I am exasperated at the unjust legal system and need some help. My brother and my elderly pensioner parents planned to move into my brothers house once the current tenancy contract expired. When the contract ceased, they gave 2 months notice in Feb and proceeded to make their journeys to Qld to live in April. Now 6 weeks on, they still cannot get the tenant to leave. The court has ruled in her favour to allow her to stay in the property until the housing agency (Compass) find her a new home. Compass has found 4 homes but the tenant chooses not to relocate. So my parents and my brother are homeless in Brisbane, paying $350 pw in a caravan park, paying $50pw storage and unable to do anything but wait for the tenant to consider something suitable. The court has allowed her until August and up to 12 weeks after that. Where is the justice when the rules are followed.. The LJ Hooker Property Manager and Compass Housing are not assisting in any way and my family is being forced to be homeless and incur considerable expenses while they pay the mortgage and operating costs of a property they cannot occupy. Is there anything we can do. Even the neighbours are begging us to get rid of the tenant due to her nuisance behaviour. Please advice.
QLD How to evict a tenant that tribunal allows to stay
- Thread starter Kann
- Start date
Hi Kann,
I would suggest you should have made a stronger case at QCAT. If the decision has come back and awarded in favour of the tenant there must be a reason for it. Your only other option is to see a lawyer and see if you can make a new application to QCAT.
I would suggest you should have made a stronger case at QCAT. If the decision has come back and awarded in favour of the tenant there must be a reason for it. Your only other option is to see a lawyer and see if you can make a new application to QCAT.
Thanks for your reply. We had no involvement in the tribunal hearing as Compass took Tenant to tribunal. We will explore the avenue to take it back to QCAT with our own case. Appreciate your info.
There's also potential scope depending on the actual wording of the decision. QCAT can be tricky, because you're not always guaranteed to have a member presiding who has judicial qualification (and therefore, the potential for lax decision wording).
For example, if the ambit of the decision is 'until Compass find her a replacement residence', and they've found one to a reasonably commensurate standard, that may be enough to discharge it. However, if there's power in there for her to exercise discretion it may be a little harder.
You might possibly be precluded from commencing another application, since the time for appeal has apparently passed. Under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act, the agent stands in your stead for the tribunal application (effectively, you're a represented party). You may be relegated to an application to reopen the original proceeding. There are only two grounds for doing this:
(a) the applying party didn't appear at the hearing of the proceeding and had a reasonable excuse; or
(b) the applying party would suffer a substantial injustice if the proceeding wasn't reopened because significant new evidence has arisen, and that evidence was not reasonably available on first hearing.
(a) is unlikely to help you because the agent is effectively you for the purposes of the hearing. So, you're likely to be stuck with (b) - and that means more than simply something you knew which wasn't presented.
I'd be looking into the scope of the original order first, if it were me.
For example, if the ambit of the decision is 'until Compass find her a replacement residence', and they've found one to a reasonably commensurate standard, that may be enough to discharge it. However, if there's power in there for her to exercise discretion it may be a little harder.
You might possibly be precluded from commencing another application, since the time for appeal has apparently passed. Under the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act, the agent stands in your stead for the tribunal application (effectively, you're a represented party). You may be relegated to an application to reopen the original proceeding. There are only two grounds for doing this:
(a) the applying party didn't appear at the hearing of the proceeding and had a reasonable excuse; or
(b) the applying party would suffer a substantial injustice if the proceeding wasn't reopened because significant new evidence has arisen, and that evidence was not reasonably available on first hearing.
(a) is unlikely to help you because the agent is effectively you for the purposes of the hearing. So, you're likely to be stuck with (b) - and that means more than simply something you knew which wasn't presented.
I'd be looking into the scope of the original order first, if it were me.
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