Renovating an apartment is a different exercise from renovating a house. You do not own the building. You own an airspace defined by boundaries, plus a share of everything else, and almost every meaningful change touches something that belongs to the body of owners rather than to you. In South Australia that structure is governed by strata or community title legislation, and understanding which one applies to your property is the first step.
Adelaide’s apartment stock is smaller and lower-rise than Sydney’s or Melbourne’s, which changes the practical picture in useful ways: fewer high-rise complexities, more walk-up 1960s and 1970s blocks, more converted warehouses in the city and Port Adelaide, and a growing number of newer developments through the CBD and along the tram corridor. Each has its own renovation constraints.
A related guide to consider while planning this work is Bathroom Renovation Costs in Adelaide: Real Prices, Real Timelines.
Strata Title or Community Title?
South Australia has two schemes, and the distinction matters.
Strata title
- Governed by the Strata Titles Act
- Common in older walk-up blocks and units built before the 1990s
- The unit boundary is generally the inner surface of the walls, floor and ceiling — you own the space, not the structure around it
- Managed by a strata corporation of which every owner is automatically a member
Community title
- Governed by the Community Titles Act, introduced in 1996
- Used for most newer developments, and for schemes with mixed lot types
- Lot boundaries are defined by the deposited plan and can be surveyed in three dimensions, so what you own can differ substantially from the strata assumption
- Managed by a community corporation
- Community plans can be strata, primary or secondary, with different implications for what is a lot and what is common property
Get the deposited plan before you plan anything. It defines your boundary precisely, and the assumption that you own everything inside your front door is frequently wrong.
What You Own and What You Do Not
Usually yours
- Internal non-structural wall linings, paint and wallpaper
- Floor coverings — carpet, timber overlay, tiles laid over the structural floor
- Kitchen and bathroom fixtures, cabinetry and fittings
- Internal doors and their hardware
- Light fittings, switches and power points within the lot
- Built-in wardrobes and non-structural internal partitions
- Appliances
Usually common property
- The structural floor slab, structural walls and columns
- The ceiling slab and the roof
- External walls, including windows and window frames in most schemes
- Balcony slabs, balustrades and the balcony waterproofing membrane
- The front entry door in many schemes
- Plumbing and drainage that serves more than one lot
- The building’s electrical mains, and services in common ducts
- Waterproofing membranes generally, even where they sit beneath your tiles
- Air conditioning condenser locations and any external plant space
The critical implication: the waterproofing membrane under your bathroom floor is usually common property. That means a bathroom renovation is not purely internal work, and it will require corporation approval.
Approval From the Corporation
What generally needs approval
- Any work affecting common property — which includes most bathroom and laundry renovations because of the membrane
- Removing or altering any wall, whether or not you believe it is load-bearing
- Changing floor coverings from carpet to hard flooring, because of acoustic transmission
- Installing an air conditioner with an external condenser
- Anything altering the external appearance — window replacement, balcony enclosure, awnings, screens
- New penetrations through the slab or external walls, including for exhaust ducting
- Relocating plumbing that connects to common stacks
- Changes to the front entry door
What generally does not
- Painting internal walls
- Replacing kitchen cabinetry in the same position without touching plumbing stacks
- Replacing light fittings and internal doors
- Recarpeting like for like
How to get it
- Read the by-laws first. Every scheme has them, and they often set out an approval process, acoustic requirements, working-hours restrictions and a bond requirement. Some are strict; some barely exist.
- Approach the corporation early with a clear proposal — drawings, scope, materials, program, trades, and the acoustic performance of any new flooring.
- Expect conditions. Working hours, lift protection, common area protection, waste management, insurance evidence from your trades, a bond against damage, and an obligation to make good.
- Understand the meeting cycle. Many corporations meet quarterly. If your approval requires a general meeting, factor that into your program — this is the most common cause of delay in Adelaide apartment renovations.
- Get it in writing, and keep the minutes recording the resolution.
The acoustic issue
Replacing carpet with timber or tile is the single most common source of dispute in Australian apartment living. Most schemes require an acoustic underlay meeting a specified performance level, and many require an acoustic report. Do not skip this — an owner forced to remove a completed floor is not a rare outcome, and the cost falls entirely on them.
