To confuse the situation a bit more, all strata plans, are not alike. Before you even make an offer on a property you should fully understand the differences between Built and Survey Strata. This way you will know what exactly you own and what you don't own.
So let's break it down for you.
What is a Built Strata Plan?
A strata plan is created when a property is divided into lots, and common property. The lots show individual ownership and common property (AKA CP) which is the area owned jointly by all lot owners in the strata scheme. Some strata plans may not show common property therefore, the typical interpretation or rule is that any/all areas not marked Lot or Part lot are common property.
There can be any number of lots in a built stratum and each lot can be composed of more than one part. This is marked as being part of a lot i.e. Pt 1, or Pt 2. You may own what you know as the building as Lot 1, the carport as Pt1 and the yard as Pt 1 and so on for each and every lot.
Built strata plans have differing ownership spaces, called stratum. Rather than saying you own to the gutter line or to the top of the roof or the plumbing, the plan will define this in meters, such as 5 meters below the surface and 10 meters above etc.
Below is an example of what a standard Built Strata Plan may look like.
What Is a Survey-Strata Plan?
Survey-strata plans define the lots in a survey-strata scheme and show the entire lot boundaries of the lot, owned individually. The Land boundaries define each lot and no buildings are shown on survey-strata plans, even though buildings may and do exist onsite. Some survey strata’s have no common property however, if they do, they are owned jointly by all lot owners and are shown as “common property lots”. Survey-strata lots may be limited in the ownership of the lot’s height and depth however, typically not.
Below is an example of what a Survey-Strata Plan may look like.
