Body corporate fees are the single biggest cost of owning in a strata scheme after the mortgage. Owners pay them, committees approve them, and most people reading the notice are not quite sure whether the number is reasonable.
This page is a plain-English explainer of what the fees cover, how they get calculated, and why two similar-looking schemes can end up paying very different amounts. It covers Queensland (where they are called body corporate levies) and New South Wales (strata levies), and flags the differences.
A quick note on where this is coming from. My 12+ years in strata have been on the business development side, working with committees, owners, and onsite managers across hundreds of schemes. I am also a strata owner myself, so I read the same levy notices everyone else does. I am not a licensed strata manager and this is not legal or financial advice. It is what I have learned from hearing the same questions over and over, from watching how committees make sense of the numbers, and from living inside a scheme as an owner.
If after reading this you want to benchmark what your scheme is paying against fresh proposals from established and trusted managers, BCGC is free and takes about three minutes. Request proposals here.
Quick answer
In Queensland, typical body corporate levies for a standard residential unit sit roughly in the range of $3,000 to $8,000 per year per lot, with higher-end and resort-style schemes running well above that. In New South Wales, typical strata levies sit in a similar band. The three biggest drivers of where your scheme ends up are building age and condition, onsite amenities, and how the sinking (or capital works) fund has been managed over time.
That is the short version. The rest of this guide explains the mechanics and the “why two buildings can look the same but pay very different levies” question, which is the one I got asked most often.
What body corporate fees pay for
In Queensland, body corporate levies are legislated under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and split into two funds.
The Administrative Fund
This is the day-to-day money. It covers the predictable recurring costs of running the scheme:
- Insurance premiums (building and common area, public liability)
- Body corporate manager fees
- Caretaker or onsite manager fees (where applicable)
- Common property cleaning and gardening
- Utilities for common areas (lighting, water for gardens, lift power)
- Minor maintenance and small repairs
- Administrative costs (meetings, postage, bank fees, software)
Administrative fund levies are usually paid quarterly. They fluctuate year to year but broadly track inflation.
The Sinking Fund
This is the long-term money. It pays for infrastructure items that wear out over 10, 20, or 30 years:
- Painting
- Roof replacement
- Lift modernisation
- Pool equipment replacement
- Waterproofing and concrete repairs
- Major plant replacement (air conditioning, fire systems, intercoms)
Queensland law requires every community titles scheme with a budget to maintain a sinking fund forecast covering at least nine years. The sinking fund levy is meant to be set so the fund can meet forecast expenditure without special levies (in theory, at least).
In New South Wales the equivalent structure is the administrative fund and the capital works fund under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. Same idea, different names. The capital works fund is built around a 10-year plan.
Special levies
Separate from the two main funds, committees can raise special levies to cover one-off costs that the sinking or capital works fund cannot meet. A special levy is raised by motion at a general meeting. Where a scheme has been hit with several special levies in recent years, it often points to the sinking fund having been underfunded for a long time.
How body corporate fees are calculated
There are three moving parts.
1. The budget
The committee, usually working with the body corporate manager, prepares an annual budget estimating administrative fund and sinking fund expenditure for the year ahead. The budget is presented to the AGM and adopted (or amended) by motion.
2. The total levy amount
Once the budget is approved, the total amount to be raised is split between administrative fund and sinking fund. This becomes the total levy raise for the year.
3. Your share
Your share is determined by your lot entitlement (Queensland) or unit entitlement (NSW). Entitlements are set when the scheme is registered and are recorded on the community management statement or strata plan.
- If your lot entitlement is 10 out of a total scheme entitlement of 100, you pay 10% of the total levy.
- Larger lots, penthouse units, or lots with more exclusive-use area typically carry higher entitlements.
- Entitlements are generally fixed and rarely changed. Changing them is a formal process.
If you think your entitlement is materially out of line with the size or value of your lot, there are legal mechanisms to challenge it. It is not common, and it is the kind of issue worth getting proper strata or legal advice on rather than pursuing from a website.
Why two similar buildings can have very different levies
This is the question I got asked most often. A committee sees their levies at $5,400 a year and the building across the road paying $2,800. Same suburb, same age, same apparent amenities. Why?
From what I have seen, these are the usual reasons, in rough order of impact.
1. Sinking fund health
This is the biggest factor and the least visible from outside.
A scheme that has been properly funding its sinking fund for 20 years will have a healthy balance, a realistic nine-year plan, and levies that reflect real replacement cost as it accrues. A scheme that has underfunded its sinking fund to keep levies artificially low will either have abnormally low levies now and face special levies soon, or have just started raising levies to catch up and is now paying more than the neighbour.
You usually cannot tell which one a building is from the outside. The sinking fund forecast and the current balance tell you.
2. Insurance
Insurance premiums have risen significantly across Queensland and NSW over the last five years, particularly in cyclone-exposed areas, flood-prone areas, and buildings over 30 years old. Two similar schemes can have very different insurance outcomes based on claims history, building age, cladding status, and geographic risk.
