BLB1101 - Australian Legal System in Context & Residential Tenancies Case Study - Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 - Law Assignment Help

Assignment Task

McNeill v Conlan and Trindade (Residential Tenancies) [2021] VCAT 75 

This hearing was conducted by telephone by Deputy President I. Proctor on 14th September 2020. The date of orders and reasons were heard on 1st February 2021 with final hearing held on 17 February 2021 in front of Deputy President I. Proctor. At the May 27th 2020 hearing VCAT scheduled a compulsory conference that was held on 22 June 2020, intending to explore whether the parties might settle the dispute between themselves. The dispute was not settled and the tenants made an application to dispute. 

Facts - Landlord

The landlord (Shayn McNeill) is seeking full retention of the bond plus compensation for loss caused for the following items – Floorboards sanding and re-polishing, carpet replacement, kitchen benchtop replacement, retractable flyscreens, door replacement, and plant replacement. The application consisted of two claims each under $10,000; 

1. Claim for the $7,000 bond

2. A claim for compensation $8,000

Facts – Tenant 

The tenant’s (Pauline Conlan and Denail Trindade) application requesting to summarily dismissing the case under section 75 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998. Stating that VCAT does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine the landlord’s application under section 447.

Issues

1. Determine if the application for bond and compensation of $15,000 should be summarily dismissed for lack of jurisdiction under section 417 and 210 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997;

2. Understand if the total sum can be treated as two individual claims.

3. Whether the tribunal had jurisdiction to amend the amount claimed to $ 9,999. 

Reasoning

Deputy President I. Proctor determined that the landlord application could not be treated as two separate claims, however based section 127 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Act 1998, the application could be amended so that the total claim would not exceed the jurisdictional limit. 

Orders: 

The tribunal found the tenant’s application to summarily dismiss the proceeding under section 75 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 was not sufficient in this case hence its dismissal.  Under section 127 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998, the landlord’s application is amended to be an application seeking compensation of $9,999 (including a claim for bond of $7,000).

The reduction of the amount claimed enables the parties to resolve the dispute that enables the landlord to seek available remedies under Residential Tenancies Act 1997. Amendment of the application proved that the tenants will not be disadvantaged as the landlord could prove higher entitlements. This approach is consistent with the approach described in the Annotated Residential Tenancies Act concerning the option of an applicant making a monetary claim exceeding $10,000 and the application does not seek to rely on the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012 to claim above $10,000. Deputy President I. Proctor noted that the $10,000 limit in section 447 will rise to $40,000 when the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2108 comes into force, expected on 29th March 2021.

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