(a) the investigation of and conduct of research into matters relating to the interests of parties to residential tenancy agreements generally or any particular party or parties;_ (b) the publication of reports and the dissemination of information on matters relating to the interests of parties to residential tenancy agreements; © the giving of advice to persons on the provisions of this Act or any other law relating to or affecting the interests of parties to residential tenancy agreements; (d) the investigation, upon the complaint of a party to a residential tenancy agreement or otherwise, of an offence against this Act or of an infringement of a party’s rights arising out of any residential tenancy agreement and the taking of action by negotiation, prosecution of such offence or otherwise; (e) the making of reports to the Minister on matters referred to the Commissioner by the Minister and matters of importance investigated by the Commissioner, whether referred to the Commissioner by the Minister or not.Under s 9(1), the Commissioner has the power to institute or defend legal proceedings, or assume the conduct of proceedings already commenced ‘with a view to enforcing or protecting the rights of the party in relation to any infringement or suspected infringement by that other person of those rights or of any of the provisions of this Act or other law relating to the interests of such parties.’ The Commissioner must be satisfied that there is a cause of action and that the proceedings are in the public interest, on behalf of any party (lessor or tenant) to a residential tenancy agreement. Under s 9(2), if the Commissioner considers it appropriate, the Commissioner may institute proceedings on behalf of a tenant under s 32(11) or assume the conduct of proceedings already commenced by the tenant under that section. The Commissioner must not institute, defend or assume the conduct of such proceedings without first obtaining the written consent of the party (which once given is irrevocable, except with the consent of the Commissioner; and the written consent of the Minister (which may be given subject to such conditions as the Minister thinks fit).(12) If the residential tenancy agreement has been terminated, the Commissioner must not conduct proceedings unless a complaint was made to the Commissioner by a party to the agreement within three months after termination of the agreement.(13) Subsections (4) to (9) provide further detail on proceedings instituted, defended or assumed by the Commissioner. Reference should be made to the legislation. Under s 10, the Commissioner may delegate any of its functions under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) (other than the power of delegation) to the holder of any specified office in the WA public service or to any specified officer of an agency or instrumentality of the Crown. The Commissioner is required to publish in the Gazette a notice of such delegation. Under s 11, officers are protected from liability under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA):
11. Protection of officers No liability shall attach to the Commissioner or any delegate of the Commissioner, or any officer of the Department for any act or omission by the Commissioner, the delegate, or the officer in good faith and in the performance or purported performance of the functions of the Commissioner or the Department under this Act.Information that is officially obtained under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) must be kept confidential. Under s 11A(1) a person who misuses information concerning the affairs of a person obtained by reason of any function that person had, or at any time had, in the administration of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) commits an offence subject to a fine of up to $20 000. Under s 11A(2):
(2) A person misuses information if it is, directly or indirectly, recorded, used, or disclosed to another person, other than — (a) in the course of duty; or (b) under this Act; or © for the purposes of the investigation of any suspected offence or the conduct of proceedings against any person for an offence; or (d) in a manner that could not reasonably be expected to lead to the identification of any person to whom the information refers; or (e) with the consent of the person to whom the information relates, or each of them if there is more than one.Section 61 and Part 6 of the Fair Trading Act 2010 (WA) apply to the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA).(14) These provisions deal with powers of investigation and enforcement. Reference should be made to the legislation itself for further detail.
(a) where the tenant is a party to an agreement for the sale and purchase of the premises, unless the period of the tenancy is one month or longer; (b) where the agreement arises under a mortgage in respect of the premises; © where the agreement arises under a scheme under which —Further, the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) does not apply to tenancies of commercial (as opposed to residential) premises. In WA, most retail shop leases are covered by the Commercial Tenancy (Retail Shops) Agreements Act 1985 (WA). However, in some cases premises may be let for both residential and business purposes. In these circumstances, the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) may still apply, however, it will depend on the facts of each individual case. For further discussion, see 2.8.1.3 (Commercial and Business Use of Premises).(i) a group of adjacent premises is owned by a company; and(ii) the premises comprising the group are let by the company to persons who jointly have a controlling interest in the company;(d) where the tenant is a boarder or lodger; (e) where the agreement is bona fide entered into for the purpose of conferring on a person a right to occupy premises for a holiday; (f) where the agreement is entered into as lessor, whether generally or in prescribed circumstances, by any prescribed person or agency being a person or agency that is acting on behalf of the Crown; (g) where the agreement is a prescribed agreement, or is an agreement of a prescribed class.
