The site tenant's application for a compliance order was struck out on the basis that the breach of duty notice was not validly given. The Tribunal held that section 206ZV(1) of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic) imposes a single conjunctive duty on site owners to keep nominated areas 'clean and in a safe condition', meaning safety concerns must arise from and relate to a failure of cleanliness; the provision does not create a free-standing obligation to keep areas safe or to repair them. Complaints about potholes and road disrepair that do not involve cleanliness-related safety issues fall outside section 206ZV(1), and the Tribunal acknowledged this interpretation may leave a gap in the legislation for site tenants seeking to address safety-only issues in common areas, characterising it as a possible legislative oversight rather than a basis for a broader reading. The contextual relationship between sections 206ZV and 206ZW was central to the reasoning, with the Tribunal finding it unlikely that Parliament intended to duplicate the repair and maintenance obligations already imposed by section 206ZW.
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