Part 14 Miscellaneous

(1) Nothing in this Act derogates from rights or remedies that a strata company, an owner or mortgagee of a lot, an administrator, a person having an estate or interest in a lot or, an owner of a leasehold scheme or an occupier may have in relation to a lot or the common property apart from this Act.

(2) If a court in which proceedings to enforce rights or remedies referred to in subsection (1) are instituted is of the opinion that, having regard to the subject-matter of the proceedings, the taking of the proceedings was not, in the circumstances of the case, warranted by reason that proceedings under this Act make adequate provision for the enforcement of those rights or remedies, the court must order the plaintiff to pay the defendant’s costs in such amount as may be determined by the court.

(1) Land in respect of which —

(a) a licence is held under the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act 1995; or

(b) it is proposed to establish a caravan park or a camping ground,

is not to be subdivided by a strata titles scheme if that subdivision would result in there being a caravan park on more than 1 lot, a camping ground on more than 1 lot or a caravan park and camping ground on more than 1 lot.

(2) Despite subsection (1), land referred to in subsection (1)(a) may be subdivided by registration of a strata titles scheme if that subdivision would not result in the land being subdivided into more lots used or proposed to be used as, or as part of, a caravan park or camping ground.

(3) In this section caravan park and camping ground have the same meanings as they have in the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act 1995 section 5.

(1) The ownership of land in a strata titles scheme is to be determined in accordance with this section for the purposes of the Dividing Fences Act 1961.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), the strata company for a strata titles scheme is taken to be the owner of the parcel that is the subject of that scheme.

(3) In a survey-strata scheme, the owner of land in the scheme that adjoins land outside the scheme is taken to be —

(a) in the case of a lot, the owner of the lot; and

(b) in the case of common property, the strata company.

(4) However, if a notice given under repealed section 123A (as in force immediately before its repeal) is recorded on the scheme plan, subsection (2) continues to apply to the scheme and subsection (3) does not apply to the scheme.

(5) If scheme by-laws for a survey-strata scheme, determine who is to be regarded as the owner of land in the scheme for the purposes of the Dividing Fences Act 1961, those by-laws have effect despite that Act or this section.

(1) The Dividing Fences Act 1961 applies to fencing between lots in a survey-strata scheme as if —

(a) adjoining lots were adjoining lands to which that Act applies; and

(b) an owner of a lot held the lot for an estate of freehold in possession; and

(c) common property were held by the strata company for an estate of freehold in possession.

(2) However, if a notice given under repealed section 123C (as in force immediately before its repeal) is recorded on the scheme plan, liability for fencing between lots in the scheme is to be determined as if this section had not been enacted.

(3) This section has effect subject to the scheme by-laws.

(1) An address for service provided under this Act must be an address of a place within Australia.

(2) An electronic address may be provided as an additional address for service under this Act.

(1) A document required or authorised by this Act, another written law or scheme by-laws to be served on a strata company or on all owners of lots in a strata titles scheme may be served —

(a) by serving it on a member of the council of the strata company; or

(b) by sending it to the strata company’s address for service (by post if it is a postal address or by electronic transmission if it is an electronic address); or

(c) by leaving it in the letterbox provided by the strata company under section 104(3)(a).

(2) Subsection (1) applies even if the document is required to be served personally on a strata company.

(3) A document required or authorised by this Act or scheme by-laws to be served on the owner of a leasehold scheme may be served —

(a) by serving it on the owner personally; or

(b) by sending it to the owner’s address for service as appearing on the roll maintained under section 105 (by post if it is a postal address or by electronic transmission if it is an electronic address).

(4) A document required or authorised by this Act or scheme by-laws to be served on the owner of a lot in a strata titles scheme may be served —

(a) by serving it on the owner personally; or

(b) by sending it to the owner’s address for service as appearing on the roll maintained under section 105 or as last notified in writing under section 106 (by post if it is a postal address or by electronic transmission if it is an electronic address); or

(c) if there is no such address for service, by sending it by post to the owner to the address of the lot; or

(d) by serving it in a manner authorised for service on the owner of a lot by the scheme by-laws.

(5) If there are 2 or more persons who are co-owners of a lot, a document will be taken to be served on the owner of the lot when it has been served on each of those persons.

