Organisations, governance and multi-owned housing

The creation of multi-owned, strata titled housing occurs as a legal mechanism at the time local and state governments accept and approve the developer's survey plans. Economic and social forces allow the creation of an organisation by people who have little ongoing interest in its ability to function. From an organisational viewpoint, this is a unique situation. When an owner buys into a strata complex, they cede power to the owner organisation that controls the common property within the apartment or master planned estate. This occurs through contract mechanisms at the point of sale. Set within a structure and agency framework, this review of literature moves the focus from planning and legal considerations and the actors voice, to the formation of an organisation. It considers whether a new type of hybrid organisation has been created in which governance, transparency and accountability are hampered by the legal framework that is set up to protect it.