Guide 7 of 7 · the room around the run

Renovating a kitchen in a strata apartment

In NSW, you need permission to do a kitchen or bathroom renovation, and you also need permission to change the walls, floors, or ceilings.

You do not need permission to make cosmetic changes that don't affect the structure of your property or require waterproofing.

1Power points, rangehoodLicensed electrician (NSW)
2Gas line and cooktopLicence at any cost (NSW)
3The benchtopEngineered stone: banned since 1 July 2024 (NSW)
4The cabinet runLicence over $5,000 (NSW)
5Sink trap and water linesLicence at any cost (NSW)

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Permission, in three cases

NSW Fair Trading's renovation page draws the line in three places, and each one is quoted here as the page draws it.

Where the line runs
The work	What the page says
Cosmetic work	Cosmetic work doesn't need approval. You do not need permission to make cosmetic changes that don't affect the structure of your property or require waterproofing.
A kitchen renovation	You need permission to do a kitchen or bathroom renovation. The page's minor renovations section goes further, and names the kitchen in its examples: minor renovations need approval, and minor renovations include kitchen renovations, for example installing or removing cupboards.
Changes to the walls, floors or ceilings	You also need permission to change the walls, floors, or ceilings.

There is a boundary on the kitchen case as well: minor renovations cannot change the outside or structure of your apartment, duplex or strata property or require waterproofing. And whatever the classification, one rule sits under all of it: any strata building work must be done safely and meet building standards, which the page says protects the builders, the residents and helps to reduce the risk of defects to the property in the future.

The process the page sets out

The by-laws come first, before any of the steps: check your scheme's by-laws before you start renovating so you know what approvals are needed and how to get them.

For a kitchen renovation, which the page files under minor renovations, approval starts with people rather than forms: to do minor renovations, you will need to contact the owners corporation, strata committee or strata managing agent and request permission.

The committee can be the one deciding. Where it is allowed under a by-law, a strata committee may consider minor renovation applications, and if a strata committee refuses to approve a minor renovation, it must give written reasons for the refusal within three months of receiving the request. And the clock runs the other way too: if the strata committee does not refuse the application within three months, then the application is taken to be approved by the strata committee.

The record survives the renovation. Owners corporations are required to keep a record of any minor renovation approved for a period of 10 years.

When the work reaches the structure

Two of the cases above change the building rather than the room, and the page keeps them apart from the minor path. Only the owners corporation can approve major renovations. Major renovations need a special resolution vote at an annual general meeting (AGM) or other general meeting of the owners corporation, which the page defines as meaning no more than 25% of the value of the votes cast are against the work.

And for the case that changes the shape of the property, there is a notice with a date on it: if your work will change the structure of your property, for example removing a wall, you must also give the owners corporation 14 days' written notice before the work starts, and the notice should describe how your renovations will change the property structure.

One more warning from the page belongs to every case on it: if you don't follow the correct process, you risk having to pay money to put the property back to how it was before you renovated it.

If the apartment is rented

The page addresses tenants directly. If you're a tenant, you should write to your landlord to ask for permission before you make any changes, and the landlord cannot unreasonably reject requests for cosmetic or minor renovations. The next step is the landlord's, not the tenant's: if the landlord agrees to the renovation, they must follow the strata approval process above, on the tenant's behalf.

Which trade may do each part of the work is a separate question from which approval it needs: the sink, cooktop, power point and splashback guides carry the licensing side, and the quote and contract guide carries the paper between you and the trades.