Community Leases for Community Groups

Community tenants 

The City of Cockburn has an active role to play in supporting community groups and can assist by providing community, sport and recreation facilities through the provision of land and/or buildings.  As part of this support, the City leases and licences community buildings and land to community groups in Cockburn. 

A community lease or licence allows a community groups and government agencies providing community services to use Council owned or managed reserves for a wide range of purposes. 

‘Council owned’ land means that the City of Cockburn owns the land in freehold and can use it for any purpose aligned with the Council’s plans and strategies. ‘Council Managed’ land means it is owned by another authority, such as the State Government or Western Australian Planning Commission and that land is vested in the City of Cockburn to take care of and use, according to certain conditions. 

There are three main types of land and building arrangements in the City: 

1. Council buildings on Council land
2. Council building on Council Managed land
3. Private or other Government agency buildings on Council Managed land.   

Types of groups and activities

The types of groups and activities taking place in the community facilities are: 

• Sports club rooms 
• Kindergartens, pre-school and childcare centres 
• Scouts, guides and navy cadets 
• Cultural groups 
• Disability services
• Social service activities 
• Community halls 
• State government community services

Who can apply for a lease or licence

The City will consider requests to lease from most community groups provided that they meet the following criteria: 

• Are a volunteer based, non-profit distributing organisation: This means that if your group’s income is more than your expenses those funds must be used to develop the organisation. No private individual or group may receive a financial profit from the organisation (aside from reasonable wages or to cover costs). Your group must have been incorporated as a not for profit pursuant to the Incorporated Associations Act (1987) WA
• Have a constitutionally open membership:  This means the membership rules must not exclude any type of person and membership fees must be reasonable. 
• Are in need of a facility to the exclusion of all other user groups due to the size or nature of their activities. 

The City will prefer leasing to: 

• Financially stable and viable community groups with a proven record of good governance and finance practices or an established rigorous framework 
• Forward thinking groups with business plans and organisational development plans 
• Groups with large and stable membership numbers 
• Groups with purposes that are not currently provided in Cockburn and for which there is a demand from the community 

Being eligible to apply for a lease does not necessarily mean an application will be successful as the supply of community facilities is limited and the City needs to ensure the best possible use of the land is made. To date, all our leased-buildings are occupied.

Notes:

• Not all groups require facilities on a full-time basis, or the use of an entire building so the City encourages groups to share facilities wherever possible.
• If you only require a facility for a few hours a week you should contact the leasing and licensing officer on 9411 3495 to discuss facilities which might be available to hire from tenants. Alternatively, if you are looking to book a community hall, please contact our bookings officers on 9411 3404. 

Register your interest

To register your interest in leasing a City of Cockburn Facility, please complete the form below.

Register your interest - Leases form