For the purposes of subsection (2)(e), an agreement conferring a right to occupy premises for a fixed term of 3 months or longer shall be deemed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, not to have been entered into bona fide for the purpose of conferring a right to occupy the premises for a holiday.‘Holiday’ is not defined in the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA). According to the majority in Re Glynn; Ex Parte Royle & Ors(36) ‘holiday’ is not confined to short-stay or one-off holidays, and the term ‘holiday’ is not confined to the singular and can include ‘holidays’ in the plural.(37) Section 5(4) contemplates that holidays can exceed three months. This means that the agreement could be for a broader purpose than just a holiday – this was the case in Re Glynn where the premises were also used for the ancillary purpose of storing equipment and for making improvements to the premises.(38) As to s 5(2)(e), the subjective intention of the parties is relevant to determining the purpose of the agreement. McKechnie J (with whom Murray J agreed) of the majority in Re Glynn sets this out in more detail:
It is permissible to look at the subjective intention of the parties to determine the purpose of the agreement. The mere terms of the agreement while important, do not conclusively determine the purpose of the agreement: Buchmann v May [1978] 2 All ER 993. Regard must be had to other factors. This is clear by the use of the expression "bona fide". The honesty of an agreement must be judged by consideration of the overall circumstances. The section invites this consideration. A written agreement may apparently be entered into for holiday purposes. However, it may not be bona fide for that purpose because the intention of the parties may be a different purpose, that of long term accommodation. The words bona fide govern the whole of the words which follow. The Residential Tenancies Act is not to be evaded by a merely colourable use of words which do not correspond with what is really provided: see Palser v Grinling [1948] AC 291 per Lord Simon at 310 in a similar context to the Residential Tenancies Act. The agreement in a particular case may, or may not, of itself indicate the purpose. However, the surrounding circumstances may clearly indicate the purpose. The focus of attention is not the purpose of the agreement, but the purpose of entry into the agreement. The purpose must be the dominant or principal purpose. This is a question of fact in each case. The Residential Tenancies Act s 5(4) is in effect a rebuttable statement of fact as to the bona fides of the agreement.(39)As to s5(4), ‘[i]t does not matter whether the lessor produces proof to the contrary or whether proof to the contrary can be found within other evidence, so long as there is evidence providing proof to the contrary.’(40) Proof to the contrary only requires some evidence that the principal purpose is that of holiday premises, even if they are for a fixed term longer than three months.(41) If proof to the contrary exists, then the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) will not apply. In Quinlan v Nottingham the South Australian Residential Tenancies Tribunal (SARTT)(42) found that the agreement was subject to the Act as it was entered into ‘for many reasons and not genuinely for the purpose of a holiday.’(43) The tenants’ purposes here were to visit family and friends, ensure their son was well, to look at investment property and to speak to their bank about investments, to escape the English winter whilst renovations were being conducted on their London home and to give one of the tenants a chance to write a book without distraction.
