Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Residential Tenancies Act 1997 - SECT 70A

Locks for rented premises the subject of a family violence intervention order

70A. Locks for rented premises the subject of a family violence intervention
order



(1) This section applies if-

   (a)  a tenant is excluded from rented premises because of an exclusion
        condition included in a family violence intervention order or family
        violence safety notice; and

   (b)  a protected person under the family violence intervention order or
        family violence safety notice-

   (i)  is also a party to the tenancy agreement for the rented premises; or

   (ii) has been residing in the rented premises as the protected person's
        principal place of residence but is not a party to the tenancy
        agreement.

(2) The protected person may change any external door or window lock,
including a lock in a master key system, of the rented premises, whether or
not the protected person is a party to the tenancy agreement.

(3) As soon as practicable after the protected person changes any external
door or window lock, the protected person must-

   (a)  give the landlord or landlord's agent-

   (i)  a key to the lock; and

   (ii) either a certified extract of the family violence intervention order
        or family violence safety notice or a copy of the order or notice; and

   (b)  give a key to the lock to the parties to the tenancy agreement, other
        than the excluded tenant.

(4) The protected person is not required to give the excluded tenant a key to
the lock-

   (a)  in the case of a family violence intervention order, unless the
        exclusion condition in the family violence intervention order ends; or

   (b)  in the case of a family violence safety notice, until the family
        violence safety notice ends.

(5) A landlord or landlord's agent must not give the excluded tenant any key
provided under subsection (3)(a) if he or she knows that the tenant has been
excluded from the rented premises under a family violence intervention order
or family violence safety notice.

(6) If a certified extract or a copy of a notice or order has been given to a
landlord or landlord's agent under subsection (3)(a)(ii), the landlord and
landlord's agent are taken to know that the tenant has been excluded from the
rented premises.

(7) A landlord or landlord's agent may only disclose, or give a copy of, a
certified extract or a copy of a notice or order received under subsection
(3)(a)(ii) to-

   (a)  if given to the landlord, the landlord's agent;

   (b)  if given to the landlord's agent, the landlord;

   (c)  in either case, the legal representative of the landlord or landlord's
        agent;

   (d)  any other person as prescribed.

(8) This section applies despite anything in section 70.