a pet friendly rule that lets animals be kept without asking at all. In Tasmania, where a body corporate has no by-law of its own on animals, the Model by-law applies and written approval is needed to keep one on a lot or the common property. If an animal is kept against the by-laws, the body corporate can ask the Recorder of Titles to order its removal. South Australia’s guidance lists keeping pets or animals among the matters its model articles can cover.
5When a rule is broken
Each place starts with a request or notice to the person in breach and keeps a tribunal or court in reserve, but the steps and the sums differ.
South Australia, strata
The corporation can first ask the person to do what the articles require or stop what they forbid. Articles may set a penalty for a breach of up to $500, or up to $2,000 where every unit is non-residential, and a stated maximum is not a fixed amount. The penalty notice uses Form 4 of the Strata Titles Regulations 2018 and must allow at least 60 days to pay. Within 60 days of being served, the person can apply to the Magistrates Court to revoke it, and the penalty is suspended until the application is decided. An unpaid penalty can be recovered as a debt. (Amounts as the Law Handbook gives them in October 2026.)
ACT
With the authority of an ordinary resolution of the executive committee, the owners corporation can give a rule infringement notice requiring the person to fix the breach. Not complying with that notice is an offence, with a maximum penalty of 5 penalty units.
Tasmania
The body corporate can give a written compliance notice allowing at least 30 days to put things right. If it is ignored, the body corporate can ask the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to enforce the by-law, which can fine up to 50 penalty units; the fine is recoverable by the body corporate as a debt. Instead of a notice, or as well as one, it can apply to the Recorder of Titles for an order that the person comply. The Recorder can impose a penalty only where a by-law provides one, and then up to 20 penalty units.