Quaresmini v L J Hooker

Quaresmini v L J Hooker involved a dispute between the tenant and landlord over whether the landlord breached the covenant to repair, which led to the tenant withholding rent. The matter was heard in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The legal issues that the court was required to decide were whether the breach of the covenant to repair by the landlord gave the tenant the right to set off against a liability for or a liquidated claim for rent and whether the court should abate the rent where there was an arguable default of the landlord in satisfying a repair covenant or to make the premises habitable at the commencement of the lease.

The court found that the tenant had not provided any evidence to support his claims of the uninhabitable conditions of the premises or that he had notified the landlord of the issues. The court also noted that the application for leave to appeal was served two days late, but this did not seem to be fatal to the application. The court further found that the tenant had not provided any objective evidence that he had issued any notice or complaint or other application suggesting there had been alleged breaches by the landlord of the tenancy agreement. The court concluded that the application for leave to appeal did not have merits and dismissed the applications.

The court ordered that the applications be dismissed.