Editorial Policy

Our purpose

We publish material to help Australian apartment, townhouse, and strata property owners, buyers, committee members, and investors understand costs that are often difficult to compare. Content is selected for reader usefulness, not simply because a search term exists.

• Answer a specific reader question or support a real property decision.
• Distinguish legal requirements from general industry practice and estimates.
• Explain important assumptions, limitations, and exceptions near the relevant claim.
• Use worked examples to show how a calculation or decision applies in practice.
• Link to primary sources so readers can verify material claims.
• Avoid presenting general information as personal financial, property, or legal advice.

Source hierarchy

We prefer primary and authoritative material. The source used depends on the claim, but our usual order is:

1. State and territory legislation, regulations, government agencies, land-title authorities, and fair-trading or consumer-affairs bodies.
2. Official explanatory material, regulator guidance, tribunal information, and published government data.
3. Reputable industry associations, insurer or strata-sector reports, and clearly described market data where no official benchmark exists.
4. Secondary commentary only where it adds practical context and does not replace a more authoritative source.

Sources are linked on the relevant page. A link is not an endorsement of every statement made by that external publisher.

Calculator development and testing

Calculator logic is separated from the page presentation so assumptions can be inspected and tested consistently. We check representative scenarios, boundary conditions, and the relationship between quarterly, annual, and long-term outputs. The methodology page documents the main estimator's model, modifiers, data limitations, and examples.

Strata fees are building-specific and there is no official national fee table. Where an output relies on market benchmarks rather than a statutory rate, we label it as an estimate or range and explain the factors that can make an actual levy different.

Review and updates

Material is reviewed before publication for internal consistency, readable explanation, functioning citations, and alignment between claims and calculator behaviour. Pages show an update date so readers can judge currency.

We prioritise a new review when legislation changes, an official source is replaced, a material market assumption changes, a reader reports a possible error, or calculator logic is updated. Minor copy edits do not necessarily change the displayed review date.

Independence and commercial influence

Advertising may fund the site, but advertisers do not approve articles, choose calculator assumptions, or receive favourable treatment in editorial content. An advertisement is not a recommendation. If sponsored or affiliate content is introduced in future, it will be clearly labelled where it appears.

Corrections and feedback

We welcome specific, evidence-based corrections. See our corrections policy or contact MoneyToolkit.