Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Landlord and Tenant Act 1958 - SECT 67

Power to lessor to require money for repairs

67. Power to lessor to require money for repairs



(1) Where pursuant to any Act or to any regulation or by-law under any Act the
lessor of any prescribed premises is required by any statutory authority to
carry out any repairs improvements or additions to those premises and the
required repairs improvements or additions are completed to the satisfaction
of the said authority, then, if the existing fair rent of the premises was
fixed prior to carrying them out, the lessor may, subject to the express
provisions of any written lease of the premises for a fixed term which has not
expired, by notice in writing served on the lessee require that after the
expiration of one month from the service of the notice the rent payable in
respect of the premises shall be increased to such an amount as is specified
in the notice, not exceeding the sum of-

   (a)  the fair rent lawfully payable at the date of service of the notice;
        and

   (b)  an addition calculated at the rate of Eight per centum per annum upon
        the amount expended by the lessor in carrying out the said repairs
        improvements or additions (including the value of any work done for
        that purpose by the lessor himself or by any person on his behalf
        without remuneration)-

and subject to the following provisions of this section the amount so
specified shall from the expiration of the said period of one month be the
fair rent of the premises for all the purposes of this Part.

(2) Every such notice shall be accompanied by a copy of the completion
certificate hereinafter referred to and copies of the receipts for the
relevant expenditure (including, where applicable, an account of the value of
any work done by the lessor or by any person on his behalf without
remuneration) and a statement of the place at which and the reasonable days
and hours during which the originals thereof will be open to inspection on
demand.

(3) If within the said period of one month a reasonable demand is made either
verbally or by writing to the lessor by or on behalf of the lessee for
production of the said certificate and receipts for inspection at the place
and within the times stated in the notice and the said certificate and
receipts are not duly produced for inspection, the provisions of subsection
(1) of this section shall not apply in respect of the notice given as
aforesaid.

(4) For the purposes of this section-

   (a)  statutory authority includes-

   (i)  any Minister or other officer of the Crown;

   (ii) any municipal council; and

   (iii) any body corporate established by or under any Act for any public
        purpose;

   (b)  completion certificate means a certificate purporting to be signed by-

   (i)  the Minister or officer in question;

   (ii) a person on behalf of the municipal council in question; or



   (iii) a member or officer of the body corporate in question- certifying
        that the required repairs improvements or additions have been
        completed to the satisfaction of the statutory authority; and

   (c)  such a completion certificate shall be prima facie evidence of the
        matters contained therein.



(5) Any lessee who is aggrieved by any notice served pursuant to this section
may within fourteen days after service of the notice appeal therefrom to the
appropriate Board by writing in the prescribed form served on the lessor and
the Board.

(6) Such an appeal shall not stay the operation of the notice.

(7) On the hearing of the appeal the Board may-

   (a)  determine the appeal and confirm or quash the notice or fix the amount
        of the rent which may be required to be paid pursuant to this section
        and for that purpose may disallow any amount of expenditure which it
        deems excessive and may determine the value of any work done by the
        lessor or by any other person on his behalf without remuneration; or

   (b)  if it considers it more equitable or convenient to do so, treat the
        appeal as an application for the determination of the fair rent of the
        premises and proceed to determine the fair rent accordingly without
        regard to the provisions of this section.

(8) Where the Board quashes the notice or fixes the amount of the rent which
may be required to be paid pursuant to this section at an amount lower than
that stated in the notice, any amount which has been paid in the meantime in
excess of the rent so fixed shall be regarded as rent paid in excess of the
fair rent and may be recovered pursuant to section seventy-two of this Act.

(9) Any person who knowingly serves with any notice given pursuant to this
section any copy of any certificate or receipt which is false or misleading in
any material particular or who forges any certificate or receipt or utters any
forged certificate or receipt shall, without prejudice to proceedings for any
other offence for which he may be liable, be guilty of an offence against this
Part and liable to punishment accordingly.



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Fixing Fair Rents by Agreement