How the register works

Who can lodge a notice

Anyone who is a party to a dispute with or about an owners corporation can lodge a notice: an owner, an occupier such as a tenant, a contractor or service provider, a buyer with a contract to purchase, or the owners corporation itself. The register does not accept notices from people outside the dispute.

What a notice needs

Every notice needs a statutory declaration and at least one document tied to the dispute, such as a letter of demand, a termination letter, a tribunal application reference or a contract.

The notice itself holds bare facts: the kind of dispute, the date it was lodged and its status as at a date. There are no dollar figures, no adjectives and no story. The person who lodges a notice is legally responsible for it, and the register tells them so when they file.

Checked by a person before it shows

A reviewer reads every notice before it can be seen. Notices aimed at a private individual rather than a building, owners corporation or business are held. So are clusters of notices from one person against one target. In both cases the reviewer asks for more evidence before anything is shown.

The right of reply

The building, owners corporation or business named in a notice can give one factual reply of about 150 words. The notice shows whether a reply has been received, and the reply always travels with the notice.

How a notice changes over time

• Filed: checked and visible on the building's page.
• Responded: the named party has replied.
• Under review: a complaint has been received and a 7-day review is running.
• Resolved: the person who lodged it, or the owners corporation by resolution, has marked it resolved. The notice stays visible for a set time, then is archived.
• Withdrawn: the person who filed it has withdrawn it.
• Corrected: a factual error was fixed, and the correction is noted.
• Removed: a complaint was upheld or a court ordered it.

Every change is dated and logged. Every status line says "as at" a date, because statuses come from the parties at a point in time. Always check the current status yourself before relying on it.

Complaints about a notice

Anyone can raise a complaint about a notice through a dedicated form. A complaint starts a 7-day review, and the notice shows as under review while it runs.