Sectional title is a form of property ownership used in multi-level apartment blocks, townhouses and a variety of other developments with shared facilities and areas.
It allows individual ownership of part of a property (called a “section”, which is generally an apartment or townhouse) and joint or shared ownership of all the other areas (called the “common property”, which includes the driveway, gardens, foyers, lifts, stairways, roofs, etc.).
Every section is allocated a “participation quota” that determines the size of the share in the common property that is co-owned by the owner of that section.
Every owner is a member of the “body corporate”, which is a legal entity that exists to control, manage and maintain all the common property. Often a “managing agent”, being a person who professionally manages sectional title properties, is employed to manage the common property on the body corporate’s behalf.
Sectional title developments can be residential, commercial, retail, mixed use (eg. commercial and residential), serviced apartments, retirement villages, caravan parks or resorts.