Strata Management in Reservoir, Melbourne

Reservoir is one of Melbourne's largest suburbs by area, and its strata landscape reflects decades of steady infill rather than tower development. The postwar brick veneer blocks that once dominated streets around Broadway, Edwardes Street and High Street have been progressively subdivided into two, three and four-unit villa developments, many built from the 1970s onward and now carrying the maintenance load of fifty-year-old driveways, fences and shared plumbing. The removal of the level crossing at Reservoir station in 2020 accelerated townhouse construction near the new station precinct, adding a wave of small owners corporations with modern common property but thin budgets. Most Reservoir OCs are between two and eight lots — exactly the size that large strata firms treat as an afterthought. Committees here tell us the same story: a flat percentage-style fee that assumes a concierge building, slow responses on simple maintenance, and an AGM run by someone who has never seen the property. At $99 per lot, a six-lot Reservoir villa block pays $594 a year for full management instead of $2,000 or more.