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A Mystery Finally Solved by the Tribunal
September 4, 2019
We recently had occasion to take a delinquent tenant to the Tribunal for late payment of rent. Despite our best efforts, it seemed the tenant was not going to pay – so off to the Tribunal we go!

One of the frustrating things about Tribunal hearings is that in these situations they always seem to want to set up payment plans with tenants to “give them another go”. There seems to be no thought to the losses the owner is incurring.

In the good old days, we would have such a hearing at the Tribunal, make a strong case and we would be given vacant possession of the property. This has not been the case for some time. What do we get? ‘Payment Plans’. And then if the tenant does not stick to the plan, we have to make another application to the Tribunal for yet another hearing to get vacant possession which our owner correctly deserves. In this particular case, it was quite evident the Tribunal Member could clearly see and agree with our case.

We fully expected to be given vacant possession for once – but once again, this was not to be. However, the Tribunal Member did explain to us that higher courts have been coming down on the Tribunal members, saying they are “frowning” on this practice. So it seems their hands are as tied as ours!

We did get a win though. The Member gave us an order stipulating that in the event the tenant did not comply with any one of the four payment dates set up in the plan, we could simply call for the bailiff and get possession the very next day.

The good news is that the owner has full Landlord Protection Insurance in place and once the tenant is gone, will be able to claim all the lost rent. At least we now know what is impinging on the Tribunal Members who have to make these decisions.

See our other article about reviewing your insurances. Bonds get quickly eaten up and proper insurance can certainly take the pain out of a bad situation.