Beginner's Guide to Strata Part 7: How to Get a Strata Report Before You Buy

You've found an apartment you like. Before you sign anything, you need to look inside the building's finances, maintenance history, and paperwork. The document that gives you that view is the strata report. The problem for most first-time buyers is a simple one: nobody hands it to you. You have to go and get it.

This is Part 7 of our Beginner's Guide to Strata. Earlier in the series we covered how to read a strata report once you have one. This part is the step that comes before that: how to actually obtain the report in the first place.

What People Mean by a Strata Report

"Strata report" is a loose term. When a buyer, agent, or conveyancer uses it, they could mean one of three different things, and it helps to keep them straight:

• A strata inspection report (also called a strata search or records inspection). This is the big one. A professional inspects the owners corporation's records and writes up a report covering finances, meeting minutes, insurance, and known problems. When people say "get a strata report," this is usually what they mean.
• A Section 184 certificate. A short, official snapshot issued by the owners corporation itself, confirming things like the current levies, whether they are paid up, and the fund balances.
• The strata documents attached to the contract of sale. A limited set of documents the seller must provide, which is not the same as a full picture of the building.

A thorough buyer often ends up with all three. The rest of this guide walks through how to get each one, and which matters most.

Option 1: Commission a Strata Inspection Report

This is what most NSW buyers do, and it is the single most useful thing you can order before buying an apartment. You pay a specialist firm to physically inspect the owners corporation's records and hand you a written report.

A good inspection report typically covers the last several years of the building's life, including:

• Minutes of committee meetings, annual general meetings, and any extraordinary meetings
• The financial statements, including the administrative fund and the capital works fund (sometimes still called the sinking fund) and the 10-year capital works plan
• Current and past levies, plus any special levies that have been raised or flagged
• The building's insurance policy and any insurance claims history
• Records of defects, repairs, and major works, both done and outstanding
• Correspondence that hints at disputes, legal action, or looming expenses

A professional strata inspection report usually costs somewhere between $200 and $500, depending on the firm and how quickly you need it, and is commissioned by the buyer. Turnaround is often just a few business days. It is one of the cheapest forms of insurance you will buy in the whole purchase, because a single missed special levy or defect can cost tens of thousands.

To find one, search for a "strata search" or "strata inspection" company in NSW, or ask your conveyancer, who will usually have a firm they use. The report is only as good as the reader, though, which is where the next part of this series comes in.

Option 2: Inspect the Records Yourself (Section 182)

You do not have to pay a firm. Under section 182 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), you have a legal right to inspect the records of an owners corporation, including the minutes and financial records. The catch is who is allowed to ask.

The right belongs to an owner, a mortgagee, or a covenant chargee of a lot in the scheme, or someone they authorise in writing. As a prospective buyer, you are none of those things yet. In practice, that means either the seller authorises you (or your inspector) to inspect on their behalf, or you engage a strata search firm that arranges the authority as part of its service. This is a big reason most buyers just pay for Option 1.

If you can arrange access, the mechanics are straightforward. You make a written request to the owners corporation (in practice, its strata manager) and pay the prescribed fee. The maximum inspection fee set by the regulations is currently $31.00 plus GST, so nobody can charge you hundreds of dollars just to look at the records.

The trade-off is time and skill. You are given access to raw records, often a thick stack of minutes and financial statements, and you have to know what you are looking for. For a confident buyer this can work. For most people, the few hundred dollars for a professional report is money well spent.

The Section 184 Certificate

A Section 184 certificate is a different animal from an inspection report. It is an official document issued by the owners corporation itself (usually through its strata manager) under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. Rather than a narrative report, it is a factual snapshot of the lot and the scheme at a point in time.

A Section 184 certificate confirms things like:

• The current administrative fund and capital works fund levies for the lot
• Whether contributions are paid up to date, and any arrears owing on the lot
• Any special levies that have been raised or approved
• The balances of the funds, insurance details, and the by-laws that apply
• Whether the owners corporation is involved in any legal proceedings

Because the certificate is issued by the owners corporation, it carries legal weight. A buyer can rely on what it says about levies and arrears, which is exactly why your conveyancer or solicitor will usually order one on your behalf as part of settlement. There is a set fee prescribed by the regulations, and it can be ordered on a standard timeframe (up to around 10 business days) or urgently for an extra fee.

Think of the Section 184 certificate as the confirmed, official numbers, and the inspection report as the fuller story behind them. You want both.

What the Contract of Sale Already Gives You

Before you commission anything, look at what the seller has to give you for free. Under the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022 (NSW), a vendor must attach a set of prescribed disclosure documents to the contract of sale. If those documents are missing, the buyer has a right to rescind the contract within 14 days of exchange (unless the issue is waived).

For a strata property, your conveyancer will review these documents as a starting point. Useful as they are, they are not a substitute for a proper inspection. The contract will not give you years of meeting minutes, the full financial history, the capital works forecast, or the correspondence that reveals a building's real problems. That gap is precisely what the inspection report and the Section 184 certificate fill.

In short: read the contract documents, but do not stop there. The most important information about a strata building is almost never sitting in the contract.

When to Get the Report (Timing Matters)

Getting the report is not enough. You have to get it at the right moment, and this trips up buyers more than anything else.

Buying by private treaty? You can order a strata inspection report as soon as the property is seriously on your shortlist. If you exchange contracts first, NSW gives residential buyers a cooling-off period of 5 business days after exchange, during which you can pull out (you forfeit 0.25% of the purchase price if you do). That window is a chance to review the report, but it is short, so it is better to have the report in hand before you exchange rather than scrambling during cooling-off.

Buying at auction? This is the critical one. There is no cooling-off period for a property bought at auction (or when contracts are exchanged on the same day as the auction). The moment the hammer falls, you are committed. So if you are bidding at auction, you must order and read the strata report before auction day. There is no do-over afterwards.

The rule of thumb: never spend real money or sign anything binding on a strata apartment until you have seen inside the building's books.

Who Orders It and Who Pays

For the inspection report, the buyer orders and pays. It is your due diligence, so it is your cost. If you look at three apartments and pay for three reports, that is three fees, which is one reason to only commission a report once a property is a genuine contender.

For the Section 184 certificate, your conveyancer or solicitor usually orders it as part of the conveyancing process, and the fee lands on your settlement statement. You rarely deal with it directly, but you are paying for it. Some sellers order a strata report up front and share it with buyers, but treat a seller-supplied report with healthy caution and consider your own if the stakes are high.

Once You Have the Report

Getting the report is half the job. The other half is understanding it, and a strata inspection report can run to hundreds of pages of minutes and financial tables. Our guide on reading a strata report before you buy walks through what to look for and the red flags that matter.

Sources & Further Reading

• Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — sections 182 (inspection of records) and 184 (certificate).
• Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) — section 66S (cooling-off period).
• Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022 (NSW) — prescribed vendor disclosure documents.
• NSW Government — Strata and community living

This guide is general information about NSW strata, not legal or financial advice. Always confirm details for your specific purchase with your conveyancer or solicitor.

The Full Series

This is the closing part of our Beginner's Guide to Strata. If you started here, it is worth going back to Part 1: What Is Strata? to see how the pieces fit together.