By the way, That should really be moved to luv-talk... and I plead guilty to not doing that earlier. Cheers, Daniel On Wed, 2013-09-04 at 13:58 +1000, Chris Samuel wrote:

On 03/09/13 19:28, Rick Moen wrote:

...

Unincorporated associations can own property.

There are a number of HPC centres and eResearch organisations around Australia that are UJVs (Unincorporated Joint Ventures) and as a result of them not being able to own property all "their" assets are actually owned by one (or more) of the members on their behalf.

I can think of ones in VIC, ACT, NSW and SA and they are all in the same boat.

Consumer Affairs Victoria says (regarding the initial 1981 act):

http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/library/publications/resources-and-education/...

# The introduction of the Act addressed many of the difficulties faced # by unincorporated associations by providing a relatively simple # mechanism of incorporation which conferred the benefits of limited # liability of members, perpetual succession, ability to enter into # contracts, and power to acquire, hold and dispose of property.

The SA govt says:

http://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch08s02.php

# As an unincorporated association has no legal identity, it # cannot hold assets in its own name. It must appoint individuals # as trustees, who own the assets but hold them for the benefit of # the association. The trustees are bound by the Trustee Act 1936 (SA).

NSW says similar (though not explicitly mentioning assets):

http://www.legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/guides/law_handbook/pdf/Ch9_community_...

# Unless a community organisation takes the step of incorporating, # it is simply a group of people doing something together, with no # legal identity apart from that of its individual members.

WA says:

http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/associationsguide/Content/01_Introduction/1.0_...

# There are several significant advantages. One advantage is that # the individual members limit their exposure to personal legal # liability. Bank accounts can be opened in the name of the # association, it can apply for government grants and it can hold # property.

cheers, Chris