Nobile v Illidge

[2019] QCATA 89

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Nobile v Illidge & Anor [2019] QCATA 89

PARTIES:

ROSALEA NOBILE

(applicant\appellant)

v

KYLIE ILLIDGE

(first respondent)

CASSELMAN PTY LTD T/AS RAY WHITE CHERMSIDE

(second respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

APL312-18

ORIGINATING APPLICATION NO/S:

MCDT268-18; MCDT289-18 (Brisbane)

MATTER TYPE:

Appeals

DELIVERED ON:

26 June 2019

HEARING DATE:

On the papers

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Member Howe

ORDERS:

1.   Leave to adduce fresh evidence on appeal refused

2.   Leave to appeal refused

CATCHWORDS:

APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – NEW TRIAL – IN GENERAL AND PARTICULAR GROUNDS – where a tenant claimed compensation for loss of amenity – where there was delay in bringing the application – where little weight was given the complaints about loss of amenity on the basis of delay – where the appellant complained about an award of a break lease fee where no break lease fee was awarded

Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld), s 94, s 185, s 419

Pickering v McArthur [2005] QCA 294

REPRESENTATION:
Applicant:	Self-represented
Respondents:	Self-represented by M Seymour
APPEARANCES:	This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to s 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld).

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. Ms Nobile was the tenant of a property at Chermside. She held it under a fixed term lease which commenced on 12 December 2016 and had an end date of 15 January 2018.

2. Ms Nobile had to break her lease because of a job offer in Western Australia. She advised the respondent agents about that and signed a break lease agreement but it transpired that there were only a few days before the end of the fixed term lease when she left anyway.

3. Ms Nobile brought proceedings in the tribunal claiming $9,071.70 compensation against the lessor for what she described as the premises being partly unfit to live in, loss of amenity, payment of bond and breach of agreement.

4. The lessor filed her own application claiming unpaid rent and cleaning costs on top of the bond which had already been paid out.

5. Both claims were heard together. The matters were first listed for hearing on 25 June 2018 but adjourned to 15 October 2018 when it became clear Ms Nobile was not in possession of all the material filed in the tribunal.

6. Following a second day of hearing the learned Adjudicator presiding ordered, in resolution of both claims, that the lessor be permitted to keep the bond of $1,600 and Ms Nobile pay an additional amount of $1,716.04 to the lessor.

7. Ms Nobile seeks leave to appeal that decision.

8. 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).

9. 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,…