When can Managers of Owners Corporations issue a breach notice?
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.
