Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Landlord and Tenant Act 1958 - SECT 43

Definitions

43. Definitions



(1) In this Part unless inconsistent with the context or subject-matter-

Acts previously in force means the Landlord and Tenant Act 1948, the
Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1948, the Landlord and Tenant (Servicemen)
Act 1950, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1953, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954,
and the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1955 as in force before the
commencement of the Landlord and Tenant (Control) Act 1957 and that Act as in
force before the commencement of this Act;

application means an application to a Board under this Part;

authorized officer means-

   (a)  any person appointed by the Minister in writing to be an authorized
        officer for the purpose of this Part or the Acts previously in force;

   (b)  the Director within the meaning of the Fair Trading Act 1999; or

   (c)  an employee in the Department of Justice;

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base value of any prescribed premises means the capital value of the premises-

   (a)  at the thirty-first day of December One thousand nine hundred and
        forty; or

   (b)  (if the premises were not in existence on that date) on the date on
        which the erection of the premises was completed;

Board means Fair Rents Board under this Part;







business premises means prescribed premises, not being a dwelling-house;

child of a person includes a child of the person's partner;



determination means determination of the fair rent of any premises, or of any
premises together with goods leased therewith, made by a Board under this Part
or the Acts previously in force or continued in force under those Acts;

Division means Division of this Part; domestic partner of a person means-

   (a)  a person who is in a registered relationship with the person; or

   (b)  a person to whom the person is not married but with whom the person is
        living as a couple on a genuine domestic basis (irrespective of
        gender);

dwelling-house means any prescribed premises (including shared accommodation)
leased for the purposes of residence, and includes-

   (a)  the premises of any lodging-house or boarding-house;

   (b)  any part of premises which is leased separately for the purposes of
        residence- but does not include premises licensed for the sale of
        spirituous or fermented liquors or premises which though leased for
        the purposes of residence have ceased to be used for those purposes to
        any substantial extent;

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lease includes every contract for letting of any prescribed premises, whether
the contract is express or implied, or is made orally, in writing or by deed,
and includes a contract for the letting of prescribed premises together with
goods, but does not include any tenancy at will implied at law in any mortgage
or agreement for the sale and purchase of land or any lease arising under an
attornment clause in a mortgage or in an agreement for the sale and purchase
of land or any lease arising under a clause in a mortgage or in an agreement
for the sale and purchase of land (however expressed and whenever executed)
whereby in case of default the mortgagee or the vendor (as the case may be) is
given the powers of a lessor with respect to recovery of possession or
ejectment;

lessor and lessee mean the parties to a lease, or their respective successors
in title, and include-

   (a)  a mesne lessor and a mesne lessee;

   (b)  a sub-lessor and a sub-lessee; and

   (c)  in respect of premises which are subject to a mortgage, a mortgagee
        who enters or has entered into possession of the premises under the
        mortgage and a person who was the lessee of the premises under the
        mortgagor immediately prior to the mortgagee entering into possession-
        respectively;

ordinary dwelling means prescribed premises, being a dwelling-house (not being
premises in respect of which a declaration order or direction has been made
under Part VII of the Housing Act 1983 or any corresponding previous enactment
and is in force declaring those premises to be unfit for human habitation or
directing that they be repaired or demolished);

partner of a person means the person's spouse or domestic partner;

prescribed means prescribed by this Part or the Acts previously in force or by
regulations;

prescribed premises means any premises, other than-

   (a)  premises which immediately before the commencement of the Landlord and
        Tenant (Control) Act 1957-

   (i)  were excepted from the interpretation of Prescribed premises under the
        Landlord and Tenant Act 1948 by reason of their being holiday premises
        as therein defined or by reason of their being used for the time being
        or ordinarily used as a grazing area, farm, orchard, market garden,
        dairy farm, poultry farm, pig farm or bee farm; or

   (ii) were excluded from the operation of that Act or of any specified
        provision of that Act by virtue of a certificate under section four of
        that Act;

   (b)  premises which immediately before the commencement of the Landlord and
        Tenant (Control) Act 1957 were excluded from the operation of Part III
        of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1948 by virtue of a certificate under
        section fifty-nine or section sixty of the Act;

   (c)  premises which were or are erected, or the erection of which was or is
        completed, after the first day of February One thousand nine hundred
        and fifty-four;

   (d)  premises which were not let to a lessee at any time between the
        thirty-first day of December One thousand nine hundred and forty and
        the first day of February One thousand nine hundred and fifty-four;