"A residential tenancy agreement entered into in pursuance of a direction to lease given under section 33(3)(a) of the Land Act 1933(51) ["Land Act 1933"] is a prescribed agreement for the purposes of section 5(2)(g) of the Act" (RT Regs r 5(3))."Section 281 of the Land Administration Act 1997 ("LA Act 1997") reads relevantly:
281. Land Act 1933 repealed; transitional etc. provisions for (Sch. 2) (1) The Land Act 1933 is repealed. (2) The transitional, savings and validation provisions set out in Schedule 2 have effect in relation to the Land Act 1933. (3) A reference in a written law or a book, document or writing to the Land Act 1933 is, unless the contrary intention appears or is otherwise provided under this Act, to be construed as if that reference were a reference to this Act.Schedule 2 clause 16 (2b) of the LAA Act 1997 reads:
Any lease granted in compliance with a direction referred to in section 33(3)(a) of the repealed Act and subsisting immediately before the appointed day continues to subsist subject to this Act, and is taken to have so continued to subsist on and from the appointed day, as if that lease were a lease granted under section 47 of this Act.How do we know if a particular residential tenancy agreement is one which has been entered into in pursuance of a direction to lease under section 33(3)(a) of the Land Act 1933? First we have to bear in mind that the reference to a "direction to lease under section 33 (3) (a) of the Land Act 1933" in r 5(3) of the RT Regs encompasses a lease under s 47 of the LAA Act 1997, since the commencement of the LAA 1997 on 30 March 1998. This means that we have to know something about both the repealed LA Act 1933, and the current LAA 1997. The Land Act 1933 s 33 (3)(a) was concerned with reserves. It gave the Governor the power to direct, "by Order", that any "land" be leased for "the designated purpose" to a person, where:
"land" was "land reserved under the Act; and "the designated purpose" was the purpose for which land was reserved under the Act and any purpose ancillary and beneficial to that purpose. [see s 33 (1)]Land Act 1933 s 33 (3a) [Note: "(3a), NOT (3)(a), which precedes it] gives the person to whom the land is leased the power to "sublet, for the designated purpose, the whole or part of the land […]". Remember under the Interpretation Act 1984, s 5, "person […] includes a public body, company, or association or body of persons, corporate or unincorporate". The starting point is to find out if the sublet premises form part of a reserve. The sublease itself may specify that the premises themselves form part of a reserve. If it does then it ought to sufficiently identify the reserve, by number, lot and common name. For example:
"Reserve No. 17586 (Wyalkatchem Lot 148)"The next step is then to find if there is a s 33(3)(a) order under the Land Act 1933, or an order under s 46 (3) of the LA Act 1997. Search the Government Gazettes at the Department of the Premier and Cabinet for the reserve number and see if there is an order in respect of the same land. If there is, then the reg. 5 exemption will apply, to the lease mentioned in the order. Note RT Agreements which are exempted under reg. 5 would seem to be exceedingly rare (in fact it is possible that they are so rare that none actually exist). We have searched all the Government Gazettes since 30 March 1998 for the word "Administration" and checked them manually for any orders under s 46 of the LA Act 1997, and found no such orders. We came across a few Land Act 1933 orders giving a direction to lease, but none of the resultant leases were capable of being Residential Tenancy Agreements, e.g.: (a) A lease for 999 years to the Silver Chain District and Bush Nursing Association to be held in trust for the purpose of Hospital (Rest Home); (b) A lease for a term of one year and thereafter from year to year to the Commonwealth of Australia to be held in trust for the purpose of a rifle range; © A lease for 999 years to the Community in Western Australia of St. Joseph of the Apparition Incorporated to be held in trust for the purpose of a "Schoolsite and other buildings for the purposes of education"; (d) A lease of 99 years to the South of Perth Yacht Club (Inc.) to be held in trust for the purpose of the "Use and Requirements of the South of Perth Yacht Club and Free Public Pedestrian Access"; (e) A lease of 99 years to the Churches of Christ Federal Aborigines Mission Board (Incorporated) to be held in trust for the purpose of "Native Mission". Conclusion: There is a theoretical possibility that a residential tenancy agreement could exist which fell within the reg. 5(3) exemption, but it seems very unlikely that one could actually exist.
(a) any part of a hotel or motel; (b) accommodation for students provided — (i) by an educational institution; or (ii) by an entity, other than the educational institution, if the accommodation is provided other than for the purpose of making a profit, unless the accommodation is prescribed, or is of a class prescribed, for the purposes of this paragraph; (ca) any part of a hospital or nursing home; © any premises used for the purposes of a club; (d) any premises used to provide residential care to approved care recipients by an approved provider as defined in the Aged Care Act 1997 (Commonwealth); (e) any prescribed premises or premises of a prescribed class.Each of these exceptions will be discussed in turn.
