Your mortgage is not your only legally enforceable property bill
If you buy an apartment, townhouse, or villa, you will pay on top of your mortgage, council rates, and insurance. These levies fund the upkeep of shared property, from hallway lighting to lift maintenance, and they are not optional. If you do not pay, the can register a charge against your property and pursue debt recovery.
- Strata fees typically run between 0.3% and 1.2% of a property's value per year .
- Strata insurance premiums, a major component of levies, have surged 40-68% over two years in some buildings .
- A single lift replacement can cost $200,000 to $500,000 for the building, split among owners as a .
Buyers who budget only for mortgage repayments and ignore strata levies are setting themselves up for a monthly shortfall from day one.
Your lot ends at your front door
When you buy into a strata scheme, you own your individual lot, typically the interior of your apartment or townhouse. Everything outside your lot is : lobbies, stairwells, driveways, gardens, pools, lifts, roofing, and external walls. Strata levies fund the maintenance, repair, insurance, and management of that common property.
Your share of the levies is based on your , a number assigned to your lot that reflects its proportion of the total scheme. A larger apartment pays more than a smaller one. Levies are set at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and typically paid quarterly.
Two funds, two purposes
Your levies are split across two separate funds, and the split matters more than the headline number.
The covers roughly 60-65% of total levies and funds day-to-day running costs: cleaning, gardening, lighting in common areas, strata management fees, minor repairs, and building insurance premiums .
The covers roughly 30-35% of total levies. Previously called the sinking fund, this is the savings account for major future expenses: repainting the building, replacing the roof, upgrading lifts, or overhauling fire safety systems. In NSW and Queensland, every scheme must maintain a 10-year capital works plan that forecasts these costs .
A building with low quarterly levies but an underfunded is not cheap. It is deferring costs that will land on owners later.
What levies typically cost
Strata fees vary enormously based on the building type, age, location, and amenities.
Building Type | Typical Annual Levies | Quarterly Range |
|---|---|---|
Townhouse / low-rise (2-4 storeys) | $2,000 - $4,000 | $500 - $1,000 |
Mid-rise apartment (5-15 storeys) | $4,000 - $7,000 | $1,000 - $1,750 |
High-rise apartment (16+ storeys) | $7,000 - $12,000+ | $1,750 - $3,000+ |
A building with a pool, gym, concierge, or lifts will sit at the higher end. A small townhouse complex with minimal common property will sit at the lower end. Older buildings consistently attract higher levies, though a brand-new building with extensive amenities can also carry high levies from day one.
Annual ranges by capital city :
City | Annual Range |
|---|---|
Sydney | $4,000 - $9,000 |
Melbourne | $3,500 - $7,500 |
Brisbane | $3,000 - $7,000 |
Perth | $2,500 - $5,500 |
Adelaide | $2,000 - $4,500 |
Special levies are the bills you do not see coming
A is a one-off charge raised when the does not have enough money to cover an unexpected or large expense. The votes on special levies at a general meeting, and once passed, you are legally required to pay your share.
Common triggers include:
- Building defects — waterproofing failures, structural cracking, balcony remediation
- Cladding replacement — combustible cladding removal has generated some of the largest special levies in Australian history, with individual owners facing bills of $15,000 to $100,000+
- Lift replacement — a single lift replacement can cost $200,000 to $500,000 for the building
- Roof or facade work — repainting or re-roofing a large building can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars
- Insurance shortfalls — damage from events not fully covered by insurance, or excess payments of $10,000 to $50,000
These are not rare events. A building that deferred painting for 15 years might face a $150,000 bill with only $30,000 in its capital works fund, leaving a $120,000 shortfall to be split among owners . In a 20-lot scheme, that is $6,000 per lot. In a scheme with larger defects, individual bills can reach $20,000, $50,000, or more.
How to read a scheme before you buy in
Before you buy into any strata scheme, get a (sometimes called a Section 184 certificate in NSW or a body corporate search in Queensland). This report gives you a snapshot of the scheme's financial health, maintenance history, insurance, bylaws, and any disputes .
A strata report typically costs $200 to $350 and is one of the most valuable pre-purchase checks you can make. Your conveyancer or solicitor can order one, or you can commission a specialist strata search company.
What to look for:
- The balance of the and
- Whether a 10-year capital works plan exists and is current
- Any upcoming or recently passed special levies
- Meeting minutes from the past two years, which reveal disputes, deferred maintenance, and committee dynamics
- Current insurance coverage and whether it matches the building's replacement valuation
- Outstanding levies owed by other owners, which affects the scheme's cash flow
Not every strata report will wave a red flag, but these signals should make you investigate further :
- Low or depleted — the single biggest predictor of a future
- Significant levy increases in recent years with no clear trigger
- Multiple owners in arrears, signalling financial stress across the scheme
- No current 10-year capital works plan
- Repeated mentions of leaks, water ingress, or structural issues in meeting minutes
- No fire safety compliance records
- Proposed but unraised special levies in meeting minutes — the problem exists but has not been funded yet
- Frequent changes of strata manager, which usually indicates governance problems
A well-run strata scheme will have healthy fund balances, a current capital works plan, up-to-date insurance, and meeting minutes that show proactive management rather than crisis response.