   (e)  premises in respect of which a lease in writing for a term of not less
        than three years was entered into before the commencement of this Act
        in accordance with section three of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1953
        (as modified or affected by any Act) or with section four of the
        Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1955 or with section eight of the
        Landlord and Tenant (Control) Act 1957 and which by the operation of
        any of those sections ceased to be prescribed premises under the Acts
        previously in force;

   (f)  premises in respect of which a lease was entered into before the
        commencement of this Act in accordance with section three of the
        Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1955 or section seven of the
        Landlord and Tenant (Control) Act 1957 and which by the operation of
        either of those sections ceased to be prescribed premises under the
        Acts previously in force;

   (g)  premises which are the property of any municipal council or of any
        Authority under the Water Act 1989 that has a water district under
        that Act;

   (h)  premises, or the premises included in any class of premises, which are
        or were declared by the Governor in Council by Order published in the
        Government Gazette, to be excluded from the operation of this Part or
        the Acts previously in force; and

   (i)  premises which cease to be prescribed premises by the operation of any
        of the subsequent provisions of this Division- and includes any part
        of any premises and any land or appurtenances leased with any
        premises:
Provided that where pursuant to this Part or the Acts previously in force any
premises are or were by Order of the Governor in Council declared to be
premises to which this Part or the said Acts apply or applied or to be
"special premises" and that Order is for the time being in force the premises
to which the Order relates shall be prescribed premises notwithstanding that
those premises were previously excepted from the interpretation of Prescribed
premises;

rates includes any rates or charges made or levied by any local authority or
other local governing body, including any municipal or city council and water
or sewerage authority;

regulations means regulations made under this Part or the Acts previously in
force;

rent means the actual rent payable under a lease, and includes-

   (a)  the value to the lessor of any covenants, conditions or other
        provisions of, or relating to, the lease to be performed by the
        lessee, other than covenants, conditions and provisions usually
        entered into by a lessee; and

   (b)  any rates or taxes payable by a lessee in respect of any premises,
        other than excess water rates- and where, in any lease- it is provided
        that a reduced amount, as rent, shall be accepted by the lessor upon
        any condition to be performed by the lessee, that reduced amount shall
        be deemed to be the rent payable under the lease; any rebate,
        discount, allowance or other reduction is provided for, the amount
        payable after each such reduction is made shall be deemed to be the
        rent payable under the lease;

shared accommodation means any prescribed premises leased for the purpose of
residence and forming part of other prescribed premises, but does not include
any prescribed premises forming a complete residence in themselves or any
premises which form such a complete residence except that the laundry
facilities available to the tenant are shared by him with other persons;

spouse of a person means a person to whom the person is married;



tax includes any tax, whether on land or on income derived from land, imposed
by any law of the Commonwealth or of the State;

Tribunal means Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established by the
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998.

(2) For the purposes of this Part lessee includes a person who remains in
possession of premises after the termination of his lease of the premises, and
lessor has a corresponding meaning.

(2A) Where a person continues in possession of any premises pursuant to
section one hundred and six of this Act that person shall for the purposes of
Division two of this Part be deemed to be the lessee of the premises.

(3) Where the lessor of prescribed premises supplies or provides any service
in connexion with the premises and a separate charge is made for those
services, the amount charged shall for the purposes of this Part be deemed to
form part of the rent payable under the lease.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (d) of the interpretation of Prescribed
premises any premises, being a dwelling-house, which were at any time during
the period referred to in the said paragraph-

   (a)  let to a lessee by reason only that the lessor or, where there was
        more than one lessor, one of the lessors was on or about to go on war
        service; or

   (b)  let to a lessee pursuant to a certificate issued under section
        fifty-nine of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1948-

shall be deemed not to have been let to a lessee. In this subsection war
service means service as a member of the Naval Military or Air Forces of the
Commonwealth of Australia during any war, hostilities or assignment in which
the Commonwealth or any unit or detachment or member of the said Forces with
the sanction of the Commonwealth was engaged at any time during the relevant
period.

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(6) Any premises which are excluded from the interpretation of Prescribed
premises by virtue of any of the paragraphs of that interpretation shall not
again become or be prescribed premises except by Order of the Governor in
Council made under section forty-four or section forty-five of this Act.

(7) For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (1)-

   (a)  registered relationship has the same meaning as in the
        Relationships Act 2008; and

   (b)  in determining whether persons who are not in a registered
        relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the
        circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account,
        including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2)
        of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case.

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Application of Act