Editing Strata title (section)

{{Short description|Form of legal ownership for apartments}}
{{Other uses|Strata (disambiguation)}}
{{Property law}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
'''Strata title''' is a form of [[ownership]] and [[housing tenure]] devised for multi-level [[apartment buildings|apartment blocks]] and horizontal subdivisions with shared areas. The word "strata" refers to apartments on different levels.

Strata title was first introduced in 1961 in the [[State (subnational)|state]] of [[New South Wales]], Australia, to better cope with the legal ownership of apartment blocks. Previously, the only adequate method of dividing ownership was company title, which had a number of defects, such as the difficulty of instituting mortgages. This term also applies to house-type strata title units in Australia.

Other countries that have adopted the Australian system (or a similar variant) of apartment ownership include: Canada ([[Alberta]], [[British Columbia]]), Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://manilaofficespace.com/articles/2010/strata-title-buildings-in-the-philippines|title=Strata Title Buildings in the Philippines - Manila Makati Office Space|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-date=10 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310171650/http://manilaofficespace.com/articles/2010/strata-title-buildings-in-the-philippines|url-status=dead}}</ref> Singapore, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Other countries have legislation based on similar principles but with different definitions and using different mechanisms in their administration.

Strata title schemes are composed of individual lots and common property. Lots are either apartments, garages or storerooms and each is shown on the title as owned by a lot owner. Common property is defined as everything else on the parcel of land that is not comprised in a lot, such as common stairwells, driveways, roofs, gardens and so on.