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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
New South Wales
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud)
Bill 2008
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Amendment of Housing Act 2001 No 52 2
4 Repeal of Act 2
Schedule 1 Amendments 3
b2007-014-31.d14
New South Wales
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud)
Bill 2008
No , 2008
A Bill for
An Act to amend the Housing Act 2001 with respect to tenant fraud; and for other
purposes.
Clause 1 Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
1 Name of Act 2
This Act is the Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Act 2008. 3
2 Commencement 4
This Act commences on the date of assent to this Act. 5
3 Amendment of Housing Act 2001 No 52 6
The Housing Act 2001 is amended as set out in Schedule 1. 7
4 Repeal of Act 8
(1) This Act is repealed on the day following the day on which this Act 9
commences. 10
(2) The repeal of this Act does not, because of the operation of section 30 11
of the Interpretation Act 1987, affect any amendment made by this Act. 12
Page 2
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Amendments 1
(Section 3) 2
[1] Section 69 False statements and representations 3
Omit "20 penalty units" wherever occurring in section 69 (1) and (2). 4
Insert instead "3 months imprisonment or 20 penalty units, or both". 5
[2] Sections 69A and 69B 6
Insert after section 69: 7
69A Failure to notify of change of circumstances 8
(1) A person must not, with the intention of retaining or continuing 9
to obtain a benefit to which the person knows that he or she is not 10
entitled, fail to notify the Corporation of any relevant change of 11
circumstances within the time specified in subsection (2). 12
Maximum penalty: 3 months imprisonment or 20 penalty units, 13
or both. 14
(2) The Corporation must be notified under subsection (1) within 15
28 days after the person first becomes aware of the relevant 16
change of circumstances. 17
(3) In this section: 18
benefit means any accommodation, rental rebate or any other 19
advantage or concession from the Corporation. 20
relevant change of circumstances means a change in the 21
person's circumstances that will remove or reduce the person's 22
entitlement to a benefit. 23
69B Access to information for preventing, investigating or prosecuting 24
fraud 25
(1) For the purposes of preventing or investigating fraud against the 26
Corporation, or prosecuting a person for any such fraud, the 27
Corporation may request, collect, use and disclose information 28
from any one or more of the following registers: 29
(a) a driver licence register within the meaning of the Road 30
Transport (Driver Licensing) Act 1998, 31
(b) the Register within the meaning of the Road Transport 32
(Vehicle Registration) Act 1997, 33
(c) the Register within the meaning of the Business Names Act 34
2002, 35
Page 3
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
(d) the Register maintained under section 31B of the Real 1
Property Act 1900, 2
(e) the Register of Interests in Goods maintained under 3
section 4 of the Registration of Interests in Goods Act 4
1986, 5
(f) any register maintained under the Maritime Services Act 6
1935 or the Marine Safety Act 1998 with respect to 7
registrable vessels. 8
(2) A person or body who maintains a register referred to in 9
subsection (1) is, on receipt of a written request from the 10
Corporation, to disclose to the Corporation any information held 11
on the register that relates to the person or property in respect of 12
which the request is made. 13
(3) The Corporation may, in relation to a request under this section 14
for information about a person or property, disclose information 15
about that person or property to the person or body to whom the 16
request is being made. 17
(4) In this section, information includes personal information within 18
the meaning of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection 19
Act 1998. 20
[3] Sections 72A and 72B 21
Insert after section 72: 22
72A Persons living with tenants liable to repay certain amounts 23
A person is jointly and severally liable with another person (the 24
tenant) to pay to the Corporation any amount that the tenant is 25
liable to pay to the Corporation if: 26
(a) the person lives or has lived with the tenant, and 27
(b) the tenant is liable to pay the amount to the Corporation 28
because the tenant improperly obtained a rental rebate or 29
any other advantage or concession to which the tenant was 30
not entitled because of the person living with the tenant, 31
and 32
(c) the person was over 18 years of age at the time the tenant 33
became liable to pay the amount and knew, or should 34
reasonably have suspected, that the tenant was improperly 35
obtaining the rental rebate or the other advantage or 36
concession. 37
Page 4
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
72B Registration of debt as charge on land 1
(1) The Corporation may, after obtaining an order of a court in 2
proceedings against a person for the recovery of money, apply to 3
the Registrar-General for registration of the order in relation to 4
any land owned by the person (including any land owned jointly 5
with another person). 6
(2) An application may not be made under this section unless: 7
(a) the amount payable to the Corporation under the order (or 8
the total amount payable under the orders) to which the 9
application relates exceeds $1,000 or such other amount as 10
is prescribed by the regulations, and 11
(b) the amount, or part of the amount, is payable because the 12
person improperly obtained a rental rebate or any other 13
advantage or concession from the Corporation. 14
(3) An application under this section must define the land to which it 15
relates. 16
(4) The Registrar-General must, on application under this section 17
and lodgment of the court order, register the order in relation to 18
the land in such manner as the Registrar-General thinks fit. 19
(5) There is created by force of this section, on the registration of the 20
order, a charge on the land in relation to which the order is 21
registered to secure the payment to the Corporation of the amount 22
payable under the order. 23
(6) Such a charge ceases to have effect in relation to the land: 24
