Electrical — Who's Responsible?

The same rule that applies to plumbing applies to electrical: fittings inside your lot that serve only your lot are yours; shared wiring, and wiring inside the wall, floor or ceiling structure, is common property. Power points, switches and light fittings in your townhouse are yours. Common driveway lighting and shared wiring are the owners corporation's.

What we're talking about

Electrical in a townhouse scheme generally covers:

• The mains supply from street into the scheme
• Individual switchboards inside each townhouse
• Power points, light switches and circuits within each lot
• Light fittings inside the lot and on external lot surfaces
• Smoke alarms
• Common driveway and external area lighting
• Garage door motors and openers
• Air conditioning power (see Air conditioning)

Typical position

Grey areas and common disputes

Smoke alarms

Smoke alarms matter, and who looks after them can depend on how they're installed and on your scheme's by-laws. Check your by-laws, or ask us. If you rent your townhouse out, check your obligations as a landlord with your property manager.

Switchboard upgrades and asbestos boards

Some older townhouse schemes have switchboards with asbestos backing. It becomes an issue when an electrician needs to do any work, so it's worth planning for. The switchboard inside a lot is the owner's responsibility. If the scheme has a common-property switchboard for shared services, that's the OC's. Some schemes coordinate switchboard upgrades across all lots to share costs — ask us how to set that up properly.

External lights on common walls

A wall light on the front of your townhouse, illuminating the path to your door, sits at the boundary between lot and common property. The fitting may be lot owner's (it serves only your lot); the wall it's mounted on is common property; the wiring inside the wall is common property. If it fails, the most practical answer is usually: the owner replaces the fitting like-for-like without changing wiring or position. Bigger changes need OC approval.

Garage door motors

See Doors. The door itself is often common property; the motor that drives it is often treated as a fitting and owner-maintained. This varies by scheme — confirm with your strata manager before paying for a replacement motor.

Common driveway lighting

Lights along the common driveway, on common gardens, or attached to common external walls illuminating shared areas — these are OC. If a bollard fails, if a globe blows on the common driveway light, it's the strata manager's call to organise replacement. Energy costs are paid from the administration fund.

Power outages and meter issues

If the power is out only in your townhouse, the issue is usually inside the lot or at your meter. If the whole scheme is dark, it's a common issue (or a wider network outage). When in doubt, check whether neighbours have power before calling an electrician.