South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts (1) The first by-laws
of a community scheme are the by-laws filed with the community plan by the
Registrar-General when depositing the plan in the Lands Titles Registration
Office.
(2) The by-laws of a
community scheme must—
(a) be
in a form approved by the Registrar-General; and
(b)
provide for the administration, management and control of the common property;
and
(c)
regulate the use and enjoyment of the common property; and
(d)
regulate the use and enjoyment of the community lots to the extent necessary
to give effect to the scheme description; and
(e) be
endorsed with a certificate, in the form prescribed by regulation, from the
person who prepared the by-laws certifying that the by-laws have been
correctly prepared in accordance with this Act.
(3) A by-law may
also—
(a)
regulate—
(i)
the position, design, dimensions, methods and materials
of construction and external appearance of buildings or other improvements on
community lots; or
(ii)
the maintenance and repair of buildings or other
improvements on community lots; or
(iii)
landscaping, including the establishment, care and
maintenance of lawns, gardens and other areas on community lots; or
(b)
impose requirements or restrictions relating to the appearance of
community lots or buildings or other improvements situated on community lots;
or
(c)
regulate the use and enjoyment of community lots in order to prevent
interference with the use and enjoyment of other lots; or
(ca)
authorise or require the community corporation to act as agent for the owners
of community lots in arranging policies of insurance; or
(d)
regulate such other matters as are permitted by this Act to be regulated by
by-laws; or
(e)
impose a penalty, not exceeding the prescribed amount, for contravention of,
or failure to comply with, a by-law.
(4) A by-law may
confer discretionary powers on the community corporation or any other person.
(5) A by-law may apply
to a particular lot or lots, to a class or classes of lots, or to lots
generally.
(6) The following
provisions apply in relation to a penalty imposed on a person for
contravention of, or failure to comply with, a by-law:
(a) the
penalty is (despite section 29 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1915
) payable to the community corporation in accordance with this subsection;
(b)
subject to the making of an application under paragraph (e), the penalty
is payable by the person on the date specified for payment in a notice served
by the corporation on the person;
(c) the
notice must—
(i)
be in writing in the form prescribed by regulation; and
(ii)
specify the amount of the penalty payable and a date for
payment (being not less than 60 days after the notice is served);
(d) the
penalty payable under the notice is recoverable by the community corporation
as a debt and, in the case of a notice served on the owner of a community lot,
may be recovered by the community corporation as if it were a contribution
payable to the community corporation under section 114 (and interest will
be payable on the penalty amount in the same way as if it were such a
contribution);
(e) the
person may, within 60 days after service of the notice, apply to the
Magistrates Court for revocation of the notice and the Court must grant the
application if either—
(i)
the Court is not satisfied that the person committed the
contravention or failure alleged in the notice; or
(ii)
the Court is satisfied that the contravention or failure
alleged in the notice is trifling;
(f) the
community corporation is a party to an application under paragraph (e)
and bears the onus of proving, on the balance of probabilities, that the
person committed the contravention or failure alleged in the notice;
(g) if
an application is made in accordance with paragraph (e), the penalty
specified in the notice is not payable unless the application for revocation
is withdrawn or otherwise discontinued by the applicant or is dismissed or
refused by the Court (and, in such a case, the penalty will be payable on the
date on which the application is so withdrawn, discontinued, dismissed or
refused or on the date for payment specified in the notice, whichever occurs
later).
(7) A person's
contravention of, or failure to comply with, by-laws will, for the purposes of
this section, be regarded as trifling if, and only if, the person establishes
that the circumstances surrounding the commission of the contravention or
failure were such that he or she ought to be excused from the imposition of a
penalty on the ground that—
(a)
there were compelling humanitarian or safety reasons for the conduct that
allegedly constituted the contravention or failure; or
(b) the
person could not, in all the circumstances, reasonably have averted committing
the contravention or failure; or
(c) the
conduct allegedly constituting the contravention or failure was merely a
technical, trivial or petty instance of a contravention of or failure to
comply with the relevant by-laws.
(8) The regulations
may make further provision in relation to the enforcement of by-laws.
(9) In this
section—
"prescribed amount", in relation to a penalty imposed under by-laws of a
community scheme, means—
(a) if
the community scheme only includes lots that are used, or are intended to be
used, solely or predominantly for business or commercial
purposes—$2 000; or
(b) in
any other case—$500.