Development Approval
Corporation approval is not planning approval. They are separate and you may need both.
- Internal, non-structural work generally does not require development approval
- Structural change, alterations to the external appearance, new openings, and balcony enclosure all do
- Building consent applies to structural work and, in many cases, to wet area work
- Heritage overlays apply to a great many Adelaide city and Port Adelaide conversions — a warehouse conversion in a Historic Area Overlay carries real constraints on windows and external alterations
- Applications are lodged through the PlanSA portal in the usual way
The framework is set out in do you need council approval to renovate in Adelaide.
The Practical Constraints
Access and logistics
- Everything goes through a lift or up a stairwell. Materials, waste, appliances, stone benchtops. This adds substantially to labour cost — allow 20 to 40 per cent above the equivalent house renovation for the same scope.
- Lift bookings and protection are usually mandated, often with restricted hours and a booking system.
- Waste removal is a genuine problem. There is rarely anywhere to put a skip, and bagged waste carried down stairs is slow and expensive.
- Parking for trades in the Adelaide CBD and inner suburbs is expensive and time-limited, and trades charge for the time.
- Working hours are typically restricted to weekdays and limited Saturday hours, which stretches the program.
Services
- Plumbing stacks are fixed. Moving a toilet or a wet area far from the existing stack is usually impossible, because you cannot penetrate the common slab and you cannot achieve the fall.
- The slab cannot be cut without engineering assessment and corporation approval, and in post-tensioned slabs it may be prohibited outright.
- Electrical capacity is set by the building’s mains and your lot’s allocation. Adding an induction cooktop, a heat pump hot water unit and additional air conditioning may exceed it.
- Exhaust ducting for a rangehood or bathroom fan has to discharge somewhere. In many Adelaide apartments that means a common riser with limited capacity, or a recirculating unit.
- Gas is being removed from many newer buildings, and some schemes prohibit new gas appliances.
Structure
- Internal walls in concrete-framed buildings are often non-structural and removable, subject to approval
- In the 1960s and 1970s walk-up blocks common across Adelaide’s inner suburbs, internal walls are frequently load-bearing masonry
- Any structural change needs an engineer’s design and corporation approval, and often a general meeting resolution
What Adelaide Apartment Renovations Cost
- Cosmetic refresh — paint, flooring, lighting, tapware: $18,000 to $40,000
- Kitchen replacement in the existing layout: $28,000 to $60,000
- Bathroom rebuild: $26,000 to $45,000 — above house rates because of access, waste, restricted hours and the membrane approval process
- Full internal renovation, two-bedroom apartment: $110,000 to $260,000
- High-specification full renovation: $260,000 to $550,000
Add to these: corporation application fees and bonds, acoustic reports, engineering where structural work is involved, and the cost of the extended program.
Where the Value Is
Reliable
- Kitchen and bathroom. The two rooms that sell an apartment.
- Light and openness. Removing a non-structural wall between kitchen and living, where permitted, transforms a 1970s apartment.
- Storage. Apartments are short of it and buyers notice. Built-in joinery returns well.
- Flooring, in a consistent material throughout, with compliant acoustic underlay.
- Making the balcony usable — decking tiles, screening, lighting, planting. Cheap and disproportionately effective in Adelaide’s climate.
- Reverse-cycle air conditioning where the building permits a condenser location.
Poor returns
- Anything specified above the building’s general standard — the block sets the ceiling
- Structural change requiring extensive approvals, which costs more in time and fees than it returns
- Enclosing a balcony, which is usually refused and reduces the apartment’s appeal
- Highly personal design in a market where apartment buyers are conservative
Due Diligence Before Buying to Renovate
- Read the by-laws in full before you make an offer. Some schemes effectively prohibit hard flooring or significant renovation.
- Read the last two years of corporation minutes. They reveal disputes, planned special levies, building defects and how the corporation behaves toward owners who want to renovate.
- Check the sinking fund and any forecast major works. A block facing a roof replacement or a facade rectification will levy you regardless of what you spend inside.
