Managers of Owners Corporations in Victoria often deal with the dilemma of whether or not to issue a breach notice to persons who are alleged to have committed a breach of the Owners Corporations Act and Rules.

When a Manager is appointed by the Owners Corporation, there is express authority given to Managers to execute any document or do anything necessary or convenient to enable the Owners Corporation to carry out the functions of an Owners Corporation under ss 10 and 11 of the Owners Corporations Act. This indicates Managers are permitted to issue breach notices to persons committing breaches of the Owners Corporations Rules and Act. The basis of which many Managers face with deciding on issuing breach notices is not so much where the breach arises from but the scope of breach in which a Manager can issue a breach of notice. Often managers will contemplate whether a minor breach by a lot owner is sufficient for them to issue a breach notice. For example, if a person is constantly parking commercial vehicles such as trucks on common property without permission from the Owners Corporation, then they are blatantly breaching the Owners Corporations Rules. This is therefore, an example of a small breach of the Owners Corporation Rules, but can still be regarded as justifying a Manager to issue the person with a Breach Notice.

In the above instance there is explicit authority under s 155 of the Owners Corporation Act, allowing an Owners Corporation Manager to give notice of the allegation to the lot owner alleged to have committed the breach. In order to successfully issue a breach notice the Manager must give notice to the person specifying the alleged breach and allow the person 28 days to rectify the breach, such as the person must no longer park their vehicle on the common property. Furthermore, the notice must be in the approved form.

Managers of Owners Corporations, therefore must not fret about whether or not to issue a breach notice to a person in respect of an alleged breach because as long as there is an alleged breach by a person, the Manager can issue them with a breach notice.

 

Any further questions, please contact a member of our Owners Corporation team.

Related Articles

View All
Construction / Owners Corporations / Planning

Occupancy permits – the ticking clock in defective building work

Where multiple occupancy permits are issued in relation to a building permit, which permit is the operative permit for...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Telecommunication Leases and Owners Corporations

Owners Corporations may lease or licence common property to lot owners (or other third parties) in accordance with...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Courtyards and car spaces – Do you have the legal right to use them?

Owners Corporations may lease or licence common property to lot owners (or other third parties) in accordance with...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Owners Corporations- Do you have adequate rules?

Section 138 of the Owners Corporations Act gives the power to the Owners Corporation to make rules by special...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Know your plan of subdivision- Owners corporations who owns what?

Boundaries can be median where half the structure is owned by the Owners Corporation or a private lot owner and the...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Brief summary of the new Owners Corporations ACT

Expert Owners Corporations lawyers, Tisher Liner FC Law, explained the changes to the Owners Corporations Act 2006 in a...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Defective domestic building works but no written major domestic building contract – Do you still have an obligation to pay the builder?

To always ensure you have an enforceable major domestic building contract for domestic building works over the value of...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Easements and Owners Corporations

Easements can be tricky for landowners let alone for Owners Corporations There are a number of easements that can...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Adverse possession and Owners Corporations

Whilst lot owners are unable to make a claim for adverse possession in respect to common property claims can still be...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Common Property and repairs by lot owners

Our earlier blog gave a summary of the changes to the Owners Corporations Act 2006 which commence on 1 December 2021 as...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Insurance

Our earlier blog gave a summary of the changes to the Owners Corporations Act 2006 which commence on 1 December 2021 as...
Read More
Owners Corporations / Owners Corporations & Strata

Voting and Quorums

Our earlier blog gave a summary of the changes to the Owners Corporations Act 2006 which commence on 1 December 2021 as...
Read More