Apartment window shutters Australia: strata approval guide NSW

By Chris & Campbell, Co-Founders & Lead Installers · 2026-10-02 · 9 min read

"Do I have to ask the owners corporation before I order shutters for my unit?" That is the first question we get from Wagga and Griffith apartment owners. Short answer: in most buildings, yes. Nearly every set of apartment window shutters Australia installers fit into a strata lot touches the window reveal, the frame, or the look of the facade, and section 108 of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 hands that call to the owners corporation.

Do apartment window shutters Australia owners need strata approval in NSW?

Short answer: in most NSW buildings, yes. If the frame fixes into the window reveal, the sill, or the outside wall, you are attaching hardware to common property, and section 108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 hands that decision to the owners corporation. Get it in writing before you order.

Lot boundaries are what decide it. In most strata plans registered in NSW, the lot stops at the inner surface of the wall, so the window frame and the glass sit in common property. NSW Fair Trading's strata and community living guidance sets out that the owners corporation manages and maintains common property, which is why even a tidy internal fit can need a vote. That is the fact that catches out buyers of apartment window shutters Australia wide: the shutter is yours, the frame it screws into is not.

There are three routes, and the one your scheme uses depends on its registered by-laws:

• Cosmetic work (section 109): small jobs such as hooks, nails and screws for hanging things on internal walls, with no approval needed.
• Minor renovations (section 110): an ordinary resolution at a general meeting, covering a defined list of work. Window furnishings fixed into a frame are not clearly on that list, so do not assume it applies.
• By-law or written approval (section 108): the usual path once the work touches common property or changes the appearance of the building.

A by-law change needs a special resolution, which fails if more than 25% of the votes cast go against it. An ordinary resolution only needs a simple majority of votes cast. The gap between those two numbers is why the wording of your motion matters more than the brand you picked. Read the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 on the NSW legislation register alongside your own by-laws before you write it.

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When internal shutters affect common property or building appearance

Three things trigger it: fixings that enter the frame or reveal, anything visible from the street, and a change to the sightline of the facade. Plantation shutters sit inside the reveal, so the colour and the slat shadow read from outside. That visible change is what appearance by-laws are written to control.

From the footpath, a white shutter behind glass changes the rhythm of a building far more than a sheer curtain does. Schemes with uniform-appearance by-laws tend to name one external-facing colour, often white or off-white, and ask for the frame to sit back from the glass line. If your scheme has nothing written down, the owners corporation can still refuse work it treats as a change to common property, so plan apartment window shutters Australia projects around the by-law text rather than around what a neighbour got away with.

Shading is the part most committees are pleased to hear about. The Australian Government's YourHome shading guidance treats stopping summer sun before it reaches the glass as the first move in a hot climate, and YourHome's glazing chapter explains how much heat an unshaded window moves in each direction depending on orientation and glass type. energy.gov.au's household energy guidance makes the same point about cooling load, since a west-facing pane left bare can push a split system to run flat out through the hottest part of the afternoon. Owners fitting apartment window shutters Australia wide into a west-facing unit in Wagga or Griffith notice this first: the room stops heating up by early afternoon instead of staying hot until well after sunset, and the power bill for the quarter usually says the same thing the committee already suspected, that shading beats cooling every time.

Documents your owners corporation needs for apartment window shutters Australia

Hand the committee a pack it can vote on without asking follow-up questions: product specification, colour, fixing detail, a photo or drawing of the reveal, the installer's insurance, and a line on who carries the maintenance duty. Four to six documents, one email, one meeting. Vague requests get deferred.

Name the material in the submission, because committees read basswood, PVC and aluminium differently on a balcony-facing window. Our breakdown of plantation shutter materials for Australian homes covers that choice, and the Australian corded-blind safety standard is the right reference if a committee asks about child safety on corded products. A licensed installer with current public liability cover is the other box they tick, and the certificate of currency is what settles that question in one line.

We measure and quote on site, then hand you the spec sheet, the fixing detail and our certificate of currency so the lot goes to the secretary as one attachment. Most schemes that knock back apartment window shutters Australia submissions do it because the paperwork never said where the screws go.

Who pays for apartment window shutters Australia, repairs and replacement

You do. The lot owner pays for the product, the install, the repairs and the eventual replacement, and a common property rights by-law normally puts that in writing. If the shutter is fixed to common property, the by-law can also make you responsible for the frame and reveal you fixed into.

