Law Commission consults on role of Tribunals in housing disputes

The consultation (1) argues that where housing disputes need formal adjudication they should be moved from the generalist county court to a specialist adjudicatory body.
 
The paper proposes that:

• Claims for possession and disrepair of rented dwellings should be transferred from the county court to the Residential Property Tribunal Service (RPTS), on the assumption that the RPTS will be incorporated into the First-tier Tribunal to be created by the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act.
• Appeals on a point of law from the First-tier Tribunal should, with permission, go to the Upper Tribunal.
• Homelessness statutory appeals currently heard by the county court, and housing and homelessness judicial review applications, currently made to the Administrative Court, should be transferred to the Upper Tribunal.

 
The paper notes the fears of many respondents that a transfer of housing cases to a housing tribunal would involve the loss of legal aid. It notes that the future of legal aid is currently very uncertain. It proposes that legal aid should continue to be available in those cases for which it is currently available, while noting that the principles on which legal aid is granted may change.
 
Although the paper claims at one point that the Commission would not support the transfer of jurisdictions proposed unless legal aid was available in the First-tier and Upper Tribunals, the paper fails to confront the real possibility that a transfer of jurisdictions could be followed by a reduction in legal aid availability, in the First-tier in particular.
 
The extent of support for the Commission's proposals is not clear. The paper notes that those who responded to the previous Issues Paper did not come out strongly in favour of any major change to current arrangements.
 
Moreover, the Commission assumes there will be no significant increase in the public funds available for the resolution of housing disputes, whilst almost all respondents to the Issues Paper, said they thought that further resources needed to be put into the housing dispute resolution system, either into the courts, or into the provision of advice and representation, or both.
 
The deadline for responses is the 28th September 2007.
 
(1) Housing: Proportionate Dispute Resolution – The Role of Tribunals – A Consultation Paper