3. Onsite amenities
Lifts, pools, spas, gyms, saunas, tennis courts, rooftop gardens, basement carparks with mechanical ventilation, integrated building management systems. Each one adds recurring maintenance, compliance, insurance, and eventual replacement cost. A 40-lot building with a pool and a lift will have meaningfully higher levies than a 40-lot walk-up with no amenities.
4. Caretaker or onsite manager arrangements
If the scheme has an onsite caretaker or manager under a management rights agreement, those fees sit inside the administrative fund. Different schemes have very different caretaker arrangements, and the fees attached can vary widely.
5. Body corporate manager fees
Manager fees are usually the smallest of the five factors, sitting somewhere around 5 to 15% of the total administrative fund budget depending on scheme size and complexity. They are also the most visible at AGMs and the most often debated. Fees vary between firms for the same-sized scheme.
If you want to know whether your current manager’s fees are in a reasonable range, the cleanest way is to request proposals from a few partners and compare what each one includes. That comparison is the main reason committees use BCGC.
Reading your levy notice
A typical Queensland body corporate levy notice shows:
- Administrative fund contribution (quarterly amount)
- Sinking fund contribution (quarterly amount)
- Insurance contribution (if separately itemised)
- Discount for early payment (where the scheme offers one)
- Interest on overdue amounts (if applicable)
- Due date
In New South Wales, the equivalent notice shows administrative fund and capital works fund contributions with the same general structure.
If the numbers on your notice do not match what was approved at the last AGM, ask the body corporate manager for a copy of the budget. Every owner is entitled to the scheme’s financial records.
Four practical steps if you want to check whether your levies are reasonable
1. Benchmark against similar schemes
Compare your per-lot annual levy with similar schemes in your suburb. Similar here means similar lot count, similar building age, similar amenities (particularly pool and lift presence), and similar cladding status. Rough benchmarks can be drawn from body corporate search data or by asking your manager for anonymised comparative data.
2. Review the sinking fund forecast
Ask for a copy of the current sinking fund forecast (QLD) or capital works plan (NSW). If it was last updated more than three years ago, or if it is working off replacement costs from five years ago, the numbers are probably out of date. Getting an updated forecast is usually inexpensive and is the single best piece of information a committee can have.
3. Look at insurance at renewal
If the premium is growing faster than inflation, it is worth asking the manager to test the market by quoting with two or three brokers at renewal. Sometimes the current broker is doing a good job, sometimes a different broker lands a meaningfully better outcome.
4. Benchmark the manager every few years
What a body corporate manager’s fees include varies more than most committees realise. Service inclusions, meeting attendance, financial reporting, after-hours contact, software access, and fees for additional services differ between firms. Requesting fresh proposals every three to five years is standard committee governance. BCGC makes that step free.
What a committee can actually control
A committee cannot change insurance premiums directly, cannot avoid compliance obligations, and cannot wish away the cost of replacing a lift when the sinking fund forecast says it is due. What a committee can influence:
- Which body corporate manager the scheme engages, and on what terms
- How often the sinking fund forecast is refreshed
- How insurance is placed and brokered
- Which contractors the scheme uses for maintenance and capital works
- How disciplined the budget-setting process is
From watching committees over the years, the ones that stay on top of those five items tend to produce much better outcomes for owners over a 10-year horizon than the ones that passively accept whatever is in front of them.
Queensland versus New South Wales
The fundamental structure is the same. Both states use a budget, two funds, entitlement-based apportionment, and a forward-looking capital plan. The main practical differences:
| Feature | Queensland | New South Wales |
|---|---|---|
| Governing Act | Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 | Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 |
| Main body | Body corporate | Owners corporation |
| Committee | Body corporate committee | Strata committee |
| Funds | Administrative fund + Sinking fund | Administrative fund + Capital works fund |
| Long-term plan horizon | 9 years (sinking fund forecast) | 10 years (capital works plan) |
| Regulator | Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management | NSW Fair Trading |
| Tribunal | QCAT | NCAT |
Cost drivers are broadly the same in both states. So is the core message: know the sinking fund position, benchmark the manager every few years, and keep the budget process disciplined.
Related Knowledge Hub pages
- Fees and Costs, Q&A on levies, budgets, and contributions
- Financial Management, sinking funds, budgets, and financial reporting
- Changing Body Corporate Managers, when and how to switch
Primary sources
- Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld)
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW)
- Queensland Government, Body corporate information
Compare established and trusted body corporate managers
If you are reading this because your levies feel high, your manager is not responding, or the committee is thinking about a change, the fastest way to get clarity is to put fresh proposals side by side. BCGC is free for committees and owners, takes about three minutes, and delivers up to three proposals from our established and trusted partners.
Last updated: April 2026
Written by: Jeff Blaszkowski, Founder, Body Corporate Gold Coast
Background: 20+ years in business development, including 12+ years in QLD strata (Accor, Smarter Communities, Bright & Duggan). Strata owner. Not a licensed strata manager.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeffblaz
This information is general in nature and is not legal, financial, or strata advice. For advice on your specific scheme, consult a qualified strata professional or lawyer.
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