It’s important that you read the Constitution for any Society that you may be looking to buy into or have bought into, to see the reason for the Society and the potential ongoing costs to you.
For example, an Incorporated society may own a Lot, and as a member, you own a share/s in that Lot, be it a roadway, park or bush area, and you are therefore required to contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of that particular Lot. However, the other members have no requirement to contribute to your own private Lot and vice versa.
The Society needs to file certain documents with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies annually. However, unlike a company, the Society is not required to keep the list of members updated on this particular register. Larger Societies will often engage a professional management company such as Crockers to work with an elected committee to help administer the members’ register, file annual returns, hold Annual General Meetings and complete other tasks as are required under their Constitution.