168Effects of lease expiry

168 Effects of lease expiry (1) On the expiry of the terms of the leases of the units and the common property in a units plan (as extended, if at all, under the Unit Titles Act 1970, section 108)— (a) the units plan is cancelled; and (b) the owners corporation is dissolved; and (c) for each unit, the Territory (or, if the units plan subdivides a parcel of land under a declared land sublease, the Crown lessee) is liable to pay a share of the value of the buildings on the parcel (on the date of expiry) proportional to the unit entitlement of the unit immediately before the expiry. (2) The Territory (or, if the units plan subdivides a parcel of land under a declared land sublease, the Crown lessee) is liable to pay the amount mentioned in subsection (1) (c) for a unit— (a) to the person who owned the unit immediately before the expiry of the leases; or (b) if the unit was owned by 2 or more people immediately before the expiry of the leases—to each co-owner in proportion to the co-owner’s former share in the unit. (3) The value of the amount mentioned in subsection (1) (c) must be worked out under the Planning Act 2023, section 362 as if the Territory (or, if the units plan subdivides a parcel of land under a declared land sublease, the Crown lessee) were the territory planning authority. (4) Subsection (5) applies if— (a) the term of a lease of a unit or common property in a units plan that subdivides a parcel of land under a declared land sublease expires; and (b) the owners corporation has not given the Crown lessee at least 6 month’s written notice before the lease expired that the owners corporation did not intend to apply for a further lease under section 167AA. (5) The Crown lessee may deduct the amount (up to the prescribed amount) of any expenditure reasonably incurred by the Crown lessee in subleasing the land, or part of the land, under the expired leases to someone else from the amount payable by the Crown lessee under subsection (1) (c). (6) On the dissolution of an owners corporation under subsection (1)— (a) all rights (at law or in equity) vested in the corporation immediately before the expiry are vested in the former members as tenants in common in shares proportional to their former unit entitlement; and (b) the former members are liable separately and together for all the liabilities of the corporation existing immediately before the dissolution. (7) For subsection (1), a reference in a document to an owners corporation that has been dissolved is taken to be a reference to the former members. Example of a document A contract signed by the owners corporation before the dissolution under which the corporation owes, or is owed, an amount. (8) The operation of subsection (6) on the owners corporation may be varied by expiry dissolution order (under section 169).