48. I was referred to various dictionary definitions of the words “hotel”, “motel”, “inn”, “hostel” and “boarding house”. I do not propose to refer to all of the entries to which I was taken. The dictionary definitions which I think most relevant may be found in the Macquarie Dictionary 5th Edition (Macquarie), the Oxford English Dictionary 2nd and 3rd Editions (OED) and the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 5th Edition (SOED). They include: Hotel a building in which accommodation and food, and alcoholic drinks are available. (Macquarie) building or establishment where travellers or tourists are provided with overnight accommodation, meals and other services. (OED) an establishment, esp. of a comfortable or luxurious kind, where paying visitors are provided with accommodation, meals and other services. (SOED) Motel a roadside hotel which provides accommodation for travellers in self-contained, serviced units, with parking for their vehicles. (Macquarie) a hotel catering primarily for motorists; spec. one comprising self-contained accommodation with adjacent parking space. (OED) … Hotels and motels 51. There are a number of features that distinguish hotels and motels from some other types of establishment that provide accommodation to guests, such as that provided at the Urbanest premises. 52. First, hotels and motels provide not only accommodation to their guests but also at least some meals in which guests may choose to partake. Consequently, a hotel or motel will usually include a kitchen where meals are prepared by the proprietor or the proprietor’s employees or contractors for consumption by guests. And it will usually include a restaurant or dining room for guests where such meals may be consumed. 53. Secondly, the guest rooms in a hotel and a motel are invariably furnished, and always include a bed and some living space (usually with one or more chairs and a table at which to eat or work) and have an adjoining separate bathroom or ensuite. Linen and towels are usually supplied. The rooms are usually cleaned and serviced by staff on a daily basis, with the costs of such services being included in the tariff. 54. Thirdly, guests of hotels and motels primarily consist of travellers who ordinarily have their principal place of residence elsewhere and who need or desire accommodation while away for business or pleasure. 55. Fourthly, guests of hotels and motels do not usually enjoy any exclusive right to occupy any particular part of the premises in the same way as does a tenant to whom a house or apartment is let. Nor does a guest of a hotel or motel usually let a room for a term. Leaving aside cancellation fees, he or she is usually charged for a room in accordance with a daily rate multiplied by the number of days of occupancy. 56. The last two propositions require some qualification in the case of what are sometimes referred to as residential or private hotels. These types of establishments would often include long-term residents who were not travellers or visitors in any relevant sense, but for whom the hotel was a permanent place of residence. 57. There are various other features or attributes of hotels and motels that should also be mentioned. Hotels and motels usually have a reception desk to handle the requirements of both management and guests, particularly when guests check in or check out of the establishment. They may also offer concierge services either at the reception desk or at a separate concierge’s desk. As I have mentioned, the applicants place particular reliance upon the fact that the Urbanest premises includes a reception desk that provides such services. 58. The relevant dictionary definitions make clear that a motel is a particular type of hotel that primarily caters to the needs of motorists seeking roadside accommodation. That is a basic characteristic of a motel which is lacking in the case of the Urbanest premises. In fact, the House Rules make it clear that the Urbanest premises has no parking spaces for cars or motorbikes available for residents. 59. While the Urbanest premises has more similarity to a hotel than a motel, it is unlike a hotel in a number of significant respects. 60. First, most of the accommodation facilities within the Urbanest premises consist of shared apartments which are configured in a way that would be most out of place in a hotel. Accommodation in a hotel is not normally shared in this way. 61. Secondly, there is no kitchen (apart from those within the apartments), restaurant or dining room on the premises for the preparation or service of meals to guests as is usually found in a hotel. 62. Thirdly, residents of the Urbanest premises are responsible for the cleanliness of their own rooms, which are not serviced in the way one would usually expect in a hotel. While the evidence indicates that cleaning services are available at additional cost, none of Mr O’Leary, Ms Guiloff or Mr Chairatna appear to have taken up that option and there was no evidence to indicate the extent to which other residents may have done so. Still, the availability of such services, and the fact that they may be arranged through the reception desk located on the premises, distinguishes the Urbanest premises from most blocks of residential apartments (excluding what are commonly referred to as serviced apartments) where a resident would be left to make his or her own arrangements for the cleaning of his or her apartment. 63. Fourthly, residents or customers of the Urbanest premises enter into agreements with USLT that more closely resemble tenancy agreements than agreements which one would expect to see between a proprietor of a hotel and a guest. These agreements provide for the completion of inspection reports before or shortly after occupancy begins, and also provide (at least in some situations) for the payment of a bond. They also provide – consistently with the requirements of the Qld Act – that the proprietor must take reasonable steps to ensure that a resident is given quiet enjoyment of his or her room and common areas. 