Hicks v Lovett

[2019] QCATA 179

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Hicks v Lovett [2019] QCATA 179

PARTIES:

DANNY HICKS

(appellant)

v

DANIEL LOVETT

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

APL195-18

ORIGINATING APPLICATION NO/S:

MCDT0302-18 (Brisbane)

MATTER TYPE:

Appeals

DELIVERED ON:

5 November 2019

HEARING DATE:

13 August 2019

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Member Howe

ORDERS:

1.   Application to adduce fresh evidence at Appeal is refused.

2.   Leave to Appeal granted.

3.   Appeal allowed.

4.   The matter is returned to the same tribunal of Justices of the Peace for reconsideration with the hearing of additional evidence as necessary.

CATCHWORDS:

APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – APPEAL – GENERAL PRINCIPLES – RIGHT OF APPEAL – where application for leave to appeal – where the provider of rooming accommodation terminated a rooming accommodation agreement on the day of issue of a notice to leave – where notice to leave given because the provider believed the resident had threatened to start a fire – where the resident claimed return of the bond – where the provider made a counter application for compensation equal to the bond – where Justices of the Peace found the provider had not tendered sufficient evidence – where the provider had in fact filed evidence – whether the provider gave the resident appropriate notice to leave – where the provider’s claims to compensation required further evidence to assess them – where the matter should be returned to the tribunal for further consideration

Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld), s 370

Pickering v McArthur [2005] QCA 294

APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION:
Applicant:	Self-represented
Respondent:	B Darling of Tenants Qld

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. Mr Hicks provides rooming accommodation in a rooming house in Brisbane. Mr Lovett was a resident.

2. In December 2017 Mr Hicks asked Mr Lovett to leave because Mr Hicks was told Mr Lovett had threatened to start a fire in his room. Mr Lovett left.

3. Mr Lovett commenced proceedings in the tribunal seeking recovery of a bond of $680 he had paid for one of the rooms at the premises.

4. Mr Hicks filed a counter application also claiming the bond to cover the costs of outstanding rent, a relet fee, cleaning charges and for other items of compensation.

5. The matter was heard before Justices of the Peace on 4 July 2018 with the Justices of the Peace ordering that Mr Hicks should be paid $171.42 from that bond and the balance paid to Mr Lovett.

6. Mr Hicks has filed an application seeking leave to appeal and appeal that decision.

7. Given this is an appeal from a decision made in the tribunal’s minor civil dispute jurisdiction, leave to appeal must first be obtained before any appeal proceeds.[1]

   [1]QCAT Act, s 142(3)(a)(i).

8. Leave to appeal will usually only be granted where an appeal is necessary to correct a substantial injustice and where there is a reasonable argument that there is an error to be corrected.[2] There may be other relevant considerations, but these are the primary ones.

   [2]Pickering v McArthur [2005] QCA 294, [3].

9. The…