Solar for units, apartments, and strata properties in Perth

Western Australia has a significant proportion of apartments, units, and townhouses in Perth's inner suburbs and coastal areas. For owners in strata schemes, installing solar is possible but requires approval from the strata company (body corporate) and involves navigating shared roof ownership. Here's what you need to know.

Who owns the roof in a strata scheme?

In most WA strata schemes, the roof is common property — owned collectively by all lot owners through the strata company. Individual lot owners do not have the right to modify common property without strata company approval.

This applies to:

• Apartments (all floors)
• Townhouses where the roof structure is part of the common property
• Units in a grouped dwelling scheme

Some townhouses have a survey-strata or strata title structure where each owner has freestanding ownership of their lot, including the roof — in this case, you may be able to install solar without strata approval (check your strata title plan and Strata Plan/Survey Plan documents).

How to check: Look at your strata plan. Boundaries shown on the plan indicate whether your roof is within your lot boundary (survey-strata = likely your property) or outside (standard strata = common property requiring approval).

Getting strata approval in WA

Under the Strata Titles Act 1985 (as amended), the strata company can grant consent for a lot owner to install solar panels on common property. The process:

1. Submit a written application to the strata manager including: proposed panel locations (rooftop plan), system specifications (panel count, kW), installation method (whether roof penetrations are required), maintenance plan, and insurance details.

2. Strata company decision: The strata company must grant or refuse consent at a general meeting. In most schemes, an ordinary resolution (simple majority of lot owners) is sufficient for solar approval.

3. Conditions of consent: The strata company may grant conditional approval, for example: requiring the panels to be removed at your cost if roof repairs are needed, requiring public liability insurance, or limiting which sections of roof you can use.

4. Insurance: Your solar system should be covered under your lot owner's home contents/property insurance policy, or by a specific solar endorsement. Check with your insurer.

What WA strata law says about solar

The WA Strata Titles (General) Regulations 2019 include provisions related to lot owner improvements. Under WA strata law:

• The strata company cannot unreasonably withhold consent for sustainable improvements
• If a strata company refuses solar approval without reasonable grounds, a lot owner can apply to the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) to override the refusal
• Solar panels don't require unanimous consent — a majority ordinary resolution applies

This gives Perth strata owners meaningful rights to pursue solar even if there's initial resistance from some owners or a strata manager.

Common barriers in strata solar applications

Aesthetic objection: Some strata schemes have by-laws requiring uniform appearance. Panels may be visible from the street in some schemes. Visual impact is a legitimate consideration but not an automatic refusal ground.

Roof access for maintenance: The strata company typically needs ongoing access to the roof for maintenance and repairs. Your application should address how panels will be removed and reinstalled (at whose cost) if roof repairs are required.

Structural capacity: Some older apartment building roofs were not designed with solar panel loads in mind. A structural engineer's report confirming the roof can support the proposed panel weight may be required as part of the application.

Equitable access concerns: In multi-unit buildings, if only one or a few lot owners can access the roof, other owners may raise fairness concerns. An embedded network or shared solar arrangement (see below) may address this.

Shared solar and embedded networks for apartment buildings

For multi-story apartment buildings where individual lot owners can't easily access the roof, a different approach may be available: strata-wide embedded solar.

In this arrangement:

• The strata company installs solar on the common property roof
• The generation powers common area loads (lifts, corridor lighting, pool pumps) and/or is allocated to individual lots via an embedded network
• Costs and benefits are shared among lot owners through the strata levy or a separate electricity agreement

This is more complex to set up but can deliver solar benefits to all owners, including those whose lots are too shaded or on the wrong orientation to benefit from their own panels.

If your building has significant common area electricity consumption (lifts, car park lighting, pool, gym, visitor parking EPS), a strata-wide system focused on common areas may have a simpler approval path than individual lot applications.

Townhouses and ground-level strata

For grouped dwellings (a group of townhouses on a common land title) in WA:

• Each townhouse owner typically owns their walls and improvements within their lot boundary
• Whether the roof is common property depends on the strata plan — in many Perth townhouse schemes, each owner owns their own roof
• If the roof is within your lot boundary, you can install solar as you would for a freestanding home, provided you obtain Western Power connection approval in the normal way
• If the roof is common property, the strata approval process above applies

Check your Certificate of Title and strata plan before assuming either way.

Practical steps for Perth strata owners

1. Read your strata plan — determine whether your roof is within your lot boundary or is common property
2. Check your scheme's by-laws — look for any provisions about owner improvements or solar specifically
3. Contact your strata manager — ask about the consent application process and any previous solar applications in the scheme
4. Get solar quotes from CEC-accredited installers familiar with strata applications — they'll know what documentation the strata company typically requires
5. Submit a detailed application — the more thorough your application, the more likely a quick approval. Include a rooftop layout, installation method, maintenance plan, and your commitment to remove the panels at your cost for roof repairs.

Perth strata owners have meaningful rights to pursue solar on common property roofs under WA law — the strata company cannot unreasonably refuse. The process is slower than for freestanding homes but achievable for most Perth units and townhouses. Ground-level townhouses with individually-owned roofs can often skip the strata approval step entirely.