Commissioner for Social Housing v Poole

The Commissioner for Social Housing sought a conditional termination and possession order against the tenant, Mr Poole, in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The Commissioner sought the order after Mr Poole had fallen into arrears of rent of more than $4600, despite having made some payments towards the arrears. The Commissioner had served Mr Poole with a notice to remedy, followed by a notice to vacate, but Mr Poole had not remedied the arrears or vacated the premises. The Commissioner sought the order under ss 42 and 49 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. The Tribunal was satisfied that Mr Poole was reasonably likely to pay the arrears and future rent, and Mr Poole had undertaken to do so. The Tribunal decided to exercise its discretion to make a conditional termination and possession order, but was required to determine the period for which the order should operate. The Tribunal noted that the legislation did not provide for orders to be made for the period necessary for the tenant to repay the arrears, but rather that the order should expire no more than one year after the order is made, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Tribunal did not consider that the size of the arrears debt was exceptional and did not consider that other factors were relevant to the question of exceptional circumstances. The Tribunal ordered that the conditional termination and possession order would expire one year after the order was made.

The order required Mr Poole to pay the arrears to the Commissioner by instalments of $30.90 per fortnight, commencing on 18 February 2015. If Mr Poole failed to make one payment of rent arrears, the tenancy would terminate at 5pm on the following day. The Commissioner would be entitled to possession of the premises and all outstanding amounts remaining would become due and payable immediately. If Mr Poole failed to make a payment of future rent as it fell due, the tenancy would also terminate and the Commissioner would be entitled to possession of the premises and all outstanding amounts remaining would become due and payable immediately. If Mr Poole failed to vacate the premises after termination of the tenancy, the Commissioner could apply to the Registrar to issue a warrant for eviction.