If you are renting an apartment or a townhouse it may be part of a unit title complex. If you’re a tenant and you’re not sure, ask your landlord. A unit title complex will have a body corporate that looks after the property as a whole.

Landlords and tenants in a unit title complex have extra responsibilities.

Landlords’ and tenants’ responsibilities under the Residential Tenancies Act 1986.(external link)

If you’re the landlord

The tenancy agreement must include any body corporate rules that affect the tenant.

The body corporate rules may change during the tenancy. If the changes affect the tenant, you must give them written notice.

If you’re the tenant

You must obey the body corporate operational rules.  These rules are automatically part of the tenancy agreement and form part of the tenants' responsibilities.

If any changes to the rules will affect you, you can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal. You can only do this if you have a fixed-term agreement.

Solving problems

If a tenant has any issues they should talk to their landlord first. If the body corporate has an issue with the tenant, they should also discuss this with the landlord first.

Resolving issues and disputes in unit titles