Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered ActsAfter section 142D of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 insert —
(1) The Director must establish and maintain a register of rooming houses, to be known as the Rooming House Register.
(2) The purpose of the Rooming House Register is to provide a consolidated State-wide register of information held by Councils about rooming houses—
(a) to assist the Director to monitor compliance with this Act and the regulations; and
(b) to assist Councils to monitor compliance with Part 6 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 and regulations made under that Act to the extent that that Part and those regulations apply to rooming houses; and
(c) to promote compliance with section 142D; and
(d) to enable research into, and evaluation of, the State's rooming house sector; and
(e) to assist the public to identify registered rooming houses and the proprietors of registered rooming houses.
(1) The Rooming House Register is to contain the following information in respect of each registered rooming house—
(a) the particulars prescribed under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 for the purposes of section 71(c) of that Act in relation to the registration of rooming houses;
(b) the information required under section 71(ca) of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 ;
(c) the conditions (if any) imposed under section 73(2) of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 to which a registration is subject;
(d) the date of expiry of the registration;
(e) if applicable, the date of, and grounds for, the cancellation, suspension, transfer or variation of registration of the rooming house under section 76 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 ;
(f) the contact details of the owner of the rooming house premises;
(g) the contact details of the proprietor of the rooming house;
(h) any other prescribed particulars.
(2) The Rooming House Register is to contain the following information in respect of each rooming house for which registration has been cancelled or refused to be renewed—
(a) the information referred to in subsection (1)(a) and (b);
(b) the date of expiry of the registration before it was cancelled or renewal of that registration was refused;
(c) the date of, and grounds for, the cancellation or refusal to renew registration of the rooming house under section 76 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 .
(3) The Rooming House Register may contain the following information in respect of each rooming house for which an application for registration has been refused to be issued—
(a) the date of the application for registration;
(b) the address of the rooming house;
(c) the reasons for the refusal of registration;
(d) if the applicant is a body corporate, its name and ABN or ACN;
(e) if the applicant is an individual, the applicant's name and ABN or date of birth.
(4) The Director may record information in the Rooming House Register about an exemption granted by the Director to a rooming house owner from a rooming house standard.
(1) In accordance with subsections (3) and (4), a Council must enter in the Rooming House Register the information required under section 142F(1) or (2) for—
(a) each registered rooming house located in the Council's municipal district; and
(b) each rooming house located in the Council's municipal district for which registration has been cancelled or refused to be renewed.
(2) A Council may enter in the Rooming House Register the information specified in section 142F(3) for each rooming house located in the Council's municipal district for which an application for registration has been refused to be issued.
(3) The information required to be entered under subsection (1) must be entered at the time the Council issues, renews, transfers, varies, cancels, refuses to renew or suspends registration of a rooming house in accordance with Division 4 of Part 6 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 .
(4) Despite subsection (3), information relating to a rooming house that is a registered rooming house on the date of commencement of this section must be entered in the Rooming House Register within 2 months from that date.
(1) The Rooming House Register may be kept in any form the Director considers appropriate.
(2) The Director may publish the Rooming House Register, or any details in the Rooming House Register, in any manner or form that the Director considers appropriate.
(1) The Director has access to the Rooming House Register and must allow a Council to have access to the Rooming House Register.
(2) A Council may amend or revoke an entry in the Rooming House Register relating to a rooming house located in the Council's municipal district if the Council considers the amendment or revocation is necessary in order to maintain the accuracy of the information contained in the entry.
(3) The Director may amend information relating to a rooming house recorded by the Director under section 142F(4) if the Director considers the amendment is necessary in order to maintain the accuracy of the information.
(1) The Director must allow any of the following persons to inspect the Rooming House Register for the purposes of carrying out that person's functions or duties—
(a) the Secretary to the Department of Justice;
(b) the Secretary to the Department of Human Services;
(c) the Secretary to the Department of Health;
(d) a person employed under Part 3 of the Public Administration Act 2004 in the Department of Justice, the Department of Human Services or the Department of Health.
(2) Subject to subsection (3), the Director may permit a member of the public to inspect, free of charge, the following information in the Rooming House Register about each registered rooming house—
(a) the address of the registered rooming house;
(b) if the proprietor of the registered rooming house is a body corporate, its name and its ABN or ACN;
(c) if the proprietor of the registered rooming house is an individual, the person's name and, if applicable , the person's ABN;
(d) any other prescribed information.
(3) A member of the public is not entitled to inspect the following information—
(a) information that has been restricted from public access under section 142K;
(b) information referred to in section 142F(3).
(1) This section applies to personal information in the Rooming House Register that the Director may make available for inspection under section 142J(2).
(2) An individual who is an applicant for the issue, renewal or transfer of a registration of a rooming house under section 71 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 or the proprietor of a registered rooming house may apply to the Director to restrict public access to some or all of that individual's personal information to which this section applies.
Example
An individual may wish his or her name to be restricted from access by the public.
(3) On receiving an application under subsection (2), the Director may restrict public access to some or all of that personal information if the Director is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist justifying the restriction of public access to that personal information.
(4) The Director may restrict public access under subsection (3) for the period, and on the conditions, that the Director thinks fit.
(5) If the Director is satisfied that it is in the public interest that restricted personal information be released to a person who applies for the release of that information, the Director may release some or all of the information to that person on any conditions that the Director thinks fit.
(6) If the Director decides to release restricted personal information under subsection (5), the Director must give written notice of that decision to the individual whose restricted personal information is to be released.
(7) The Director must not release restricted personal information without the consent of the individual whose personal information is restricted unless—
(a) at least 28 days have passed since the Director gave written notice under subsection (6) of the decision to release the information; and
(b) either—
(i) the individual has not applied to the Tribunal for a review of the decision; or
(ii) the Tribunal has upheld the Director's decision to release the restricted information.
(8) In this section—
"personal information" has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Information Privacy Act 2000 .
(1) A person whose interests are affected by a decision of the Director under section 142K may apply to the Tribunal for a review of that decision.
(2) An application for review under subsection (1) must be lodged with the Tribunal within 28 days after the later of—
(a) notice of the decision was given; or
(b) if, under section 45 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 , the person requests a statement of reasons for the decision, the day on which the statement of reasons is given to the person or the person is informed under section 46(5) of that Act that a statement of reasons will not be given.".