Apartment Condition Report: Property Manager's Guide for Strata Units (2026)

Most condition report guidance in Australia focuses on houses and freestanding dwellings. But approximately 16% of all Australian households now live in apartments, units, or flats — and in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne, that proportion is considerably higher. Property managers whose portfolios are heavy with apartments need to understand where an apartment condition report differs from a house inspection, because the differences are real and getting them wrong creates problems at bond dispute time.

The core difference comes down to ownership and maintenance structure. An apartment sits within a strata scheme (or community title scheme, depending on the state). The tenant rents the lot — the apartment itself, usually with an allocated parking bay, storage cage, and sometimes a balcony or courtyard. The building structure, common areas, lifts, lobbies, pool, gym, and any other shared facilities belong to the body corporate (in Queensland and Western Australia) or owners corporation (in NSW, Victoria, ACT, and SA) and are maintained using strata levy funds. The property manager's condition report must reflect this split clearly, because mixing up lot items and common property items creates confusion, false claims, and unnecessary disputes at tribunal.

A well-structured apartment condition report will give you substantially stronger protection than a generic checklist designed for a three-bedroom house and applied unchanged to an eighth-floor apartment with a car park two levels below.

The single most important concept in apartment condition reporting is the boundary between the lot and common property.

The lot is what the tenant rents. In a standard strata scheme, this is everything inside the unit's walls, floors (typically from the upper surface of the concrete slab), and ceiling (to the underside of the slab above), plus any exclusive use areas allocated to that apartment such as the parking bay, storage cage, balcony, or courtyard. The tenant is responsible for maintaining the lot's condition during the tenancy, and the PM's condition report should document every area within the lot in detail.

Common property is everything else: the building structure, external walls, roof, lifts, stairwells, corridors, lobby, car park ramps, gardens, pool, gym, and any other shared facilities. Common property is maintained by the body corporate or owners corporation. The tenant is generally not responsible for common property condition, and the property manager should not be documenting common property in the condition report as though it were part of the rental lot — this creates confusion about responsibility.

Where the boundary gets nuanced: some elements sit between lot and common. Carpets in internal corridors are almost always common property. A ducted air conditioning system may have components inside the lot and others in a rooftop plant room that is common property. A sliding glass door to a balcony is usually lot; the balcony tiles may be lot; the balcony concrete balustrade in an older building may be common property or part of the structural slab. When in doubt, check the scheme's strata plan or ask the strata manager — the plan defines the lot boundary precisely.

For the condition report, a practical rule is: document what the tenant could realistically have affected during the tenancy. If the tenant could not have caused a defect without accessing common property, it is not a lot-based condition report item.

Standard house condition report templates cover bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, living areas, and garden. Apartment condition reports need additional items for areas that are unique to strata units.

Parking bay or car space — Note the allocated bay number (it should match the lease and strata plan). Document any existing oil stains, tyre marks, scrapes on adjacent walls, wheel stop damage, or damage to the ceiling of an enclosed car park. Photograph the bay with the bay number visible.

Storage cage or storage room — Note the allocated cage or room number. Record the condition of the mesh, door, locking mechanism, and floor. Photograph it with the door open. Pre-existing damage should be described specifically.

Balcony or courtyard — Tile condition, balustrade condition, any fixed outdoor light fittings, drainage grates, and any outdoor tap or power point. Note cracks in tiles, staining, or pre-existing balustrade damage with close-up photographs.

Intercom handset — Test it before the tenant moves in. Record whether it is working and in good condition. A broken or missing intercom handset is something tenants often do not realise they are responsible for — documenting its working status at entry protects you if it is damaged or removed during the tenancy.

Building entry keys, fobs, and access cards — Record the number of items issued and their condition. Lost access cards in high-rise buildings can be expensive to replace if building master systems need reprogramming — keep a precise record at entry.

Internal ducted air conditioning or split systems — Test on both cooling and heating modes. Record filter condition, remote control presence and battery status, and any visible damage to wall units or vents.

Window furnishings — Apartment blinds covering floor-to-ceiling glass are expensive to replace. Document the condition of each window covering separately, noting broken slats, cords, or tracking mechanisms.

NBN or data wall plates — Note any existing damage, particularly in apartments where previous tenants have mounted televisions or run cables through walls.

