Vista Fox · Planning guides

Apartment window cleaning responsibilities

By Vista Fox · Published 6 November 2026

Illustrative stock photograph, not a local project or provider’s work. Source photograph · Erik Mclean · Pexels License

If you live in an Adelaide apartment and want the windows cleaned, the first practical step is to contact your building manager or strata corporation — not to book a cleaner. Access to common-area structures, shared facades, and any equipment or space needed to reach external glass may require authorisation that only the strata corporation or its appointed manager can give.

Why the window you’re looking at may not be entirely yours to arrange

Apartment windows are rarely a simple case of “your unit, your glass.” In a strata scheme, the boundary between what forms part of your lot and what is common property is set out in your specific strata plan — not in a general rule. The SA Legal Services Commission’s strata titles guide notes that common property is collectively owned by all unit owners and managed by the strata corporation, and that the strata plan itself defines those boundaries.

This matters for window cleaning because reaching an external glass surface often requires passing through, standing on, or rigging equipment from common property — a building facade, a roof, a shared balcony structure, or a setdown area. Even if the glass belongs to your lot, the method of reaching it may cross into common property.

The practical question to ask your building manager before anything else: Which parts of this window — glass, frame, and the access path to clean it externally — fall within my lot, and which are common property?

What to find out from the building manager before booking

A brief conversation or written query to your strata manager or building manager should cover:

Access permissions — Does a window cleaner need written authorisation to bring equipment onto the property or use shared access points, lifts, or roof areas?
Insurance and induction requirements — Does the strata corporation require any provider to hold a minimum level of public liability insurance or complete a site induction before attending?
Preferred booking coordination — Is there a process for notifying other residents or coordinating with the building manager on dates and times?
Common-area windows — Are there shared lobby, stairwell, or corridor windows that the strata corporation arranges separately?
Specific building rules — Do the strata corporation’s articles contain anything that governs contractor access, working hours, or the type of equipment permitted?

These are questions for your building manager to answer. They are not legal determinations this site can make on your behalf.

Understanding the strata corporation’s role

The SA Legal Services Commission strata guide makes clear that the strata corporation can enter into contracts — including maintenance contracts — and may delegate certain functions to a strata manager. Maintenance of common property is a strata corporation responsibility, though exactly what that covers for external glass depends again on your strata plan.

If the building manager tells you that external window cleaning for the whole building is arranged by the strata corporation on a schedule, your individual request may simply slot into that existing arrangement rather than require a separate booking. Alternatively, the corporation may leave individual lot owners to arrange their own interior-side cleaning while coordinating external access separately.

Neither of these arrangements is universal. The only way to know which applies in your building is to ask.

Identifying which windows and sides are within scope

Before any provider can quote usefully, you and they need to agree on what is actually being cleaned. For an apartment this typically means:

Interior glass only — straightforward; no common property access required in most cases.
Interior glass plus internal-side of external frames — depends on frame ownership under the strata plan.
External glass — whether reaching it requires access to or through common property depends on what your specific strata plan defines as common property; ask your building manager or strata corporation to clarify before arranging anything.

A hypothetical scenario (illustrative only, not a customer story): imagine a resident on level four wants the external face of their bedroom window cleaned. The cleaner would need to either work from the building’s shared roof area, use a water-fed pole from common ground below, or arrange rope access — all of which could require prior authorisation from the strata corporation, proof of insurance, and possibly coordination with other residents on timing. The resident would be in a much better position approaching a provider if they already had written confirmation from the building manager about which access methods are permitted.

Questions about heights access and equipment

For buildings above single-storey, how external glass is reached is a separate practical question from who authorises the visit. SafeWork SA classifies certain work involving falls as high-risk construction work requiring a safe work method statement before it begins — but whether a particular window-cleaning task falls within that classification depends on the actual work and must be assessed for the specific site, not assumed from a general article.

The point for a resident organising a clean is straightforward: ask the building manager whether there are any specific requirements or restrictions on the type of access equipment a contractor may use on the property. Some strata schemes have rules about anchoring, water use, or access times. Knowing those constraints before you approach a provider saves time for everyone.

Shared and excluded areas — clarifying scope with any provider

Once you have the building manager’s answers, you are in a position to give a provider a clear scope. That scope should distinguish:

Windows within your lot (interior access, frames within your lot boundary)
External glass that you have been told you can arrange independently
Any areas the strata corporation coordinates separately — lobby glass, common stairwell windows, external corridors

A provider quoting for an apartment clean without knowing these boundaries may either underprice by omitting externals, or overprice by assuming more access than is actually available. Getting building manager confirmation first produces a more accurate and comparable quote.

See also: Window cleaning quote inclusions checklist and Flyscreen and track cleaning scope for further questions to work through before confirming a visit.

Recording what was agreed

Once you have verbal or written confirmation from the building manager about access and permissions, keep a copy. If the manager specifies that a provider must carry a certain level of public liability insurance or notify the building by a certain date, pass that information to any provider before confirming the booking.

This is not a legal transfer of responsibility — it is ordinary communication that reduces the chance of a provider arriving on-site and finding they cannot proceed because access was never confirmed. The same logic applies to any strata-specific requirements such as site inductions or contractor registers that some larger buildings maintain.

Requesting a referral

If you would like us to follow up with a possible referral to a window cleaning provider for your Adelaide apartment — where available — you are welcome to submit an enquiry through the form on this site. Please include the building access information you have gathered from your building manager, as it helps any provider assess the job accurately.