Read the draft by-law before it goes to the meeting. A well-drafted one names the owner, the work, the ongoing maintenance duty, and says the duty passes to future owners of the lot. Without that last line, the scheme can end up carrying a repair bill nobody budgeted for, and your buyer can inherit an argument. For budget planning, our own guide to plantation shutter costs for NSW homes in 2026 walks through what drives a quote up or down and gives a published market range to check a quote against. Neither replaces a measured quote for your reveals. Owners choosing apartment window shutters Australia wide should also ask the strata manager whether the building insurance touches lot fixtures at all, because in most schemes it does not.

How apartment window shutters Australia owners avoid strata disputes

Ask before you order, put the request in writing, and match the external-facing colour to whatever the building already shows. We learned that the hard way on a Griffith unit block in March 2024, when we measured and fitted shutters for an owner on a verbal nod from the strata manager instead of a signed motion. A neighbour raised the external colour at the June 2024 annual general meeting, the committee asked for a formal by-law after the fact, and our client paid for a second submission to keep shutters they had already been living with for three months. We now hold the measure until the approval is in writing, no matter how confident the strata manager sounds on the phone. NSW Fair Trading runs a free mediation service for strata disagreements.

Talk to the neighbours either side before the meeting, since objections at a general meeting are usually about noise, access and precedent rather than the product. Put your work hours, lift bookings and clean-up in the submission. If noise from outside is your real reason for shutters, say so, because a committee reads a comfort problem more kindly than a decorating preference. The same goes for heat: a Riverina summer afternoon regularly pushes well past 35 degrees, and the right covering is what holds that heat back from the glass before it ever reaches the room. Owners fitting apartment window shutters Australia wide into older blocks should also flag anything that needs power, and our guide to motorised shutters and smart home control explains why cabling is a separate conversation with the committee.

If approval is refused, ask for the reason in writing and whether a different colour, a reveal-mounted frame, or a product with no external-facing change would be accepted instead. Where talking stops working, NSW Fair Trading can mediate before anyone files at the tribunal.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need strata approval before I install shutters in my NSW apartment?

Usually yes. In most NSW strata plans the lot boundary stops at the inner face of the wall, so the window frame and glass are common property, and section 108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 on the NSW legislation register puts work on common property in the owners corporation's hands. Get written approval before you order apartment window shutters Australia suppliers build to measure, because a custom panel cut for your reveal cannot be restocked. Ask the secretary for the registered by-laws and the minutes of the last annual general meeting at the same time.

Can the owners corporation make me remove shutters I already installed?

It can. If the work altered common property without approval, the owners corporation can issue a notice asking you to restore the lot and the common property to their earlier condition, and a tribunal can order the same thing. That is why retrospective approval, which usually means a by-law passed at a general meeting, is a fallback rather than a plan. If you do end up stripping a window back to bare glass, read the Australian Government's YourHome guide again before you leave a west-facing window unshaded through a Riverina summer.

What colour shutters does strata normally approve?

White or off-white, in most buildings. By-laws about appearance exist to keep the facade reading as one building from the street, so committees look at the external-facing side of the panel rather than the room side. Lighter colours also reflect more heat before it reaches the glass, which YourHome's passive design chapter treats as the first step in a hot climate. If your scheme has no colour rule written down, match the frames already visible on your level and say so in writing when you submit the apartment window shutters Australia specification.

Who pays if the shutters damage the window frame?

The lot owner, in almost every case. A common property rights by-law normally makes the owner responsible for maintaining, repairing and replacing both the shutters and the part of the common property they are fixed to, and that duty can pass to the next owner if the by-law is drafted that way. Use a licensed, insured installer and keep the certificate of currency, because insured work is what protects the property owner if something goes wrong on site. Photograph the reveal before and after the install.

How long does strata approval for shutters take?

Plan for one meeting cycle rather than one week. Written approval from the strata committee can come back quickly if your submission is complete, but anything needing a by-law has to go to a general meeting with proper notice, and section 108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 sets out the resolution required. Some schemes meet only once a year, so ask the strata manager when the next general meeting falls and whether the committee can approve your request between meetings. Order nothing until the approval is in writing.

Can I install shutters in an apartment I rent out?

Yes, subject to the same approval as an owner-occupier, because the duty under the Act sits with the lot owner rather than the tenant. Submit the request yourself instead of through the renter, and keep the approval with the lease file so the next managing agent can find it. Fixed shutters also take the corded blind hazard out of a rental, and they cut the cooling load a tenant pays for, which energy.gov.au's household energy advice ties directly to afternoon sun landing on glass. Our NSW landlord guide to shutters in rentals covers the lease side.