RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES ACT 1995 - SECT 3
RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES ACT 1995 - SECT 3
(1) In this Act,
unless the contrary intention appears—
"abuse" and "act of abuse" have the same meaning as in the
Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 ;
"ancillary property" means property (not forming part of premises subject to a
residential tenancy agreement) that is provided by the landlord, either under
the residential tenancy agreement or independently of the agreement, for use
by the tenant;
"bailiff" means a bailiff appointed under the South Australian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ;
"bond" means an amount a tenant is required to pay under a
residential tenancy agreement, or an agreement collateral to a residential
tenancy agreement, as security for the performance of obligations under a
residential tenancy agreement;
"collateral agreement", in relation to a residential tenancy agreement for
residential premises in a prescribed retirement village, includes a
domestic services agreement that a tenant of the premises is required to enter
into as a condition of the residential tenancy agreement or otherwise as a
condition of admission as a resident of the village;
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs;
"co-tenant" means a tenant who is 1 of 2 or more tenants under a
residential tenancy agreement;
"decision", of the Tribunal, has the same meaning as in the
South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ;
"Deputy President" means a Deputy President of the Tribunal appointed under
the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ;
"Deputy Registrar" means a Deputy Registrar of the Tribunal appointed under
the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ;
"domestic abuse" means an act of abuse committed by a person against a
domestic associate or a former domestic associate of the person;
"domestic associate"—2 persons are domestic associates, 1 of
the other, if—
(a) they
are married to each other; or
(b) they
are domestic partners; or
(c) they
are in some other form of intimate personal relationship in which their lives
are interrelated and the actions of 1 affect the other; or
(d)
1 is the child, stepchild or grandchild, or is under the guardianship, of
the other (regardless of age); or
(e)
1 is a child, stepchild or grandchild, or is under the guardianship, of a
person who is or was formerly in a relationship with the other under
paragraph (a), (b) or (c) (regardless of age); or
(f) 1 is
a child and the other is a person who acts in loco parentis in relation to the
child; or
(g) 1 is
a child who normally or regularly resides or stays with the other; or
(h) they
are brothers or sisters or brother and sister; or
(i)
they are otherwise related to each other by or through
blood, marriage, a domestic partnership or adoption; or
(j) they
are related according to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander kinship rules or
are both members of some other culturally recognised family group; or
(k)
1 is the carer (within the meaning of the Carers Recognition
Act 2005 ) of the other;
"domestic facility requiring instructions" means an appliance or device
provided by a landlord for the use of a tenant for which it would be
reasonable to expect the tenant to require instructions;
"domestic partner" means a person who is a domestic partner within the meaning
of the Family Relationships Act 1975 , whether declared as such under
that Act or not;
"domestic services agreement" means an agreement with a tenant of
residential premises in a prescribed retirement village for the provision of
domestic services (such as meals, cleaning, gardening and laundry of linen);
"Fund" means the Residential Tenancies Fund;
"housing assessment order" has the same meaning as in the
Housing Improvement Act 2016 ;
"housing demolition order" has the same meaning as in the
Housing Improvement Act 2016 ;
"housing improvement order" has the same meaning as in the
Housing Improvement Act 2016 ;
"intervention order" means an intervention order issued by a court under the
Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 ;
"landlord" means—
(a) the
person who grants the right of occupancy under a residential
tenancy agreement; or
(b) a
successor in title to the tenanted premises whose title is subject to the
tenant's interest,
and includes a prospective landlord and a former landlord;
"lawyer" means a person entitled to practise the profession of the law under
the Legal Practitioners Act 1981 ;
"notice to vacate" has the same meaning as in the Housing Improvement
Act 2016 ;
"personal documents" means official documents, photographs, correspondence or
other documents that it would be reasonable to expect a person might wish to
keep;
"preliminary rent control notice" has the same meaning as in the
Housing Improvement Act 2016 ;
"premises" includes a part of premises;
"prescribed retirement village" means a complex of residential premises or a
number of separate complexes of residential premises that would be a
retirement village within the meaning of the Retirement Villages
Act 2016 except that no resident or prospective resident of the village
pays an ingoing contribution (within the meaning of that Act) in consideration
for, or in contemplation of, admission as a resident of the village;
"President" means the President of the Tribunal appointed under the
South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ;
"registered community housing provider" means a community housing provider
registered under the Community Housing Providers National Law ;
"Registrar" means the Registrar of the Tribunal appointed under the
South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ;
"rent" consists of—
(a) the
amount payable under a residential tenancy agreement for the right to occupy
premises for a period of the tenancy; and
(b) if
the residential tenancy agreement is for residential premises in a
prescribed retirement village and there is a domestic services agreement
collateral to the residential tenancy agreement—the amount payable under
the domestic services agreement for the period of the tenancy referred to in
paragraph (a);
"rent control notice" means a notice under Part 3 Division 3 of the
Housing Improvement Act 2016 fixing the maximum rent payable for
premises;
"residential premises" means premises for occupation as a place of residence;
"residential tenancy agreement" means an agreement (other than a
rooming house agreement) under which a person grants another person, for
valuable consideration, a right (which may, but need not, be an exclusive
right 1 ) to occupy premises for the purpose of residence;
"rooming house" means residential premises in which—
(a)
rooms are available, on a commercial basis, for residential occupation; and
(b)
accommodation is available for at least three persons on a commercial basis;
"rooming house agreement" means an agreement under which accommodation is
provided (with or without meals, or other facilities or services) in a
rooming house;
"rooming house proprietor" means a person who carries on a business involving
the provision of accommodation under rooming house agreements;
"rooming house resident" means a person who boards or lodges in a
rooming house;
"statutory charges" means—
(a)
rates or charges imposed under the Local Government Act 1999 ; and
(b)
rates or charges imposed under the Water Industry Act 2012 ; and
(c) land
tax under the Land Tax Act 1936 ; and
(d)
levies under the Emergency Services Funding Act 1998 ; and
(e)
levies under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019 ; and
(f) any
charges of a kind imposed under an Act and declared by regulation to be
statutory charges;
"tenancy dispute" means—
(a) a
claim under a residential tenancy agreement, a rooming house agreement, or an
agreement collateral to a residential tenancy agreement or a
rooming house agreement; or
(b) a
dispute between parties or former parties to a residential tenancy agreement,
a rooming house agreement, or an agreement collateral to a
residential tenancy agreement or a rooming house agreement, about matters
arising under the agreement or this Act; or
(c) any
matter that may be the subject of an application under this Act to the
Tribunal;
"tenant" means the person who is granted a right of occupancy under a
residential tenancy agreement or a person to whom the right passes by
assignment or operation of law and includes a prospective tenant or a former
tenant;
"Tribunal" means the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
established under the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Act 2013 .
(2) If this Act
provides for something to be done within a specified period from a particular
day, the period will be taken not to include the particular day.
(3) If this Act
provides that action may be taken after the expiration of a specified period
of days, the period will be taken to be a period of clear days.
(4) For the purposes
of this Act, a residential tenancy agreement includes an agreement granting a
corporation the right to occupy premises that are occupied, or that are
intended to be occupied, as a place of residence by a natural person.
Note—
1 However, it should be noted that the Act confers
certain protections against intrusion on the premises by the landlord. Hence,
even if the agreement does not, in its terms, confer an exclusive right to
occupation, the Act will (at least in some respects) assimilate the right of
occupation to the exclusive right conferred by a lease.