Strata title allows individual ownership of part of a property.

Prior to strata title, many flats were sold as either company title or Tenants In Common. However, these forms of land title did not confer separate ownership on individual occupants and banks were not keen to lend.

With pressure on the New South Wales government to make it easier to borrow money for these types of residential units rising, the NSW Parliament devised the first version of strata title. The Conveyancing (Strata Titles) Act, 1961 came into force on July 1961.

The first strata titled building in the world was Lindsay Gardens, pictured above, a block of 18 units at 189 Liverpool Road, Burwood, Sydney, whose plan was approved by Burwood Council, following its construction, on 28 July 1961 as SP No.1.

The legislation was later refined with the NSW Strata Titles Act and Regulations in 1973, and most recently with the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.

Strata title was copied by other states and territories in Australia and later replicated around the world in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia

Acknowledgement: Strata Community Australia (NSW)