The Rental Housing Tribunal has been formed in 2001 to help solve disputes between tenants and landlords.

There is a misconception that the Tribunal is there only to help tenants. However, that is not the case. The Rental Housing Tribunal is helping both landlords and tenants alike to solve their disputes in any unfair practices on both sides.

This is part one of a two part article series. Part two is:  Rental Housing Tribunal: Let Us Read Your Rights!

Who is entitled for help? 

Both tenants and landlords can receive free help from the Tribunal. This service also extends to include institutions and property management agencies.

If there is a rental dispute in relation to housing both the lessee and lessor or the managing agent can apply for help from the Rental Housing Tribunal.

How does one get help from the Rental Housing Tribunal ?

The first step would be to call the Housing Tribunal. From various reported experiences, the Tribunal staff members are very friendly and listen to the problems.

If one wants to take the case further, then the Tribunal has a process to lodge a complaint. The Tribunal will provide the forms to lodge the complaint. Once the complaint is lodged a reference number is allocated.

Then the Housing Tribunal will conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether the complaint relates to a dispute that may constitute an unfair practice. An inspector may inspect the property concerned and compile a report if necessary.

The Tribunal has 30-days to determine if the case is one of unfair practices.

If the case does not constitute unfair practice, the Tribunal will notify the person complaining of this outcome in writing.

If the complaint is found to constitute such a dispute, the Tribunal will try to resolve the matter with informal/formal mediation. However the problems, as usual, really start when the parties are not able to reach an agreement in the informal proceedings. Then the Tribunal will refer the case for a ruling at a formal hearing.

That may be as good as going to court, just like with any other law suit, and having a judge make a ruling. What people often misunderstand about the Tribunal is that, if the matter does reach a formal hearing, the ruling is regarded as an order of a Magistrates Court and is therefore "Final".

This also means that if any of the parties don’t stick to the Tribunal’s ruling they will be guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to a fine or imprisonment not exceeding two years.

In Conclusion

For both landlords and tenants that want to get help from the Rental Housing Tribunal, a good suggestion is to have their “house in order” so to speak, as the Tribunal is not an institution to take lightly.

However, for those that have serious problems and truly want to resolve them, the Tribunal may save months of going to courts and lots of money spent on lawyers.

In conclusion, the Rental Housing Tribunal can help speed up the process when disputes arise and solve the problems, while it can also save a fortune on private attorneys and months on the resolution. But this does not mean that one can take the Rental Housing Tribunal lightly as their ruling is a final ruling and it must be obeyed.

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