(a) if the Corporation certifies in writing that the amount 25
payable under the order has been paid to the Corporation 26
or that the Corporation has otherwise agreed to the 27
cancellation of the charge--on registration of the 28
cancellation of the charge by the Registrar-General, or 29
(b) on the sale or other disposition of the property with the 30
consent of the Corporation, or 31
(c) on the sale of the land to a purchaser in good faith for value 32
who, at the time of the sale, has no notice of the charge, 33
whichever first occurs. 34
(7) Such a charge is subject to every charge or encumbrance to which 35
the land was subject immediately before the order was registered 36
and, in the case of land under the provisions of the Real Property 37
Act 1900, is subject to every prior mortgage, lease or other 38
interest recorded in the Register kept under that Act. 39
Page 5
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
(8) Such a charge is not affected by any change of ownership of the 1
land, except as provided by subsection (6). 2
(9) If: 3
(a) such a charge is created on land of a particular kind and the 4
provisions of any law of the State provide for the 5
registration of title to, or charges over, land of that kind, 6
and 7
(b) the charge is so registered, 8
a person who purchases or otherwise acquires the land after the 9
registration of the charge is, for the purposes of subsection (6), 10
taken to have notice of the charge. 11
(10) If such a charge relates to land under the provisions of the Real 12
Property Act 1900, the charge has no effect until it is registered 13
under that Act. 14
(11) In this section, a reference to an order of a court includes a 15
reference to a judgment of a court. 16
[4] Section 73 Recovery of amounts due to Corporation 17
Insert at the end of the section: 18
(2) The Corporation may recover an amount awarded to it by a court 19
in proceedings against a person for the recovery of money by 20
reducing or cancelling, in accordance with Part 7, any rental 21
rebate to which the person may otherwise be entitled. 22
[5] Section 74 Proceedings for offences 23
Insert at the end of the section: 24
(2) A prosecution or proceeding in respect of an offence under this 25
Act may only be instituted by or on behalf of the Corporation. 26
[6] Schedule 3 Savings, transitional and other provisions 27
Insert at the end of clause 1 (1): 28
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Act 2008 29
Page 6
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
[7] Schedule 3 1
Insert at the end of the Schedule with appropriate Part and clause numbering: 2
Part Provisions consequent on enactment of 3
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Act 4
2008 5
Failure to notify of change of circumstances 6
(1) Section 69A extends to a change in a person's circumstances that 7
occurred before the commencement of that section but only if the 8
change continues to affect the person's entitlement to 9
accommodation or a rental rebate or any other advantage or 10
concession from the Corporation after the commencement of that 11
section. 12
(2) A change of circumstances referred to in subclause (1) must be 13
notified to the Corporation within 28 days after the 14
commencement of section 69A. 15
Persons living with tenants liable to repay certain amounts 16
Section 72A extends to an amount that a tenant (within the 17
meaning of that section) was required to pay to the Corporation 18
before the commencement of that section. 19
Registration of debt as charge on land 20
Section 72B extends to an order that was obtained by the 21
Corporation before the commencement of that section. 22
Part Tenant fraud amnesty 23
Temporary amnesty 24
(1) The objective of this clause is to provide an amnesty: 25
(a) to encourage a person to notify the Corporation if the 26
person is incorrectly or improperly obtaining a benefit 27
from the Corporation, and 28
(b) to encourage a person to notify the Corporation of any 29
change in the person's circumstances that removes or 30
reduces the person's entitlement to a benefit from the 31
Corporation, and 32
(c) to protect any such person from prosecution or civil 33
proceedings in respect of the matters notified before the 34
end of the amnesty period. 35
Page 7
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
(2) In this clause: 1
benefit includes an entitlement to accommodation or a rental 2
rebate or any other advantage or concession. 3
end of the amnesty period means 1 October 2008 or such other 4
day as may be prescribed by the regulations. 5
fraud offence means an offence relating to improperly obtaining 6
a benefit from the Corporation, other than an offence that 7
involves violence or a threat against a person. 8
Note. Examples of fraud offences include an offence under section 69 9
or 69A of this Act, or an offence under section 178BA or 178BB of the 10
Crimes Act 1900. 11
(3) A person cannot be prosecuted for a fraud offence in respect of 12
any conduct that would constitute such an offence if the person 13
notifies the Corporation of the person's conduct: 14
(a) before the end of the amnesty period, and 15
(b) before the Corporation has commenced an investigation 16
into the conduct. 17
(4) If a person notifies the Corporation in accordance with subclause 18
(3), no action or proceeding may be brought by the Corporation 19
to recover any penalty, damages or other monies from the person 20
in respect of: 21
(a) the conduct constituting the fraud offence that occurred 22
before the notification, or 23
(b) the benefit that the person incorrectly or improperly 24
obtained, as a result of that conduct, from the Corporation 25
before the notification. 26
(5) The onus of proving that a notification took place for the 27
purposes of this clause is on the person who made the 28
notification. 29
(6) This clause does not apply to any prosecution or to any action or 30
proceeding commenced before the commencement of this clause. 31
Page 8
Housing Amendment (Tenant Fraud) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
(7) Nothing in this clause prevents the Corporation from varying, 1
cancelling or refusing to grant any benefit under this Act as a 2
result of any notification given under this clause. 3
Page 9
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