Rehearings, appeals & stay of proceedings

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Rehearings

Both the landlord and the tenant can apply for a rehearing.

You should apply at the District Court where the original hearing took place. You have 5 working days after the decision is issued to apply for a rehearing.

You can get the form from the court or ask them to post it to you.

Find a District Court

Grounds for a rehearing

You can apply for a rehearing if you believe that a substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice has happened. For example:

  • you did not get the letter telling you the date of the hearing or
  • the adjudicator improperly admitted or rejected evidence or
  • new evidence, relating to the original application, has become available.

You must give reasons and evidence to support your application.

A rehearing will not be granted just because you disagree with the decision.

What happens next?

The same adjudicator who heard the original case will consider the application and decide whether to grant a rehearing. You may have to attend a short hearing to argue why a rehearing should be granted.

If a rehearing is granted, it will usually be conducted by a different adjudicator.

What if I’m out of time?

You need to file an Application for Rehearing Out of Time. You will need to include the reasons why you are applying outside of the 5 working days time limit.

Appeals

Both the landlord and the tenant can file an appeal.

You should file your appeal at the District Court where the original hearing took place. You have 10 working days after the decision is issued to file an appeal. The cost for an appeal is $200.

You can get the form from the court or ask them to post it to you.

Find a District Court

At the appeal hearing, you can choose to be represented by a lawyer if you wish. If you use a lawyer for the appeal, you will have to pay your lawyer's fees. Legal aid is generally not available.

Grounds for an appeal

You can appeal if you think the decision was wrong, but not just because you don’t like the decision.

For some cases, there’ll be no right to appeal. For example, you can’t appeal:

  • against an interim order
  • a final order for the payment of  less than $1000
  • a final order to undertake work worth less than $1000.

You may be able to apply for a rehearing in those cases.

What happens next?

You and the other party will need to attend a hearing before a District Court judge. We will notify you of the date, time and venue of this hearing.

There is usually no fee for the hearing. However, if the hearing lasts for longer than half a day, you will need to pay a fee of $900 for each half day after the first half day.

The appeal will be conducted by the judge as a rehearing of the original claim.

What types of decisions can the judge make?

The judge can:

  • dismiss the appeal or
  • cancel the Tribunal's order and order a rehearing or
  • cancel the Tribunal's order and make any other order that the Tribunal could have made.

What if I’m out of time?

There is no provision in the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 to file an appeal out of time.

Stay of proceedings

Does a rehearing or appeal stop an order from being enforced?

Filing an application for a rehearing or appeal does not stop the order from being enforced – for example, it doesn’t stop an eviction from happening. A party can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal or District Court for an order to suspend the enforcement process. This is called a stay of enforcement proceedings.

You can get the form from the court or ask them to post it to you.

Find a District Court

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