- Check for building defects, particularly waterproofing and concrete cancer in coastal blocks around Glenelg and Henley.
- Get the deposited plan and confirm your lot boundaries.
- Ask about approvals granted to other owners. A corporation that has approved several bathroom renovations has a workable process; one that has approved none may not.
- Check the electrical allocation if you plan an all-electric kitchen.
- Confirm whether the building is in a heritage overlay, which is common for Adelaide CBD and Port Adelaide conversions.
Running the Project
- Get corporation approval in writing before you order anything or engage a trade
- Give the neighbours notice, in person if possible. Goodwill is worth more than any by-law when a job runs long.
- Use trades who have worked in apartment buildings — the logistics defeat people who have not
- Book the lift, protect the common areas, and leave them cleaner than you found them
- Photograph the common areas before you start, so damage claims can be settled on evidence
- Keep to the approved hours without exception
- Provide the corporation with your trades’ insurance certificates before they start
- Photograph the waterproofing before tiling — in an apartment, a leak becomes someone else’s ceiling and your liability
Apartment renovation in Adelaide is more constrained than house renovation but also more contained. The scope is bounded, the surprises are fewer, and the approvals — once you understand who owns what — are a process rather than an obstacle. The projects that go wrong are almost always the ones that started work before the corporation said yes.
For the trades and cost detail, see bathroom renovation costs in Adelaide and kitchen renovation costs in Adelaide.
Working With Your Neighbours and the Corporation
In an apartment building, the people most able to make your renovation difficult are the ones living on the other side of your walls. Corporation approval is a formal process, but the informal one running alongside it matters just as much, and it is where most apartment renovations either become straightforward or become miserable.
For more detail on this part of the project, see Post-Tensioned Slabs in Apartment Renovations: Fixings and Services.
Before you lodge anything
- Talk to your immediate neighbours first, in person, before the corporation hears about it. People object to being surprised far more than they object to noise.
- Be specific about the disruption. Which weeks will be noisy, which days involve demolition, when the lift will be occupied, and when it will be over.
- Give them a contact. Your mobile number, or the builder’s, so a complaint goes to someone who can act on it rather than to the corporation as a formal grievance.
- Ask what would make it easier for them. Sometimes it is as simple as avoiding a particular morning, and offering that costs you nothing.
Making the corporation’s decision easy
- Submit a complete proposal — drawings, scope, materials, program, trades and their insurance details, and the acoustic performance of any new flooring
- Address the by-laws point by point, showing how each is satisfied, rather than leaving the committee to work it out
- Offer the bond and the make-good undertaking before being asked
- Nominate a single point of contact for the duration
- Where the scheme has approved similar work before, reference it — consistency is persuasive
A committee that has read a clear, complete proposal and heard no complaints from your neighbours approves quickly. One that receives a vague request and three objections defers it to the next quarterly meeting, and that is three months you will not get back.
The Older Adelaide Walk-Up: A Specific Case
A large share of Adelaide’s apartment stock is the two- and three-storey walk-up block built between the late 1950s and the 1970s across Glenelg, Prospect, Norwood, Unley and the western suburbs. These have their own renovation profile.
- Internal walls are frequently load-bearing masonry, not stud partitions. Opening up the plan is a structural project requiring engineering, corporation approval and often a general meeting resolution.
- Asbestos is near-universal in wet area linings, eaves and ceilings in this vintage. Test before any demolition.
- Electrical capacity is limited. Original mains and lot allocations were sized for a very different household load. An all-electric kitchen may exceed what is available, and upgrading involves common property.
- Single glazing and no insulation, making these apartments hot in an Adelaide February and cold in July. Secondary glazing, heavy curtains and draught sealing are the achievable improvements, since external window replacement is common property.
- Balcony and walkway waterproofing is often at end of life across the whole building, which means special levies you will pay regardless of what you spend inside your own lot. Read the sinking fund forecast before you buy.
- Small bathrooms with the stack in a fixed position, which constrains any layout change to essentially none.
The upside is that these blocks are usually well located on good land, the apartments are often larger than modern equivalents, and a competent internal renovation within the existing layout produces a very liveable result at a cost well below the equivalent house project.