Part 4: Higher-risk buildings Residents’ etc duties Section 96: Contravention Notices Background
The purpose of this section is to allow the Accountable Person to make sure residents and owners of residential units comply with their duties under section 95 in order to keep the higher-risk building safe. In many cases where a resident is in breach of their duties, it would be reasonable for Accountable Persons to discuss an alleged contravention with the resident first to try to resolve the matter before issuing a contravention notice.
	The Independent Review recommended that residents should have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities to help to keep their building safe. Residents need to be made aware of the impact of their actions and their role in keeping their building safe. It is important for residents to understand that in certain circumstances their actions may pose a risk to the safety of their dwelling, their fellow residents, and the building they live in and that the Accountable Person has the ability to ensure residents comply with these duties.
	The focus is on resident behaviours (and the behaviour of residential unit owners) and their co-operation with the Accountable Person in keeping the building safe. Where this fails the Accountable Person is able to investigate and enforce those duties.
Example
A resident continues to block a corridor with their belongings, despite previous communications from the Accountable Person on this matter. The corridor is an important escape route from the higher-risk building in the event of a fire. The Accountable Person issues a contravention notice. This notice sets out that the resident has breached one of their duties by blocking an escape route and requests that the resident removes their belongings immediately. The notice also mentions that failure to comply with the request in the notice would mean that the Accountable Person may make an application to the courts for an order.