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Retirement Villages Act 2003

Dispute resolution, enforcement, and penalties - Enforcement and penalties

85: Defences

You could also call this:

"Defences: Saying It Wasn't Your Fault"

Illustration for Retirement Villages Act 2003

If you are being prosecuted for breaking a rule against section 79, you can defend yourself. You can say it was a reasonable mistake or you relied on information from someone else. You can also say it was someone else's fault or an accident. If you are a publisher, you can defend yourself if you published an advertisement by mistake. You must show you received the advertisement in the normal course of business and did not know it would break the rules. You must also show you had no reason to suspect it would break the rules. You can also defend yourself if you took reasonable precautions to avoid breaking the rules. This means you must have done everything you could to stop the mistake from happening. You can use this defence if you are being prosecuted for breaking section 79 or other related rules.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM220948.

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Part 4Dispute resolution, enforcement, and penalties
Enforcement and penalties

85Defences

  1. It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against section 79 if the defendant proves—

  2. that the contravention was due to a reasonable mistake; or
    1. that the contravention was due to reasonable reliance on information or legal advice supplied by another person; or
      1. that—
        1. the contravention was due to the act or default of another person, or to an accident or to another cause beyond the defendant's control; and
          1. the defendant took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the contravention.

          2. For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) and (c), another person does not include—

          3. a servant or agent of the defendant (other than a lawyer); or
            1. if the defendant is a body corporate, a director, servant, or agent of the defendant (other than a lawyer).

              1. It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against section 79 or to any other proceedings under sections 80 to 86, in relation to a contravention of a provision committed by the publication of an advertisement, if the defendant proves—

              2. that the defendant's business is publishing or arranging for the publication of advertisements; and
                1. that the defendant received the advertisement or the information contained in the advertisement, as the case may be, in the ordinary course of that business and did not know and had no reason to suspect that the publication of the advertisement or the publication of the advertisement containing that information, as the case may be, would constitute a contravention of the provision.

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