Common property, compliance & EV charging

Strata Electrician Sydney

Almost nothing that holds up electrical work in a strata building is electrical. It is the three questions that come first: is it common property, who is allowed to approve it, and which fund pays.

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Question one

The test is not where it is. It is what it serves

Every argument about who pays for electrical work in a strata building comes down to one line, and most people have the line the wrong way around. They reach for geography: it is inside my apartment, so it is mine. It is in the corridor, so it is theirs.

The actual test is function. A cable, a light fitting, a power point or a fuse board that serves more than one lot is the owners corporation's, wherever it happens to run. The same item inside a lot, in a wall that is not common property, serving only that lot, is the lot owner's. Once you apply that test rather than the geographic one, the great majority of disputes answer themselves before anybody involves a lawyer.

There is a published list. The common property memorandum, prescribed under the strata regulations, sets out item by item which side of the line each thing falls on, and it is written in plain language rather than legal drafting. A scheme adopts it by by-law, and where it has been adopted it is what everybody works from. Where it has not, the strata plan and the Act decide, and the answers usually land in the same place anyway.

Two entries surprise people every time. Smoke detectors are the owners corporation's whether or not they are connected to the fire board in the building, which catches out owners who have been replacing their own batteries for years. And an automatic garage door opener is common property unless an owner installed it after the plan was registered, which is exactly the sort of history nobody has written down.

The list

Who is responsible for what, item by item

The electrical entries from the common property memorandum, in the order that comes up most often. Worth keeping somewhere a committee can find it.

Item	Responsible
Electrical wiring serving more than one lot	Owners corporation
Electrical wiring in non-common property walls within a lot, serving only that lot	Lot owner
Light fittings serving more than one lot	Owners corporation
Light fittings, switches and power point sockets within the lot, serving only that lot	Lot owner
Fuses and fuse board in the meter room	Owners corporation
Fuses and fuse boards within the lot, serving only that lot	Lot owner
Smoke detectors, whether connected to the fire board in the building or not	Owners corporation
Intercom handset and wiring serving more than one lot	Owners corporation
Intercom handset serving one lot, with wiring in non-common walls	Lot owner
Telephone, television, internet and cable wiring within common property walls	Owners corporation
The same wiring in non-common property walls, serving only that lot	Lot owner
Air conditioning serving more than one lot	Owners corporation
Air conditioning serving only one lot, whether inside or outside it	Lot owner
Automatic garage door opener, unless an owner installed it after registration	Owners corporation
Lifts and lift operating systems	Owners corporation

Read down the list and the pattern is obvious: nearly every pair is the same item split by what it serves. Wiring, light fittings, power points, fuse boards, intercoms, air conditioning and communications cabling each appear twice, once as common property and once as lot property, distinguished only by whether one lot or several depend on it.

The practical value of that is in scoping. Before anything is quoted in a building, it is worth establishing on site which side of the line the work sits on, in writing, because that determines who is being invoiced and which approval the job needs. A job that is scoped verbally and invoiced to the wrong party is the version that ends up in front of the committee twice.

Question two

Which resolution the job actually needs

This is where strata electrical work stalls, and it usually stalls because a motion was aimed at a harder vote than the law required.

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What it means: the bar is how much opposition a motion can absorb and still pass. A special resolution dies once a quarter of the votes cast are against it, which in a building with a few determined objectors is not a high bar to clear. A sustainability infrastructure resolution absorbs twice that, and it covers EV charging, solar and batteries. Same physical work, same contractor, very different odds, decided entirely by which resolution the motion was drafted as.

Underneath all of it sits the distinction between two sections of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. Section 106 is the duty to properly maintain common property and keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair, including renewing or replacing fixtures where that is what repair requires. It is mandatory, it looks backwards at what has failed, and a shortage of money in the fund is not an answer to it. Section 108 covers adding to, altering or improving common property. That is discretionary, it looks forwards, and it needs a special resolution.