The body corporate (QLD, WA) or owners corporation (NSW, VIC, ACT, SA) is a legal entity formed by all lot owners in a strata scheme. It owns and is responsible for maintaining common property. A strata manager is typically engaged by the body corporate to handle day-to-day administration — maintenance, levy collection, meetings, insurance.

As the property manager for a landlord investor, your role is distinct. You are managing the landlord's lot. You are not responsible for common property maintenance, and you should not be making commitments to tenants about common property issues — direct those to the strata manager.

What the PM should do at the start of a tenancy:

Note any active body corporate maintenance issues affecting the lot. If the lift has been out of service, the pool is closed for resurfacing, or the intercom system is being upgraded, note that in the entry condition report. These are background conditions the tenant is moving into, and having them on the record protects you if the tenant later complains that something was not working at the start.

Confirm building entry codes and key allocations. Building access systems are controlled by the body corporate or building manager, not the landlord directly. Confirm what codes, fobs, or keys the tenant should receive and retain a clear record.

Common property defects that appear during the tenancy — a cracked corridor wall, roof membrane leak causing water ingress into the lot, a failing lift — are the body corporate's responsibility to repair. The PM's job is to report them to the strata manager promptly and keep the tenant informed. These are not tenant damage and should never be treated as potential bond deductions.

The principle of fair wear and tear applies in apartments the same way it does in houses: normal deterioration from ordinary use over time is not grounds for a bond deduction. But the application can look different in a dense, multi-storey environment.

Entry hallways and tight corridors. Tenants in apartments carry furniture through narrow hallways, move bicycles, and navigate shared access areas in ways that produce scuffs and marks that would look unusual in a house but are entirely normal in an apartment. VCAT, NCAT, and QCAT have all recognised that apartments in high-density buildings should have their condition assessed with awareness of the additional physical constraints.

Carpet and hard floors. A carpet in a house living room might last eight to ten years before showing significant wear. The same carpet in a small apartment entrance where all traffic passes may show wear in five years. Depreciation and tenancy duration both matter — claiming a full carpet replacement on a five-year-old carpet after a two-year tenancy is difficult to sustain at tribunal.

Paint in apartments. Interior apartment walls scuff more easily when tenants move furniture through tight corridors and stairwells. Minor scuffing in entry hallways is nearly always fair wear and tear. Deep gouges or holes are damage.

Tile grout. Grout deterioration in bathrooms and kitchens is almost always fair wear and tear over a standard tenancy period. Cracked or broken tiles from impact are damage.

For a detailed framework on drawing the line between fair wear and tear and damage across all property types, see fair wear and tear vs damage.

When an apartment bond dispute reaches NCAT, VCAT, QCAT, SACAT, or another state tribunal, the standard for evidence is the same as for any residential tenancy — but a few practical issues come up more often in apartment matters.

Lot-specific photographs, not building-wide photographs. If you are claiming for damage to the balcony, you need photographs of that specific balcony in that apartment at entry and exit. A photograph of the building's facade or common areas does not establish the condition of the lot. Tribunal members in apartment cases regularly see condition reports that mix lot items with common property observations, which weakens the report's credibility for lot-specific claims.

Parking bay evidence. Oil stains in car parks are a common dispute point. Without an entry photograph of the allocated bay, it is nearly impossible to establish at tribunal that any stain was caused by the current tenant rather than a previous occupant or another vehicle.

Intercom and electronic items. If you are claiming for a broken intercom, you need to demonstrate it was working at entry (a note in the condition report comments, or a photograph of the screen displaying building cameras) and not working at exit. "Intercom — not tested" in the entry report will not support an intercom claim at exit.

Body corporate confirmation. If damage involves a building element on the lot and common property boundary, written confirmation from the strata manager about which party is responsible for the repair can help avoid strata law arguments in the proceedings.

For state-specific evidence requirements, see the bond dispute guides for NSW (NCAT), Victoria (VCAT), and Queensland (QCAT).

The largest apartment rental markets in Australia are in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. A few state-specific points are worth knowing for property managers in those markets.

New South Wales (Sydney) — NSW mandates the prescribed Schedule 2 condition report form with Y/N ratings for clean, undamaged, and working. The form was designed primarily for houses, so property managers handling Sydney apartments commonly add supplementary pages for parking bays, storage cages, and balcony documentation. The 14-day NCAT dispute window — the compressed timeline for disputing a bond refund claim — makes early and thorough documentation essential. Conduct the exit inspection on the day of vacancy. See NSW condition report requirements.

