Residents and owners in strata communities are being urged to use a new NSW Fair Trading strata building health check to help identify, request or carry out essential repairs and maintenance to the common property in their strata scheme.
Published: 28 July 2025
Released by: Strata and Property Services Commissioner
The Strata Health Check helps lot owners and strata committees carry out a quick assessment of how well their owners corporation is keeping up with its obligations in relation to common property.
This includes raising repair requests, planning for upcoming repairs and maintenance and scheduling regular building valuations to ensure the complex has the right level of insurance cover.
“There are over 87,000 strata schemes in the state and disputes over repairs have more impact than any other type of strata dispute in terms of strata residents’ finances, safety, amenity and well-being. Leaving maintenance and repair issues unaddressed also reduces property values and pushes up insurance costs in affected buildings,” says Strata and Property Services Commissioner Angus Abadee.
NSW laws require owners corporations, including all property owners within a strata scheme, to maintain common property as failure to undertake required repairs and maintenance in a timely manner can lead to escalated bills.
The check also prompts a mandatory five-year review of the 10-year capital works fund plan, which sets out expected major expenditure for necessary upgrades and maintenance works in the building or complex.
Strata schemes with building defects caused by inadequate maintenance and repair can find it harder to get mandatory building insurance, see insurance costs rise and expose buildings to more expensive urgent repairs that could have been avoided.
Fair Trading received more than 500 complaints about strata issues in 2024, with 22 per cent related to repairs and maintenance issues, including plumbing and sewerage or water leaks. The Strata and Property Services Commissioner said, “common property repairs and maintenance accounted for over one-third of mediation applications to Fair Trading in 2023 and 2024, so it is important planning is put in place to avoid further damage and conflict.”
For easy-to-follow steps on how to conduct a health check for your strata the Strata Building Repairs Health Check.
Strata and Property Services Commissioner
This post appears in Strata News #754.
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This article has been republished with permission from the author and first appeared on the NSW Government website.
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