We are thrilled to bits with a decision just in from His Honour Justice Parker. It is so positive that it has set a precedent that will help all future Landlords and Agents in South Australia when claiming unpaid rent when a tenant breaks their lease!
The matter arose when one of our tenants decided to break their lease. Despite our best efforts, it took a bit longer than usual to re-lease the property. The tenant had stopped paying their rent even though their lease obliged them to keep paying rent until a new tenant was in place.
We went off to the tenancy Tribunal to claim the missing rent. The Tribunal Member ruled that our landlord had not carried out due diligence in getting a new tenant because he didn’t lower the rent after three weeks of marketing. We therefore lost the claim which we thought extremely unfair!
So, at our own expense, we asked for the decision to be reviewed. Justice Parker reviewed all the evidence and ruled in our favour, cancelling the previous order and ordering the tenant to pay all outstanding rent.
A win for justice and common sense all round.
If you are interested in reading the judgement, please give our office a ring and we will be happy to send you a copy.