The line between them is whether the work restores the functionality the building already had or goes beyond it. That line is more generous than committees assume. Repairing something using current materials and current methods, rather than sourcing an identical part from 1978, does not by itself turn a repair into an improvement. A failed car park lighting circuit replaced with modern fittings is still a repair.

Where it genuinely is an improvement, check whether it is sustainability infrastructure before drafting the motion as a special resolution. And note what changed on 1 July 2025: a by-law can no longer prohibit sustainability infrastructure purely because of its effect on the external appearance of common property, unless the building is heritage listed or sits in a heritage conservation area. Owners corporations also have to turn their minds to sustainability at each annual general meeting, and include estimates for it in the capital works fund.

The work

What we do in buildings

Four categories cover nearly all of it, and three of the four are recurring rather than one off, which is why they belong on a schedule instead of a callout.

House switchboards and common services

The boards that feed the lifts, pumps, ventilation, car park, common lighting and the house supply generally. In blocks of a certain age these are the least documented part of the building: no schedule of circuits, labels that describe an appliance replaced two decades ago, and a backing board that may predate 1987 and therefore may contain asbestos.

Getting the board mapped and labelled is unglamorous and pays for itself the first time something trips at 6pm. What goes inside it is covered on our switchboard upgrade page.

Emergency and exit lighting

The most predictable recurring electrical obligation a residential building has, and the one most often found lapsed. AS/NZS 2293.2 sets a six monthly inspection and function test and a twelve monthly discharge test proving the batteries carry the fittings for at least 90 minutes.

Results are recorded in a log book against each fitting and its location, failures are repaired and retested, and the records feed straight into what your fire safety practitioner needs at statement time.

Car park, stairwell and common area lighting

High running hours, poor access and a real security dimension, which is why it generates more complaints than anything else on common property. It is also the easiest place in a building to make a visible difference, because the fittings are usually original and the control is usually nothing but a timeclock.

Replacing failed fittings with current equivalents is repair rather than improvement, which matters for the resolution the job needs and is worth saying plainly in the quote.

EV charging and load management

The question is almost never whether a charger can be installed at one space. It is whether the building's supply can carry the tenth one, and what happens when four residents plug in at 6pm on a July evening with the lifts running.

That makes load management the actual engineering problem and the by-law the actual governance problem, which is why buildings that start with a capacity assessment and a scheme wide plan get further than buildings that approve chargers one at a time.

Question three

Why strata jobs take longer than they should

None of these four is a trade problem. All four are fixable before a quote is even requested.

The motion went to the wrong resolution

Work that is really a section 106 repair gets drafted as an improvement and sent to a special resolution, where a quarter of the votes cast can kill it. Or sustainability infrastructure gets the same treatment when it had an easier route available.

Deciding whether the work restores existing functionality or genuinely improves on it, before the agenda is drafted, is worth more than any amount of persuasion at the meeting.

Nobody knows which board feeds what

An unlabelled house board turns a two hour job into a day, because half of it is spent working out what can safely be isolated and who has to be told first.

It also makes emergencies worse than they need to be. The building most likely to lose power to eight lots at once is the one where nobody could say in advance which circuit was which.

The wrong party is being invoiced

Work is scoped verbally, done, and then invoiced to the owners corporation when it served one lot, or to the lot owner when it served several. The invoice bounces, the committee revisits it, and everybody loses a month.

Establishing which side of the memorandum the work sits on, in writing and before it starts, prevents that entirely and costs nothing.

The fund question was never asked

Recurring maintenance and testing generally sit in the administrative fund, and replacing or renewing an asset generally sits in the capital works fund. A job that needs a capital works decision moves on a different timetable to one already in the annual budget.

Asking the strata manager which fund the work falls to, at the quoting stage rather than the invoicing stage, is the single cheapest way to speed a building up.

Compliance

Records the building can actually use

Licence 387609C Level 2 accredited & insured

Everything is certified as electrical work. We lodge a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work within 7 days of the compliance test, which since 1 July 2026 goes through the BCNSW eCert portal, and copies go to the strata manager rather than staying in a van.