(6) A document required or authorised by this Act or scheme by-laws to be served on the occupier of a lot may be served —

(a) by serving it on the occupier personally; or

(b) by leaving it with some person apparently of or over the age of 16 years at the address of the lot; or

(c) by sending it by post to the occupier at the address of the lot; or

(d) by serving it in a manner authorised for service on an occupier of a lot by the by-laws of the strata company.

(7) A document required or authorised by this Act or scheme by-laws to be served on a person other than a person who may be served as set out under a preceding subsection may be served —

(a) by serving it on the person personally or by post; or

(b) by leaving it with a person apparently of or over the age of 16 years at the place of residence or place of business of the first-mentioned person; or

(c) if the person has an address for service on the roll maintained by the strata company under section 105, by sending it to that address (by post if it is a postal address or by electronic transmission if it is an electronic address); or

(d) if the person has an interest in the parcel that is registered or recorded in the Register, by sending it by post to the person’s address as it appears in the Register; or

(e) by sending it to an electronic address notified to the sender by the first-mentioned person as an address at which service of such notices will be accepted.

(8) For the purposes of this section, service by post must be by pre-paid post.

(9) This section is in addition to the Interpretation Act 1984 sections 75 and 76.

A person who is authorised under a written law to enter on part of a parcel for the purpose of exercising a power conferred on the person may enter on any other part of that parcel if it is necessary to do so in order to exercise that power.

(1) The Commissioner of Titles may direct the Registrar of Titles to correct errors in the Register.

(2) The Registrar of Titles may correct errors in a scheme document or other document lodged for registration or approval.

(3) A correction of an error under this section may require the deletion of material or the insertion of material.

(4) When correcting an error under this section, the Registrar of Titles must —

(a) for a paper medium, not erase or render illegible the original writing and include the date on which the correction was made together with the Registrar’s initials; and

(b) for a digital medium, keep a permanent record of any words or lines deleted and the date on which the correction was made.

(5) A scheme document or other document corrected under this section has the same validity and effect as if the error had not been made except as regards any entry made in the Register before the time of correcting the error.

(1) The Commissioner of Titles may delegate the Commissioner’s functions under section 218 to a member of the Authority’s staff who is a lawyer.

(2) The delegation must be in writing signed by the Commissioner of Titles.

(3) A person to whom a function is delegated under this section cannot delegate that function.

(4) A person performing a function that has been delegated to the person under this section is taken to do so in accordance with the terms of the delegation unless the contrary is shown.

(5) Nothing in this section limits the ability of the Commissioner of Titles to perform a function through an officer or agent.

(1) The Registrar of Titles may delegate a function of the Registrar under this Act to a member of the Authority’s staff.

(2) The delegation must be in writing signed by the Registrar of Titles.

(3) A person to whom a function is delegated under this section cannot delegate that function.

(4) A person performing a function that has been delegated to the person under this section is taken to do so in accordance with the terms of the delegation unless the contrary is shown.

(5) Nothing in this section limits the ability of the Registrar of Titles to perform a function through an officer or agent.

The Registrar of Titles is to pay to the Authority any money paid to the Registrar under this Act.

The regulations may provide for the registration of an instrument (a disposition statement) in conjunction with the registration of a strata titles scheme, an amendment of a strata titles scheme, or the cancellation of the registration of a strata titles scheme, by which —

(a) items registered or recorded for the scheme in the Register are discharged, withdrawn or otherwise removed, or brought forward, under the Transfer of Land Act 1893; or

(b) evidence required under this Act is provided.

Requirements determined under the Transfer of Land Act 1893 section 182A may relate to matters arising under this Act.

On and after the day on which the first Swan Valley Planning Scheme comes into operation under the Swan Valley Planning Act 2020, this Act applies in relation to land in the Swan Valley (as defined in section 3 of that Act) as if —

(a) a reference to a local planning scheme were a reference to the Swan Valley Planning Scheme; and

(b) a reference in sections 22 to 28 to a local government were a reference to the Planning Commission; and

(c) Schedule 2A clause 21W(3)(b) permitted a discharge of an easement referred to in that clause to be approved either by the Planning Commission or by the local government.

