What's different about selling a strata, unit or townhouse?

Key takeaways for sellers

• Order the certificate before you list. The body corporate has five business days to produce it in Queensland and fourteen in New South Wales, and in both Victoria and Queensland it has to reach the buyer before they sign. The strata manager controls that clock, not you.
• Know the state term. Strata scheme (NSW), owners corporation (VIC), body corporate (QLD) — same idea, different name and rules.
• An undisclosed special levy is yours to pay. If it was struck before the contract date and you didn't disclose it, you're liable — even where it's payable in instalments long after settlement. Disclose it and it becomes a negotiation instead.

What makes selling a strata property different?

When you sell a unit, apartment or townhouse that's part of a shared scheme, you're not only selling your lot; you're selling a share in a shared legal and financial structure. That means an extra layer of disclosure: a buyer and their conveyancer will want to see the scheme's finances, rules and condition before they commit.

The concept is the same across the country, but the name isn't: it's a strata scheme in New South Wales, an owners corporation in Victoria, and a body corporate in Queensland, each with its own certificate and rules.

Which certificate do you need in your state?

Queensland changed on 1 August 2025. The old section 206 disclosure statement is gone, along with BCCM Forms 13 and 26. If anyone hands you one of those, it's the wrong document.

The Queensland certificate is a prescribed certificate that has to be in your Form 2 seller disclosure before the buyer signs. Attach the wrong form — Form 33 where the scheme needed Form 34 — and the disclosure is defective, which lets the buyer terminate any time up to settlement. The body corporate has to produce it within five business days of a written request and the fee.

Is the certificate legally required?

Depends where you are, and the difference matters for timing.

Victoria and Queensland — yes. The section 151 certificate has to be inside your Section 32, and the Form 33 has to be in your Form 2. Both go to the buyer before they sign, so both have to exist before you can properly offer the property for sale.

New South Wales — not strictly. The section 184 certificate isn't in the schedule of documents the regulations require you to attach to the contract. In practice every buyer's conveyancer asks for it, and a scheme has 14 days to produce one after a written request and the fee, with a higher fee for urgent turnaround.

So in NSW it's a practical necessity rather than a legal one. Either way, order it early — the strata manager controls the clock, not you.

What else will a buyer expect to see?

• Financial statements and budget — the scheme's accounts and current budget, covering both funds described below.
• By-laws or rules — the rules governing pets, renovations, parking and common property.
• Insurance — evidence the building is insured to the required level.
• Minutes and notices — recent meeting minutes, and any notice of a proposed special levy, dispute or defect.

What's the difference between the admin fund and the capital works fund?

Buyers look closely at the scheme's two funds, so it helps to know the difference.

The administrative fund covers day-to-day running costs: cleaning, insurance premiums, minor repairs and management fees. The capital works fund — still often called a sinking fund — sets money aside for long-term repairs and replacement, such as repainting, roofing or lift renewal.

A healthy capital works balance reassures a buyer that major bills won't arrive as a surprise levy.

Who pays a special levy?

Turns on two things: when it was struck, and whether you disclosed it.

If it isn't disclosed in the contract. The NSW standard contract makes the seller liable for a special levy determined on or before the contract date — even where it's payable in instalments stretching past settlement. Anything determined after the contract date falls to the buyer. Victoria works out much the same way: a levy approved while you were still the owner is generally yours to pay or adjust at settlement.

If it is disclosed. The contract governs, and you can agree whatever you like — buyer takes it on, you clear it at settlement, you split it.

Which is the practical lesson. A disclosed special levy is a negotiation. An undisclosed one struck before the contract date is a bill, and it's yours.

Ordinary quarterly levies are simpler — apportioned at settlement so each side pays for the days they own the lot.

What about work you did without approval?

Different problem from council approval, and easier to deal with.

Inside a strata scheme the question is whether the by-laws allowed it, and whether it touched common property. Hard flooring where the by-laws require carpet. A balcony enclosed without consent. An air-conditioning condenser bolted to an external wall — which is common property, whatever you paid for the unit.

Most of it can be fixed before you list: a retrospective approval or a by-law passed at a general meeting. Both take a meeting cycle, which is another reason to start early rather than at contract stage.

What you can't do is leave it for the buyer's inspector to find. An unapproved alteration on common property becomes the buyer's problem to inherit and their reason to renegotiate — and a resolution reached under time pressure costs more than one arranged calmly.

What will the buyer's inspector find?

Buyers routinely order a strata records inspection before signing — in NSW that's the section 182 inspection — and it goes further than your certificate does. It's a read of the actual records: minutes, financial statements, insurance, defect reports, correspondence, any dispute or litigation history.

Assume they'll find whatever is in there. So read it first.

You have the same right of access your buyer's inspector does. Ask your strata manager for the last two years of committee and general meeting minutes, the current financials, and anything on file about defects or disputes. Then hand it all to your conveyancer before you list.

What you're looking for is the thing a buyer will use to renegotiate: a special levy being discussed but not yet struck, a defect report with no rectification plan, a dispute with a neighbouring lot, a building report nobody acted on. None of it stops the sale. Discovering it three weeks before settlement, when the buyer has leverage and you have a moving date, is the expensive version.

What insurance do you need to keep?

Two policies, and only one of them is yours.

The scheme's master policy covers the building structure and common property. That's the body corporate's job and it keeps running regardless of your sale. What's yours is contents, internal fixtures and floor coverings.

Keep your own cover running through to settlement. Risk passes at different points depending on the state — in Queensland it moves to the buyer at 5pm on the first business day after the contract date, while in NSW and Victoria it stays with you until settlement — but cancelling early to save a few weeks' premium is a poor trade either way. See your obligations once under contract.

What do you need to sort before moving out?

Many schemes require you to book the lift for moving day, pay or lodge a move-out bond, and notify the strata manager of your departure. Checking your by-laws early avoids a scramble around settlement.

Does normal seller disclosure still apply?

Yes. The strata documents sit on top of your normal seller disclosure, not instead of it. In Victoria the section 151 certificate forms part of the Section 32; in Queensland the Form 33 is one of several prescribed certificates in the Form 2.

How does this get handled?

Your conveyancer identifies which certificate your scheme and state require, requests it from the owners corporation or strata manager, and attaches it to your contract correctly — so a buyer's conveyancer finds nothing missing.

Zettle handles strata sales on a fixed fee, known before you start. Just Zettle it.