On the fire safety side, be clear about the boundary. The Annual Fire Safety Statement has to be assessed and signed by an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety), then given to the council and to Fire and Rescue NSW each year with a copy displayed in the building. We are not that practitioner and would not claim to be. What we provide is the electrical work and the emergency lighting records underneath it, in a form the practitioner can rely on.

Where a job touches the network side, a house service, a submain from the point of supply or a metering change, that is Level 2 accredited work and it is coordinated the same way as any other metering or service alteration. Communications risers and the main distribution frame in the basement are a separate discipline again, covered on our phone line page.

Good to know

Strata electrical questions

How do I know if a fault is common property or mine?

The test is not where the thing is, it is what it serves. Wiring, light fittings, power points and fuse boards that serve more than one lot are the owners corporation's. The same items inside your lot, in non-common property walls, serving only your lot, are yours. That is the wording used in the common property memorandum, and it resolves most arguments in one sentence. Smoke detectors are the notable exception: the memorandum makes them the owners corporation's whether or not they are connected to the fire board.

Does the owners corporation have to fix common property, or can it vote not to?

It has to. Section 106 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 puts a duty on the owners corporation to properly maintain common property and keep it in a state of good and serviceable repair, including renewing or replacing fixtures where necessary. It is a duty rather than a discretion, and not having the money in the fund is not a defence. Authorising the actual works is normally an ordinary resolution, or a committee decision inside its powers.

Why did our EV charging proposal need a special resolution?

It probably did not, and this is the most common expensive mistake we see. EV charging is sustainability infrastructure, and a sustainability infrastructure resolution passes unless 50 per cent or more of the votes cast are against it. A special resolution fails once 25 per cent are against. So the same physical work aimed at the right resolution survives twice as much opposition. Since 1 July 2025 a by-law also cannot prohibit sustainability infrastructure purely because of how it looks from outside, unless the building is heritage listed or in a heritage conservation area.

How often do emergency and exit lights have to be tested?

Under AS/NZS 2293.2 there is a six monthly inspection and function test, confirming every fitting actually operates when the mains supply is interrupted, and a twelve monthly discharge test confirming the batteries run the fittings for at least 90 minutes. Results go in a log book with each fitting identified by location. Anything that fails is repaired or replaced and then retested. It is the most predictable recurring electrical obligation a residential building has.

Can you sign our Annual Fire Safety Statement?

No, and be wary of an electrician who says they can. In New South Wales the statement has to be assessed and signed by an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety), then given to the local council and Fire and Rescue NSW each year, with a copy displayed in the building. What we do is the electrical side that sits underneath it, principally the emergency and exit lighting, and give you records in a form your practitioner and your strata manager can actually use.

Which fund pays, the administrative fund or the capital works fund?

As a rule of thumb, recurring maintenance and testing come out of the administrative fund, and replacing or renewing an asset comes out of the capital works fund. Your strata manager will make the call and it is worth asking early, because a job that has to wait for a capital works decision moves on a different timetable to one that is already in the annual budget. Since 1 July 2025, estimates for sustainability infrastructure have to be included in the capital works fund estimates.

Can you work outside business hours?

Yes, and in a residential building it is often the only sensible option. Anything that involves isolating a riser, a house switchboard or a common area affects every lot at once, so it gets scheduled where it does the least damage to residents, with notice issued in advance by the strata manager. Car park and stairwell work is a different matter and usually suits daytime, when the fewest people are moving through.

How does your pricing work?

Attending your job is a chargeable callout. We confirm what it costs when you book, and the price for the work itself is agreed before we start, so there are no surprises on the invoice.

Where we work

Strata buildings across the North Shore

Based in Castlecrag, covering all of Sydney. A few of the suburbs we work in most:

Related work: house boards are a switchboard upgrade, common area cabling and access points are data cabling, and cabled CCTV in car parks and entries uses the same runs. Every conductor entering the building is a path for surge protection, and common area appliances fall under test and tag. See the full list of locations we service.

Scoping a job for your building?

Upfront pricing, with the price agreed before we start. Common property scoped in writing, and the records go to your strata manager.

Call 0401 427 270 Request a quote