64. Fifthly, residents or customers of the Urbanest premises are primarily students rather than visitors or travellers. The accommodation is much more likely to be used by them as their place of residence during the extended periods in which they are engaged in study at nearby educational institutions. The configurations of the rooms and common areas include dedicated study areas that one would not usually expect to find in a hotel.In Makucha v Henaford Pty Ltd & Anor , White J of the Supreme Court of NSW considered the meaning of the word ‘hotel’ and stated that it ‘is not a technical term with connotations derived from the common law’ and that the meaning of the term has changed over time.(54) He cited the first definition of ‘hotel’ in the Macquarie Dictionary as ‘[a] building in which accommodation and food and sometimes other facilities are available’.(55) White J found that the premises in this case satisfied that definition because some food was available, they were marketed to the travelling public generally (rather than being limited to the choice of occupancy in a guesthouse or boarding house), linen was supplied, and the rooms were serviced (except in the case of longer-term residents).(56)
(ca) any part of a hospital or nursing home; … (d) any premises used to provide residential care to approved care recipients by an approved provider as defined in the Aged Care Act 1997 (Commonwealth);Hospital: The term ‘hospital’ is not defined in the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA). Bradbrook, Mac Callum and Moore in Residential Tenancy Law and Practice: Victoria and South Australia submit that the term should be given a broader meaning than its usual usage in Australia.(64) They cite the case of Tanner v Marquis Jackson(65) as authority for this. In this case, Blackburn J stated:
I am inclined to think that in everyday speech, in Australia at present, the word ‘hospital’ primarily suggests a place to which a person resorts with the intention of being treated for a curable malady or injury…But it is one thing to say what the word primarily suggests, and quite another to decide that a sense lying outside the scope of such primary sense cannot be included for the purpose of the construction of a statute…If it be said that the appellant is not in a hospital because she receives there no more than she could receive in her own home, at the hands of relations or friends endowed with unlimited patience, time, and devotion, the answer may be that it does not follow that the institution which provides this is not a hospital. It does not seem to me a misuse of language to say that the appellant is a sick person who is obliged to live in a hospital because she cannot get the care she needs at home.(66)Blackburn J held that an institution which provides constant attention to an injured person, but no curative or continuous treatment, is still a ‘hospital’.(67) Nursing home: Like ‘hospital’, the term ‘nursing home’ is not defined in the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA). The Macquarie Dictionary defines ‘nursing home’ as ‘a nursing residence equipped for the care of patients who have chronic or terminal diseases, or who are disabled in some way.’ Bradbrook, Mac Callum and Moore in Residential Tenancy Law and Practice: Victoria and South Australia submit that ‘nursing home’ includes convalescent homes and rehabilitation homes.(68) Residential care: Premises used to provide residential care under the Aged Care Act 1997 (Commonwealth) will not come under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA), if the residential care is provided to ‘approved care recipients’ by an ‘approved provider’. 'Residential care' is defined in s 41.3 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) as follows:
41.3 Meaning of residential care (1) Residential care is personal care or nursing care, or both personal care and nursing care, that: (a) is provided to a person in a residential facility in which the person is also provided with accommodation that includes: (i) appropriate staffing to meet the nursing and personal care needs of the person; and (ii) meals and cleaning services; and (iii) furnishings, furniture and equipment for the provision of that care and accommodation; and (b) meets any other requirements specified in the Subsidy Principles. (2) However, residential care does not include any of the following: (a) care provided to a person in the person’s private home; (b) care provided in a hospital or in a psychiatric facility; © care provided in a facility that primarily provides care to people who are not frail and aged; (d) care that is specified in the Subsidy Principles not to be residential care.In short, ‘residential care’ is personal and/or nursing care provided in residential accommodation facilities, subject to the exclusions listed in s 41.3(2). An ‘approved care recipient’ is a person who has been approved as a care recipient under Part 2.3 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth). In the case of residential care facilities, a person is eligible to be approved if they are eligible to receive residential care.(69) Under s 21.2, a person is eligible to receive residential care if: (a) the person has physical, medical, social or psychological needs that require the provision of care; and (b) those needs can be met appropriately through residential care services; and © the person meets the criteria (if any) specified in the Approval of Care Recipients Principles as the criteria that a person must meet in order to be eligible to be approved as a recipient of residential care. Part 2.3 Division 22 sets out how a person can become approved as a care recipient, and reference should be made to the legislation itself for further detail. An ‘approved provider’ is ‘a person or body in respect of which an approval under Part 2.1 is in force, and, to the extent provided for in section 8.6, includes any State or Territory, authority of a State or Territory or local government authority.’(70)
