Residential Services (Accreditation) Act 2002

This Act may be cited as the Residential Services (Accreditation) Act 2002.

This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

The Fair Trading Inspectors Act 2014 (the FTI Act) enacts common provisions for this Act and particular other Acts about fair trading.

Unless this Act otherwise provides in relation to the FTI Act, the powers that an inspector has under that Act are in addition to and do not limit any powers the inspector may have under this Act.

In this section—

inspector means a person who holds office under the FTI Act as an inspector for this Act.

Note—

See also the modifying provisions for this Act stated in the FTI Act, section 7.

The dictionary in schedule 2 defines particular words used in this Act.

A service is a residential service if—

the main purpose of the service is to provide accommodation, in return for the payment of rent, in 1 or more rooms; and

the room or rooms are occupied, or available for occupation, in the course of the service by at least 4 residents; and

in the course of the service, each of the residents—

has a right to occupy 1 or more rooms; and

does not have a right to occupy the whole of the premises in which the rooms are situated; and

does not occupy a self-contained unit; and

shares other rooms, or facilities outside of the resident’s room, with 1 or more of the other residents.

Example for paragraph (c)—

a service conducted in a boarding house in which each of the residents occupies a room and shares a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and common room with the other residents

Also, a service is a residential service—

if—

subsection (1)(a) and (b) apply to the service; and

in the course of the service, each of the residents—

has a right to occupy 1 or more rooms; and

does not have a right to occupy the whole of the premises in which the rooms are situated; and

is provided with a food service or personal care service; or

Example for subparagraph (ii)—

a service, providing rental accommodation to older persons, in which each of the residents occupies a self-contained unit and is provided with a food service or personal care service

if the service is provided under an aged rental scheme.

Also, a service is a residential service if—

subsection (1)(a) and (b) apply to the service; and

the service is prescribed under a regulation to be a residential service.

For subsection (1)(a), it is immaterial whether or not the rooms are in the same premises.

Despite subsections (1) to (3), the following services are not residential services—

an aged care service conducted by an approved provider under the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cwlth);

the forensic disability service under the Forensic Disability Act 2011;

an authorised mental health service under the Mental Health Act 2016;

a service conducted in a private hospital under a licence in force under the Private Health Facilities Act 1999;

a service conducted as part of, or under an agreement with, a school or other educational institution mainly to provide accommodation to students or employees of the school or institution;

a service conducted with financial assistance from the education department mainly to provide accommodation to school students;

a service conducted mainly to provide accommodation to persons who are enrolled in courses that, under the Social Security Act 1991 (Cwlth), section 569B, are approved courses of education or study for section 569A(b) of that Act;

a service conducted mainly to provide accommodation to holiday makers, tourists or travellers;

Example—

motel, bed and breakfast facility, backpackers’ hostel

a service conducted in licensed premises under the Liquor Act 1992;

a service that—

is conducted with the assistance of funding given by the State; and

uses the funding to provide supported accommodation to persons who are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless;

a service conducted under funding given by, or in premises owned by, Aboriginal Hostels Limited ACN 008 504 587;

a service conducted—

by the disability services department; or

under funding given under the Disability Services Act 2006;

a service conducted by the housing department;

a funded service under the Housing Act 2003;

another service prescribed under a regulation not to be a residential service.

In this section—

supported accommodation means temporary accommodation, provided with case management, to assist persons to transition from, or avoid, homelessness.

A resident in a service is a person—

who, in the course of the service, occupies 1 or more rooms as the person’s residence; and

who is not—

the service provider; or

a relative of the service provider; or

an associate of the service provider; or

a relevant employee.

In this section—

relevant employee, in relation to a service, means a person who—

is employed in the service by the service provider; and

has a principal place of residence that is not 1 or more rooms in the service.

The service provider for a service is—

for a residential service registered under this Act—the person registered as the service provider for the service; or

for a service that is not registered under this Act—

if the service is being conducted under an aged rental scheme—the scheme operator; or

if the service is being conducted other than under an aged rental scheme—the person conducting the service; or

if the service is no longer being conducted—the person who was the service provider immediately before the service stopped.

An aged rental scheme is a scheme under which—

accommodation, in return for the payment of rent, is provided mainly to older members of the community or retired persons; and

the accommodation is provided to at least 4 persons who have a right to occupy 2 or more self-contained units either jointly or separately; and

a food service or personal care service is provided to the persons mentioned in paragraph (b).

The person who, under the aged rental scheme, must provide both of the following is the scheme operator of the scheme—

the accommodation;

the food service or personal care service.

For subsection (2), a person provides accommodation and a food service or a personal care service if—

the person—

owns or leases all or any of the self-contained units used in the aged rental scheme; and

lets those units, or arranges for those units to be let, to residents in the course of the residential service; and

provides, or arranges for the provision of, the food service or personal care service; or

Example of a scheme operator arranging for the provision of a food service or personal care service—

The scheme operator engages another person to provide a food service or personal care service to residents who pay for the service.

the person (the letting agent), on behalf of the owners or lessees of all or any of the self-contained units used in the aged rental scheme—

lets or sublets the units to residents in the course of the residential service, regardless of whether the letting contract with the residents states the owner (or lessee) or the letting agent as a party to the letting contract; and

provides, or arranges for the provision of, the food service or personal care service.

This Act binds all persons including the State and, as far as the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the Commonwealth and the other States.

Subsection (1) does not make the State, the Commonwealth or another State liable for an offence.

The object of this Act is to regulate the conduct of residential services to—

protect the health, safety and basic freedoms of residents; and

encourage service providers to continually improve the way they conduct residential services; and

support fair trading in the residential service industry.

The object is to be achieved mainly by—

establishing a registration system, under which a residential service is registered only if—

the service provider and associates are suitable; and

the premises in which the service is conducted are safe and otherwise suitable; and

establishing an accreditation system, under which a residential service is accredited to provide a type of service only if that service is provided in a way that meets minimum standards.

A person must not conduct a residential service in premises unless—

the service is registered under this part; and

the person is registered as the service provider for the service; and

the premises are the registered premises for the service.

Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.

An offence against subsection (1) is a continuing offence and may be charged in 1 or more complaints for periods the offence continues.

Maximum penalty for each day the offence continues after a conviction against subsection (1)—5 penalty units.

A person proposing to conduct a residential service in premises may apply to the chief executive for registration of the service.

The application must—

be in the approved form; and

identify any associates of the applicant; and

include a signed consent by the applicant and by each associate to a criminal history check; and

be accompanied by—

a building compliance notice for the premises issued within the previous 12 months; and

the prescribed fire safety document for the premises; and

be accompanied by—

the application fee prescribed under a regulation; and

if, before or when the application is made, the chief executive requires the payment of costs under section 24A(1)—the amount of the costs required to be paid.

The applicant also must provide any other relevant information reasonably required by the chief executive to decide the application.

Examples of relevant information—

If the applicant was previously a service provider whose registration was cancelled—

how the applicant has addressed the reasons for the cancellation of the registration (the reasons); and

why the proposed residential service should be registered despite the reasons.

The chief executive must decide the application by registering the service or refusing to register the service.

The chief executive must register the service if the application is made under this section and the chief executive is satisfied the applicant and each associate are suitable persons.

A requirement mentioned in subsection (2)(e)(ii) is sufficiently made of the applicant if it is made generally of applicants in the approved form or notified on the department’s website.