A body corporate is the collective term for the legal entity created and is made up of all owners within a community titles scheme (CTS). It can also be known as a strata-titled scheme or owner’s corporation. It is the structure that allows individuals to jointly own, manage, and pay for shared areas of the development. Its sole purpose is to manage and operate the development for which it was created.   A body corporate has the following legal obligations: Maintenance Insurance Taxation Financial accounting Governance and management Compliance and reporting Record keeping All owners are automatically members of the body corporate. Membership is not optional and comes with obligations like paying levies, however, participation in the running of the body corporate or its decision-making process is optional.