Strata neighbours
In a strata scheme your neighbour is not just the person next door. There is an owners corporation between you, a set of by-laws that binds everybody, and a path for disputes that is different from the one outside the building.
General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.
The steps come in an order, and skipping one costs you months
Strata disputes have a shape that people only learn after they have gone wrong. Someone is making noise above you, or keeping a pet the by-laws do not allow, or parking in a spot that is common property, or has renovated in a way that has changed the building. You raise it, nothing happens, and you want to know who makes it stop.
The answer is a sequence, and the sequence matters. Raise it with the person. Then raise it with the owners corporation, usually through the strata committee or the managing agent, because enforcing by-laws is the owners corporation’s job rather than yours. Then mediation. Then, and generally only then, NCAT.
Mediation is the step people try to jump. NCAT states that mediation is compulsory for most strata and community schemes disputes and that you must attach the mediation certificate to your application unless you are exempt. The exemptions are set out in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and they are specific, not general. The good news is that this step is not a penalty: the NSW Government states that Fair Trading’s mediation service is free and that you can apply online.
One more thing is worth knowing early. The by-laws for your scheme are the rules that apply, and they are not the same as the by-laws for the building down the road. Schemes adopt and change their own. Before you form a view about whether a neighbour is in breach, get the registered by-laws for your scheme and read the one you are relying on.
What the work actually is
Reading the by-laws for your scheme
Which by-law is actually engaged, what it says, and whether the conduct you are complaining about breaches it. This is where a lot of strata complaints quietly end, and it is better to find out before mediation than at it.
Getting the owners corporation to act
By-law enforcement is the owners corporation’s function. We help you put the request properly, in writing, so that it is recorded and has to be dealt with rather than absorbed into the next meeting.
Preparing for Fair Trading mediation
Mediation is compulsory for most of these disputes and it is free, so it is worth arriving ready. What outcome you are actually asking for, and what you would accept, matters more than the strength of the complaint.
NCAT, where it has to go there
Whether the mediation certificate requirement applies to your application or an exemption does, what NCAT can order, and whether the order you want is one it makes.
Questions people ask first
My upstairs neighbour is too loud. Who do I complain to?
In a strata scheme, start with the owners corporation rather than with a court. Noise between lots is usually dealt with under the scheme’s by-laws, and enforcing by-laws is the owners corporation’s function. Put the complaint in writing to the strata committee or the managing agent so that there is a record of when it was raised and what was said.
Do I have to go to mediation first?
For most strata disputes, yes. NCAT states that mediation is compulsory for most strata and community schemes disputes and that you must attach the mediation certificate to your application unless you are exempt. The exemptions are listed in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. Do not assume yours is one of them without checking.
Does mediation cost anything?
The NSW Government states that Fair Trading’s strata mediation service is free and that you can apply online. That makes it one of the few genuinely low-cost steps available in any neighbour dispute, and it is worth treating seriously rather than as a formality to get through.
What can NCAT actually order in a strata matter?
NCAT deals with a defined range of strata disputes, including breaches of by-laws, matters about meetings and records of the owners corporation, managing agents and building managers, and the payment of contributions and funds. Its published guidance on strata schemes orders sets out what it can do. It is not a general power to referee everything that happens in a building.
My neighbour keeps a pet and the by-laws say no pets.
Get the registered by-laws for your own scheme and read the actual wording before acting on it. By-laws about pets have changed over time and vary between schemes, and some restrictions that were once common no longer operate as people expect. This is a question to check rather than assume.
They have renovated and it has affected my lot.
Renovations in strata are regulated, and what an owner may do depends on the kind of work and on what approval was obtained. If work has affected common property or your lot, raise it with the owners corporation promptly and in writing. Delay makes both the facts and the remedy harder.
Is this the same as a dispute with the neighbour over a fence?
No. Inside a scheme the structure between lots is generally common property and the owners corporation is involved, so the Dividing Fences Act 1991 analysis on our dividing fences page is usually not the right one. If your scheme has a boundary with a neighbouring property outside the scheme, that is different again.
What to have ready
Strata matters run on the scheme’s own documents. Most of them you are entitled to see.
- The registered by-laws for your scheme, and the particular by-law you are relying on.
- Your strata plan and lot number.
- The name of the strata managing agent, if the scheme has one.
- Every complaint you have made, in writing, and any response.
- Minutes of any meeting at which the issue was raised.
- A record of the problem itself: dates, times and how long it lasted.
- Whether a mediation application has been made to NSW Fair Trading, and the outcome.
- Any notice to comply or other formal step already taken by the owners corporation.