Understanding Your Strata Fees
Learn how strata fees are calculated, what they cover, and how to assess if you are getting value for money.
Published 1 August 2026 · Updated 24 August 2026
The two parts of your annual cost
Owners often conflate two different numbers. The first is the owners corporation budget — insurance, maintenance, utilities and administration, shared across lots by lot liability. The second is the management fee: what the manager charges to run it all.
A "cheap" manager with heavy disbursements, meeting fees, and archiving charges can cost more than an "expensive" one with a genuinely all-inclusive fee. Always compare the total annual management cost, not the headline rate.
What small buildings typically pay
Across Melbourne, traditional managers typically charge $300 to $500 per lot per year for small buildings, frequently with minimum fees that punish 2-4 lot developments hardest. On top of that sit disbursements — printing, postage, "technology levies" — that can add 20-40% to the invoice.
StrataXcel charges a flat $99 per lot per year, all-inclusive. Run your own numbers with our savings calculator to see the difference for your building.
This guide is being expanded
Sections on reading your levy notice, benchmarking insurance premiums, and questioning unusual line items are in progress.