New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LANDLORD AND TENANT (AMENDMENT) ACT 1948 - SECT 5A

5A Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 not to apply to certain premises

(1) The provisions of Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 do not apply in respect of the following prescribed premises, that is to say:

(a) a dwelling-house that was in the course of erection at, or the erection of which commenced after, the sixteenth day of December, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-four,

(b) a residential unit that came into existence on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine,

(c) a dwelling-house or a residential unit that was, at the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine, the subject of a lease that is registered under the section that this section replaces as in force at the time when the registration was effected,

(d) a dwelling-house or a residential unit:

(i) of which:

(a) vacant possession was obtained on or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine, or that was occupied personally by the lessor or his or her predecessor in title on or after that day, or

(b) vacant possession was obtained before that day and that has remained vacant from the time when vacant possession was obtained until that day,

(ii) that is the subject of a lease, being a lease, except where the lessee is a company or other body corporate:

(a) the execution of which by the lessee was witnessed by a solicitor instructed and employed independently of the lessor or by a registrar of the Local Court, and

(b) that bears a certificate by that solicitor or registrar of the Local Court that he or she explained the lease to the lessee before it was executed by him or her, and

(iii) the lease of which is after that day registered in the Department,

(e) a dwelling-house or a residential unit:

(i) of which vacant possession was obtained before the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine,

(ii) that is the subject of a lease:

(a) that was executed by the lessee before that day,

(b) being a lease, except where the lessee is a company or other body corporate and the lease was executed by the company or other body corporate on or after the tenth day of April, one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight:

(i) the execution of which by the lessee was witnessed by a solicitor instructed and employed independently of the lessor or by a registrar of the Local Court, and

(ii) that bears a certificate by that solicitor or registrar of the Local Court that he or she explained the lease to the lessee before it was executed by him or her, and

(c) that after that first day of January is registered in the Department, and

(iii) that, had this section not been substituted by the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1968 would, upon registration of that lease in the Department immediately after its execution by the lessee, have been exempt from the provisions of Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 under the section that this section replaces as in force at the time when the lease was executed by the lessee,

(f) a dwelling-house or a residential unit to which the provisions of Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 have at any time ceased to apply by reason of paragraph (c), (d) or (e).

(2) For the purposes of:

(a) paragraphs (c), (d) and (e) of subsection (1), “lease” does not include a concurrent lease, and

(b) paragraph (c) of subsection (1) “lease” does not include a lease that was or is registered in the Department on or after the twenty-sixth day of November, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight, and that was executed by the lessee before the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine, unless the premises the subject of the lease are premises that, had this section not been substituted by the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1968 , would upon registration of the lease in the Department have been exempt from the provisions of Parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 under the section that this section replaces as in force at the time when the lease was executed by the lessee.

(3) A reference in paragraphs (c) and (e) of subsection (1), and in paragraph (b) of subsection (2), to the section that this section replaces as in force at a particular time shall be construed as a reference to section 5A, as inserted by the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1954 , and includes a reference to that section as amended up to that time.

(4) An application for the registration under this section of a lease shall be made to, and in the form of a statutory declaration containing particulars required by, the Director-General and shall be accompanied by:

(a) the original lease and a copy thereof, which copy:

(i) shall be certified to be a true copy by the lessor, the lessor’s solicitor or an agent of the lessor, and

(ii) shall be so certified in a manner approved by the Director-General, and

(b) a fee of two dollars or, where another fee has been prescribed in lieu thereof, by that other fee.

(5) The registration after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine, under this section of a lease shall be deemed to be effected upon the making of an entry in relation to the lease, in the manner approved by the Director-General, in a register to be kept by the Director-General for the purposes of this section and the endorsement on the original lease and certified copy thereof of a memorial of the entry.

(6) After registration under this section of a lease the original lease shall be returned to the person by whom the application for registration was made.

(7) The provisions of subsection (1) and section 5AA have effect subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of section 6, section 6A and section 81A.

(8) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) and section 5AA, the provisions of sections 36 (except paragraph (a), subparagraph (i) of paragraph (b) and paragraph (c) of subsection (1)), 36A, 55, 77, 93, 95 and 98 apply in respect of premises exempted from the operation of provisions of the Act by subsection (1) or section 5AA.

(9) The Director-General shall not register a lease under paragraph (d) or (e) of subsection (1) if he or she is satisfied:

(a) where the lease is of a dwelling-house, that the dwelling-house is a dwelling-house referred to in paragraph (a) of that subsection,

(b) where the lease is of a residential unit, that the residential unit is a residential unit referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection, or

(c) that the lease is in contravention of any of the provisions of section 77.

(9A) On and after 1 January 1986, the Director-General shall not register a lease under this section unless:

(a) the lease was executed by the lessee before 1 January 1986, and

(b) the application for registration was made on or before 30 June 1986, or a Fair Rents Board has recommended under subsection (9C) that the application be dealt with.

(9B) Where an application for the registration of a lease under this section is made to the Director-General after 30 June 1986, but before 1 January 1989, the Director-General may refer the application to a Fair Rents Board if of the opinion that the Board could make a recommendation under subsection (9C) that the application be dealt with.

(9C) A Fair Rents Board may, if satisfied that in the particular circumstances of an application for registration referred to it under subsection (9B) there is a reasonable excuse for the delay in the making of the application, recommend to the Director-General that the application be dealt with.

(10) A certificate:

(a) purporting to be signed by a solicitor or a registrar of the Local Court, being a certificate referred to in paragraph (b) of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d), or subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (e), of subsection (1), shall be admissible in any proceedings and shall, in all courts and upon all occasions whatsoever, be prima facie evidence of the particulars certified in and by the certificate, or

(b) purporting to be signed by the Director-General or his or her delegate and certifying:

(i) that a lease specified or referred to in the certificate was registered in the Department on a day specified in the certificate, or

(ii) the particulars referred to in subparagraph (i), that the lease bears a certificate referred to in paragraph (b) of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (d), or subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) of subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (e), of subsection (1) purporting to be signed by a solicitor or a registrar of the Local Court, and the particulars certified in and by the certificate that the lease bears,

shall be admissible in any proceedings and shall, in all courts and upon all occasions whatsoever, be prima facie evidence of the particulars referred to in subparagraph (i) and, where the certificate certifies that the lease bears a certificate as referred to in subparagraph (ii), of the particulars certified in and by the certificate that the lease bears, as certified in and by the certificate under this paragraph.

(11) An application for a certificate under paragraph (b) of subsection (10):

(a) may be made by any person,

(b) shall be made in writing to the Director-General, and

(c) shall be accompanied by a fee of five dollars or, where another fee has been prescribed in lieu thereof, by that other fee.

(12) In this section:
"dwelling-house" includes:

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

(b) any part of premises that is used or has been designed for use for the purposes of residence independently of any other part of the premises,

but does not include a residential unit or premises licensed for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors.
"residential unit" means a part of a dwelling-house that is used or has been designed for use for the purposes of residence independently of any other part of the dwelling-house and that came into existence by reason of the conversion of the dwelling-house into those parts.