Little v Commissioner for Social Housing

Little brought an appeal against a decision by the Commissioner for Social Housing to set aside a decision to grant a rent rebate and to limit the backdating of that rebate. The Commissioner had revoked an earlier rent rebate and then granted a new one. Little argued that the new rebate should be backdated to the date of the earlier decision. The dispute was heard and determined by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The legal issues that the Tribunal was required to decide were whether the Commissioner had the discretion to set the date of effect of the new rent rebate and whether the Commissioner had exercised this discretion lawfully. Little argued that the Tribunal should order the new rent rebate to be backdated to the date of the earlier decision, and that the Commissioner had breached Little's human rights by arbitrarily interfering with Little's home. The Commissioner argued that the date of effect of the new rent rebate was a matter for the Commissioner’s discretion and that the Commissioner had not breached Little's human rights.

The Tribunal found that the Commissioner had the discretion to set the date of effect of the new rent rebate. However, the Tribunal found that the Commissioner had exercised this discretion unlawfully by not taking into account Little’s domestic violence situation. The Tribunal found that this was an unusual or out of the ordinary circumstance that warranted the Tribunal setting the date of effect of the new rent rebate to the date of the earlier decision. The Tribunal found that the Commissioner had breached Little's human right to protection from arbitrary interference with home in exercising this discretion.

The Tribunal set aside the decision of the Commissioner and substituted a decision that the date of effect of the rent rebate was 20 September 2015.