Strata Cleaning for Owners Corporations in Victoria

What the Owners Corporation Is Actually Responsible For

If you sit on an owners corporation committee in Victoria, common area cleaning falls squarely on your shoulders. The Owners Corporations Act 2006 is clear: the OC must repair and maintain common property, and that includes keeping it clean and hygienic. Letting lobbies get grimy or bin rooms smell is not just unpleasant, it can expose the OC to liability if someone slips on a dirty floor or a health complaint is lodged.

Common property typically covers everything outside the lot boundaries: entrance lobbies, lifts, stairwells, corridors, car parks, bin rooms, laundry facilities, gyms, pools, and any garden or outdoor path that residents share. If it is not inside someone's unit, the OC owns the obligation to maintain it.

This matters in every kind of strata development across metro Melbourne. A four-storey walk-up in Fitzroy has different common areas to a high-rise tower in Melbourne CBD or a townhouse complex in Glen Waverley, but the legal duty is the same regardless of the building's size or postcode.

Scoping the Work: Area by Area

A professional strata clean is not one single task. It is a collection of separate scopes that need different frequencies and methods. Getting this right before you go to tender saves arguments later.

Lobbies and Corridors

These are the first thing residents and visitors see. Floors need vacuuming or mopping depending on the surface, mirrors and glass panels need wiping, and skirting boards collect dust quickly in high-traffic buildings. In suburbs like South Yarra, Toorak, and Hawthorn where buildings attract owner-occupiers with high expectations, a grubby lobby reflects on the whole committee.

• Weekly or fortnightly mopping of hard floors
• Spot-cleaning of walls and lift doors at each visit
• Monthly detail clean of skirting boards and light fittings

Lifts

Lift interiors are small, enclosed, and touched constantly. They need more frequent attention than most committees schedule. Stainless steel panels smear easily and mould can build up in the door tracks if they are ignored. At minimum, lifts should be wiped down at every visit. In busier buildings in Box Hill, Richmond, or Carlton, that might mean three times a week.

Bin Rooms

This is the area that causes the most complaints and the most hygiene risk. A bin room that is not regularly sanitised will smell, attract pests, and become a slip hazard when liquids pool on the floor. A proper scope includes hosing the floor, wiping bin lids, and sanitising the room itself. Frequency depends on how many lots are in the building and how much waste is generated, but fortnightly is usually the minimum for buildings with more than twenty lots.

Car Parks

Underground car parks in buildings across Essendon, Preston, Camberwell, and Point Cook accumulate oil stains, leaf litter from ramps, and rubbish that blows in. A monthly sweep and blower clean is a reasonable baseline. Larger car parks may need a periodic pressure wash, which should be listed as a separate line item in your cleaning contract.

Stairwells

Stairwells are often forgotten until someone complains. They collect dust, cobwebs, and scuff marks from moving furniture. A fortnightly vacuum and mop with a monthly detail clean covers most buildings.

What to Table at Your AGM

The AGM is the right place to formalise your cleaning scope, set the budget, and get committee sign-off. Here is what is worth putting on the agenda:

• A written cleaning specification listing every area, every task, and every frequency. Vague contracts lead to disputes.
• Contractor credentials: public liability insurance, a current police check and Working with Children Check (WWCC) if the building has a childcare centre or a school-aged population using common areas, and evidence of professional indemnity cover.
• An inspection schedule: decide who on the committee checks the work and how often. Monthly walkthroughs are a good start.
• A process for reactive cleans: rubbish dumping, spills, and graffiti happen between scheduled visits. Your contract should spell out how quickly a contractor responds to these callouts.
• Review period: put the cleaning contract on the agenda annually. Standards slip when no one checks.

What Drives the Cost of Strata Cleaning

Committees in Werribee, Craigieburn, Footscray, Kew, and Brighton all ask the same question: what will this cost? The honest answer is that it depends on several factors. The total area of common property in square metres, the number of lifts and bin rooms, how often you want visits, whether the building has a gym or pool, and the current condition of the property all move the price up or down. A building that has been neglected will need more work initially than one that has been maintained consistently.

We do not quote blind. Once we hear about the building, including the suburb, the number of lots, and which areas need covering, we send through an exact written quote by text. No guesswork, no surprise invoices.

Get a Quote for Your Building

If your OC is reviewing its cleaning contract or putting together a scope for the first time, fill in the details at melbournecleaningpartners.com.au and we will come back to you with a specific quote for your building. The form takes two minutes.