Clark v Sherriff

Clark and another person sought leave to appeal the Tribunal's decision to dismiss their application for unliquidated damages against their former tenants, who had allegedly caused damage to their property. The applicants claimed that the tenants had caused damage to the property, which they alleged was not covered by the terms of their wholly oral agreement. The application for damages was dismissed for want of jurisdiction, as the applicants had not first made a dispute resolution request as required by section 416 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008.

The court was required to decide whether the applicants' application for leave to appeal should be granted. The applicants argued that their case could be heard as a non-urgent residential tenancy application in the Tribunal's Minor Civil Disputes jurisdiction. The court had to consider whether the Tribunal's decision was correct and whether the applicants' application for leave to appeal should be granted.

The court found that the Tribunal's decision was incorrect. The court held that the applicants' case could be heard as a non-urgent residential tenancy application in the Tribunal's Minor Civil Disputes jurisdiction. The court further held that the applicants had not been required to make a dispute resolution request before applying to the Tribunal, as their application was framed as a claim for unliquidated damages. The court granted the applicants' application for leave to appeal and allowed the appeal. The court set aside the order of 20 May 2013 and stayed further proceedings until the parties complied with section 416 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act and until a Notice of Unresolved Dispute was lodged with QCAT.