A BIM-based framework for property dispute minimization – A case study for Victoria, Australia

Property disputes in multi-owned buildings (MOB) should be effectively managed to ensure harmonious land use in urban areas. Many studies indicate that a well-planned governance structure of MOBs relying on ownership systems could mitigate property disputes by eliminating their causes contrary to owner needs. However, issues in MOB use and management, stemming from the ownership systems and its relevant architectural systems, are hardly addressed in 2D-based building subdivision practices and frequently result in property disputes. To proactively address these issues, this paper proposes an approach based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) to minimize disputes in MOBs at planning stages in the context of Victoria, Australia. The paper argues that BIM is a suitable data environment to represent and detect dispute triggers interpreted in the spatial context. We first modeled a MOB governance structure as a sociotechnical system (STS) to provide a consistent view for characterizing dispute triggers. We then developed a BIM-based framework for identifying dispute triggers in the MOB governance STS. We implemented the framework and tested its feasibility using a real-world complex building. The results confirmed that the proposedframework would help developers, surveyors, and architects recognize dispute triggers and make better decisions to minimize disputes in planning MOBs.