There is no precise legal definition of the word "club." The description of a club contained in Wertheimer on Clubs applies to most clubs: - "A club may be defined to be a voluntary association of a number of persons meeting together for purposes mainly social, each contributing a certain sum either to a common fund for the benefit of the members or to a particular individual for his own benefit." But it is possible for a voluntary association to be a club though there are no pecuniary contributions or the contributions are uncertain in amount. A club may be a members' club where contributions are paid to a common fund, or a proprietary club where they are paid to an individual or a corporation, and a club may be unincorporated or incorporated. Clubs are voluntary, non-profit making associations but they vary almost indefinitely in other characteristics. Some clubs, for example dining clubs, may have no property at all. They may meet simply for the purpose of enabling the members to dine together. A suburban football club may have no property beyond a couple of footballs and a writing pad. Other clubs may have premises to which members have a right of entry only for particular purposes on particular occasions, e.g. racing clubs and metropolitan cricket and football clubs.(74)Dixon J in the same case stated:(75)"
”Club” is a word possessing a very wide and flexible meaning…Among the meanings of the word given in the Oxford English Dictionary there is one, the fifteenth…as follows - An association of persons (admittance into which is usually guarded by ballot), formed mainly for social purposes and having a building (or part of one) appropriated to the exclusive use of the members and always open to them as a place of resort or in some cases of temporary residence: the club may be political, literary, military &c., according to the aims and occupations of its members, but its main feature is to provide a place of resort for social intercourse and entertainment. No doubt it is not a necessary attribute of such a body that the club house should be always available to the members and it may be that in other respects this definition is too rigid. But it indicates the general conception which to me appears to lie within the use of the word by the enactment.’Dixon J continued:
In most attempts to state the characteristics of a club prominence is given (a) to the nature of the objects for which the members are associated in a body, (b) to the contribution of members to a common fund to meet the expenses, and © to the existence of rules governing the mode in which persons may be chosen for admission to membership. The objects may be social or sporting or they may be for the pursuit or promotion of some branch of knowledge or of art, but the purpose must not be gain; for that would mean a partnership or trading company. It is not necessary that gain to the institution should be rigidly excluded from its every activity or operation; it is the purpose for which the body is established that must not include the pursuit of gain to the body or its members if it is to be a club. In short the association may be formed for any object that is neither gainful nor unlawful: see Wertheimer on Clubs, 5th ed. (1935), Ch. I., and Halsbury, Laws of England, 2nd ed., vol. 4, par. 877. (at p580)…(76)
(5) Subject to subsection (6), this Act applies to a site at a caravan park, within the meaning of the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act 1995 (whether or not a caravan, within the meaning of that Act, is situated on that site) as if the site was residential premises for the purposes of this Act. (6) This Act does not apply to a site at a residential park, within the meaning of the Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006, other than in relation to a residential tenancy agreement — (a) under which a person has a right to occupy such a site; and (b) that is an existing fixed term long-stay agreement made in writing, to which the Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006 does not apply in accordance with section 6(4) of that Act. (7) Subsection (6) has effect despite section 8(1) of the Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006.For further discussion on Residential parks (long stay tenants) see 12.1.7, and for further discussion of caravan parks and camping grounds see 12.1.8.
A competent court may, upon application by any person, if the court considers it necessary or desirable in the circumstances, order that a provision of this Act shall not apply to or in relation to any residential tenancy agreement or proposed residential tenancy agreement or any premises or shall apply in a modified manner specified in the order and the order shall have effect accordingly.It is not known how often or in what circumstances the power is exercised in WA. In relation to the equivalent provision (s 91)(77) in the former South Australian Residential Tenancies Act 1978 (SA), Bradbrook, Mac Callum and Moore in Residential Tenancy Law and Practice: Victoria and South Australia state:
This power is surprisingly broad and amounts to a right to rewrite the legislation. According to the Registrar of the South Australian Tribunal [speaking in April 1981] [it] is frequently exercised by the members of the Tribunal. The legislation regulating the maximum amount of security deposits and the length of a notice of termination are often adjusted in individual cases by the Tribunal pursuant to s. 91.(78)