Costs of essential safety measures and s 251 of the Building Act

Whether a landlord can pass on the costs of complying with the Building Act 1993 has been the source of a significant debate over the last year or so.

A recent article of mine on this issue has been published in the Law Institute Journal here.

In summary, the article suggests that:

1. the better view is that landlords are able to recover from tenants the costs of compliance with the Building Act 1993 (Vic), including the costs of essential safety measures, at least where the landlord has incurred the cost itself;  and
2. in light of recent consternation on the issue, either legislative amendment or a test case in the Supreme Court is required.

Some background to the debate is available here, here, here, here and here.