Victoria (Melbourne) — Victoria uses the prescribed Form 4 under the Residential Tenancies Regulations 2021. The VIC-specific rule that matters most for apartments: once both parties have signed the Form 4 (or the renter has not returned it within five business days), the report becomes conclusive evidence of the lot's condition under Section 35. A report that fails to document the parking bay or storage cage cannot be corrected after the fact. Prepare Form 4 comprehensively before handover. See Victoria condition report requirements.

Queensland (Brisbane and South-East QLD) — QLD uses RTA Form 1a for entry and Form 14a for exit. The entry report must be given to the tenant on or before the day they take possession — same-day completion is required. For apartments, ensure Form 1a includes a separate entry for the parking bay by bay number and the storage cage. The tenant then has seven days to return their section. QCAT bond disputes involving Brisbane apartments are common, and tribunal members are experienced with strata-related evidence questions. See QLD condition report requirements.

Several specific errors come up repeatedly when apartment condition reports are examined at tribunal.

Not documenting the parking bay separately. The most common omission. Property managers walk through every room of the apartment, sign off on the entry report, and hand over keys — without ever visiting the car park. If there is a dispute about oil stains or wall damage at exit, the absence of any entry record of the bay makes a claim nearly impossible to substantiate.

Recording common property as lot items. Adding notes like "building lobby — some scuffs" or "lift — minor dent on door" in the condition report creates problems. If the tenant is later charged for those items, and they were common property all along, the PM has claimed against the tenant for something that was never the tenant's responsibility. This weakens the overall credibility of the condition report.

Not testing the intercom before handover. Intercom handsets fail. If it was already broken at entry and you did not document it, you cannot claim for it at exit, and the tenant may have a legitimate grievance about a faulty appliance that was never reported.

Treating all apartments identically. The inclusions in the lease matter. An apartment on Level 20 of a new high-rise and a ground-floor unit in a 1970s walk-up block have very different items to document. Match the condition report to the specific property, not a one-size-fits-all template.

Not following up on common property issues reported during the tenancy. If the tenant reports a leak from the apartment above during the tenancy and you do not refer it to the strata manager, any resulting water damage to the lot's ceiling or walls may appear to be unexplained at exit. Prompt, documented referral of body corporate issues protects both tenant and landlord.

Missing the exit inspection deadline for apartment-specific areas. Apartments with separately-keyed areas — the unit on Level 8, the car park on Level B2, the storage room on Level G — take longer to inspect than a house. Inspection Express, Inspection Manager, and similar tools reduce multi-location inspection time, but you still need to budget time for travel between areas when scheduling end-of-tenancy inspections.

Before conducting an entry condition report on an apartment, run through this preparation checklist to avoid missing anything that will matter later.

Before you arrive:

Confirm the lot number and the strata plan allocations for the parking bay and storage cage, so you note the correct identifiers in the report. Confirm the number of keys, fobs, access cards, and garage remotes the tenant will receive. Download or print the correct state-specific condition report form.

At the unit:

Test every window — open, close, lock. Test every door including wardrobes and built-in storage. Test every tap including shower and bath spout. Run the dishwasher if one is included. Test cooktop on all elements and oven on at least one temperature setting. Run the range hood fan through all speeds. Test every light switch and power point. Test the smoke alarm using the test button. Test ducted air conditioning or split system on both cooling and heating. Document wall marks and floor marks with close-up photographs. Record the condition of each window covering individually.

For apartment-specific areas:

Visit the allocated parking bay and photograph it before any vehicles occupy the space. Note the bay number in the report. Visit the storage cage and photograph it with the door open. Walk the balcony and document tile condition, balustrade condition, drainage, and any inclusions. Test the intercom handset from inside the unit. Note building entry code or fob delivery. Check for any body corporate notices in the building that affect the lot — scheduled lift maintenance, pool closure, planned fire system testing — and note those in the report.

At handover:

Provide the completed, signed condition report to the tenant before giving keys. In NSW, give two copies or one electronic copy before or when the lease is signed. In Victoria, two copies or one electronic copy before occupation. In Queensland, give the Form 1a on or before the day of possession. In WA, two signed copies within seven days of possession.

A comprehensive entry inspection for an apartment typically takes 30 to 45 minutes longer than an equivalent house due to the additional areas and travel between the apartment, car park, and storage level. Budget accordingly.