Supreme Court appeal
We have filed one of the first appeals against a VCAT decision since that Tribunal was created.

The VCAT decision, Jeffries v. Rental Housing Association Ltd Fitzroy Collingwood, ordered that Donald Jeffrey (VCAT could never spell his name right!) could not recover money that he paid under illegal rent increases. Senior Member Walker's written reasons for his decision stated that, although the increases did not comply with the Rooming Houses Act 1990, Mr Jeffrey was unable to recover the money as it would cause the rooming house hardship to repay it, and that the arrangement had taken place in good faith, with Mr Jeffrey getting something for his money (ie a room).

At the hearing, Mr Walker did not ask for any submissions on these points, so the decision came as a surprise to us all. Instead, he did his own research, and referred to cases on the legalistic issues of 'mistake of fact' v. 'mistake of law' and 'restitution for unjust enrichment'.

We think he got it wrong (and so does our barrister)!

So we have lodged an application for leave to appeal under s.148 of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998, claiming the decision contained errors of law. This is a new procedure, and we had some difficulty assessing the correct procedure for the appeal. Even the Supreme Court Registry couldn't work it out. But we've now done it, and have a full set of precedents for next time.

We'll be going before the Master of the Supreme Court with our application for leave to appeal, on 7 November 1998. If we are granted leave, we'll then have to file and serve lots more documents, and we'll get a hearing date for the appeal itself.

We'll keep you updated!
If you have any questions about this process, or about assessing decisions for appeal, contact one of the solicitors at the Tenants Union Fitzroy office. One hint is to always ask for written reasons if you think you might want to challenge the decision!