Torrens, community and strata title: what a house-and-land buyer owns

Torrens title is the registered ownership system used in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. The registered owner of a lot generally holds it subject only to the interests recorded on its title, and to the exceptions in each state's laws. Community and strata title are different forms of subdivision built on that registered ownership system¹.

Victoria's Transfer of Land Act 1958 states the rule as the registered proprietor holding the land, except in case of fraud, subject to the encumbrances recorded on the relevant title and generally free from other encumbrances². The NSW Registrar General describes a similar principle, with the State Government guaranteeing that the registered owners recorded in the NSW land title system are the owners of the land³.

Community title adds shared property to an individually owned lot. In a New South Wales community scheme, a lot owner owns and maintains the buildings on their lot and also shares the use and maintenance costs of association property, which is held by the scheme's association⁴.

Queensland defines a community titles scheme as scheme land of two or more lots plus common property, identified by a single community management statement recorded by the registrar⁵. In Victoria a similar arrangement can apply through an owners corporation where a plan of subdivision includes common property⁶. Driveways, pathways and fences are among the things a plan can declare to be common property⁷.

Strata title sets lot boundaries within a building rather than boundaries marked only on the ground. In Queensland a building format plan can define a lot using structural elements such as floors, walls and ceilings⁵. NSW Fair Trading describes neighbourhood schemes as similar to strata schemes but typically consisting of freestanding houses or townhouses⁸.

The Australian Capital Territory uses a different land tenure system. The ACT Government describes leasehold as its system of land tenure. A residential Crown lease usually runs for 99 years⁹.

Under Torrens title outside any scheme, the owner is responsible for the lot and the house on it, and no association or body corporate exists to share the maintenance responsibility. Shared maintenance applies only where a registered plan creates common or association property. In Victoria, a plan with common property must provide for an owners corporation¹².

Under a Queensland community titles scheme on a standard format plan, maintenance responsibility follows the lot boundary. The lot owner maintains the inside of the building, the outside of the building within the lot boundary including exterior walls, doors, windows and roof, the building foundations, and all lawns, gardens and driveways inside the lot boundary. The body corporate maintains the roads, gardens, lawns and facilities on common property and any utility infrastructure on common property, as well as shared utility infrastructure⁵.

In Victoria, the Owners Corporations Act 2006 requires an owners corporation to repair and maintain the common property and related services. A lot owner cannot repair, alter or maintain common property or a shared service without authority¹³.

In New South Wales, associations are responsible for ensuring association property is looked after, including the cost of maintaining it, and members are responsible for any maintenance and repairs within their own lot. Since 1 July 2025, where an association has taken action against an owner or another person for damage to association property, it cannot delay repairs that affect the safety of buildings or a person's access to or use of the common property or a lot. This was the first stage of community land law reforms, followed by further stages on 27 October 2025 and 1 April 2026, with more changes due later in 2026¹⁴.

Under a Queensland building format plan, the body corporate maintains essential structural elements of the building (such as foundation structures, roofing structures that provide protection and load-bearing walls) and the foundations and roof of the building. The owner maintains the inside of the lot, including all fixtures and fittings inside the lot⁵.

By-laws and rules can control the appearance and use of individual lots as well as shared property. In New South Wales, community scheme by-laws apply to everyone living and working in the scheme and can cover building or landscaping styles alongside the use of communal roads, parks and pools. Every scheme must have a management statement, registered with NSW Land Registry Services, and its rules apply to people living in, working in or visiting the scheme⁸.

In Victoria, an owners corporation may make rules by special resolution on matters including the external appearance of lots, building work and landscaping. If it does not make its own rules, the model rules apply. An owners corporation can also regulate work that changes the external appearance of a lot, but its rules cannot unreasonably prevent sustainability items from being installed on the exterior¹³.

In Queensland, by-laws are recorded in the community management statement. If none are listed, the standard by-laws apply. These can regulate changes to the external appearance of a lot, including changes that require body corporate approval. By-laws can also regulate the use and enjoyment of lots, common property and body corporate services⁷.

On a plain Torrens lot, design controls can instead come from estate requirements in the land contract or from restrictions recorded on the title. In Victoria, a memorandum of common provisions can form part of a registered instrument. The Alamora estate at Tarneit provides one example, with a registered memorandum that sets building envelopes for certain lots¹⁷.

In Queensland, registered covenants are more limited, and estate design controls are generally enforced through the land contract.

How estate design guidelines are written, approved and enforced, and where they are found in a sales pack, is covered in What are estate design guidelines?

BuildStreet reads a lot's shape from the official land parcel map and applies published state, council and estate rules. It also allows registered setback plans or building envelopes to be added where they contain requirements that are not shown in the land parcel data.

The lot panel accepts four document types: a setback plan, a memorandum of common provisions envelope, a section 88B instrument or another document. The front, rear and side setbacks shown in the document are entered into the lot panel. In the current version, the file remains with the user, while only the entered values and a document reference are stored.

A setback plan or memorandum of common provisions envelope can replace the standard setback values where it sets different requirements. A section 88B instrument or another document can only increase a setback. Any replaced value is shown beside the public value it replaces, and the result is labelled “user-entered, not verified against title”.

BuildStreet does not read the rules of a community title or owners corporation scheme. Whether a lot is part of a scheme, and what its management statement or rules contain, comes from the scheme's documents and disclosure information.

In Victoria, any person may apply for an owners corporation certificate, which must issue within 10 business days of receiving an application and the fee, and must state the fees payable on the lot, the money owing, insurance, repairs and maintenance and the funds held. In New South Wales, community schemes use a section 174 certificate, while in Queensland the expected annual contributions for a proposed lot are stated in the seller's disclosure statement¹³.