(1) The Governor may make regulations prescribing matters —

(a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or

(b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to this Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the regulations may provide for —

(a) the manner and form of registering plans and documents; and

(b) the fees to be paid for any procedure or function required or permitted to be done under this Act except fees for applications to the Tribunal; and

(c) circumstances in which forms or other documents required under this Act to be lodged with the Registrar of Titles must be verified by statutory declaration made by such persons as may be prescribed; and

(d) the preparation of plans and documents for the purposes of this Act; and

(e) the plans and documents that under this Act may be lodged with the Registrar of Titles; and

(f) a simplified procedure enabling the conversion of tenancies in common to strata titles, or of strata schemes to survey-strata schemes, whether by means of endorsements of transfers, consents and instructions as to the issue of certificates of title on the application for registration of the strata plan or by other means and providing for the consequential vesting of lots and encumbrances and registered interests in lots; and

(g) the review by the Tribunal of a decision made under the regulations; and

(h) additional requirements relating to the first annual general meeting of the strata company.

[(i) deleted]

(3) The fees fixed by the regulations for an application lodged with the Registrar of Titles may, without limitation, include a separate fee for lodgement of a scheme document or an amendment of a scheme document and, in such a case, the separate fee is payable when the document or amendment of the document is lodged (including in anticipation of the application).

(4) The regulations may provide that contravention of a regulation is an offence and may provide for the offence to be punishable on conviction by a penalty not exceeding a fine of $3 000.

(5) The regulations may contain provisions of a savings or transitional nature consequent on the enactment of an Act (an amending Act) amending this Act.

(6) Any such provision may, if the regulations so provide, take effect from the date of assent to the amending Act or a later date.

(7) To the extent to which any such provision takes effect from a date that is earlier than the date on which it is made, the provision does not operate so as —

(a) to affect, in a manner prejudicial to any person (other than the State), the rights of that person existing before the date of its publication; or

(b) to impose liabilities on any person (other than the State) in respect of anything done or omitted to be done before the date of its publication.

(1) Regulations made under section 224 prescribing a fee payable to the Registrar of Titles may prescribe a fee that is more than the amount, or an estimate of the amount, needed to allow recovery of expenditure —

(a) incurred in connection with the matter in relation to which the fee is charged; or

(b) that is relevant to —

(i) the scheme or system under which the action to which the fee relates is taken; or

(ii) the performance of any function to which the fee relates.

(2A) To the extent that regulations to which subsection (1) applies prescribe a fee that includes an amount that is a tax, the regulations may impose the tax.

(3) This section does not limit the Interpretation Act 1984 section 45A.

(1) Section 225 expires at the end of 31 December 2019 18, 19.

(2) However, the Governor, on the recommendation of the Minister, may, by proclamation made before section 225 expires, postpone the expiry of section 225 until the end of a date specified in the proclamation, and in that case that section expires at the end of that date.

(3) The Minister cannot make a recommendation under subsection (2) unless the Minister is satisfied, on the basis of the most recent report laid before each House of Parliament under the Land Information Authority Act 2006 section 93(2), that the expiry of section 225 should be postponed.

(4) There is no limit on the number of times the expiry of section 225 may be postponed, but each postponement cannot be for longer than 5 years beginning on the day after the most recent date on which section 225 would expire if that expiry were not postponed.

(5) The Interpretation Act 1984 section 42 applies to and in relation to a proclamation made under subsection (2) as if the proclamation were a regulation.

(6) The expiry of section 225 does not affect the validity of any regulations made under section 224 and in effect immediately before that expiry.

(1) The Minister must review the operation and effectiveness of this Act as soon as practicable after the expiry of 5 years from the day on which the Strata Titles Amendment Act 2018 section 4 comes into operation.

(2) The Minister must, as soon as practicable —

(a) prepare a report about the outcome of the review; and

(b) cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of Parliament.

(1) Schedules 3, 4 and 5, and any transitional regulations made under section 224 or Schedule 3 clause 26, are additional to and do not prejudice or affect the application of any relevant provisions of the Interpretation Act 1984, except where the contrary intention appears.

(2) The purpose of —

(a) Schedule 3 is to effect the transition from the Strata Titles Act 1966 to this Act as enacted in 1985; and

(b) Schedule 4 is to effect the transition to the Strata Titles Amendment Act 1995.

(3) Except where the contrary intention appears, Schedules 3 and 4 are to be construed in accordance with the purpose set out in subsection (2) and in particular —

(a) a reference in Schedule 3 to a section of this Act is to be construed as a reference to the section as in force immediately after the commencement of the Strata Titles Act 1985 section 132; and

(b) a reference in Schedule 4 to a section of this Act is to be construed as a reference to the section as in force immediately after the commencement of the Strata Titles Amendment Act 1995 section 91.