QCAT in Brisbane City

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comments 5

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  Stephen Garbett

  :: 15 March 2018 17:30:15

  Unbelievable with written formal information, but unqualified to really help anyone with the basics, one needs to be a Qualified Lawyer/Solicitor to properly understand what they say…, you are much better off seeking your own legal representation

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  Amanda Langley

  :: 31 January 2018 13:24:56

  Accepts unsubstantiated evidence from dodgy landlorda and obviously does not yake into accoubt the actual.facts this is a corrupt and unjust gob department . Bullies

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  Courtney J

  :: 14 January 2018 21:31:15

  QCAT is an absolute joke of a system. We went through QCAT because our landlord refused to return our deposit despite us leaving the house in immaculate condition. The only reason the landlord was keeping our rent was because she wanted vengeance for us breaking the lease early - this is a woman that we had to file a police report against because she was showing up at the property without permission and unannounced, and even harassed our soon to be landlords. We did everything by the book, including invested countless hours in photographing our evidence and making copies available for every person present. Our landlord showed up with a photo album containing pictures of items we had never seen before as her "evidence" for claims she never made until the day of our QCAT hearing. The judges at QCAT actually copied the pictures for her and gave them to us, meanwhile refusing to watch a 5 minute video that we made upon exiting the property, which would have cleared everything up because every claim she made was refuted in the video. They also did not look at any of our evidence and became annoyed and wanted us to hurry up when we tried to get them to look at our evidence. At one point, the judges agreed with us that the images she had of some curtains did not match the images of "damaged curtains" that she was claiming we did. The most absurd of her claims was that we broke a key in the door, so she had to replace every lock in the house and wanted us to compensate her for it. Yet, as I pointed out, she never claimed that a key was missing until that moment - there was no mention of a missing key upon the exit report and we had pictures and video of all of the keys being left on the counter upon our exit, as well as proof in the video that the door unlocked and locked. The judges seemed to be on our side, until suddenly at the end they weren't. They ended the case saying that "clearly, someone is lying and why would our landlord lie?". Um, to take our money, perhaps?! And that was it - they sided with her in full. I would NOT recommend going through QCAT.

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  Karl G

  :: 09 January 2018 20:26:23

  After a rental dispute from our landlord who we had already filed notice of breaches with through the RTA and who found her guilty of two breaches, the landlord tried to claim our bond when we vacated the property. The QCAT guidelines made clear that we would need to have evidence of all claims made against us and have clear references to it in the documentation that we were required to submit prior to our hearing date. My fiance and I spent literally hours upon hours preparing e-mails between ourselves and the landlord, text messages, etc. to dispute the claims that she put forward in her submission before the hearing. We were explicitly informed that no information would be accepted after the submission date or on the day. After preparing our evidence, post-noting it all and even writing page numbered contents to make it easier for the judge, the landlord changed all of the items she had originally put forward as being in breach of our bond ON THE DAY! I had filmed the entire house including doors, locks, walls, floors, etc. before we left and when I tried to submit it as evidence the QCAT staff hearing our case said, " If you want to submit video then we will keep your computer". I asked for an explanation and they told me that it would be evidence and that they would have to keep my computer and it wouldn't get returned! One look at the video footage for 5 minutes and they would have seen that all of her claims were false and closed the case. Instead our 20 minute hearing resumed. After this we were told to submit our evidence. We still were confident that she had no case as we had prepared thoroughly. Upon handing over our paperwork they turned to the landlord and she said, "I'm so sorry but I forgot to prepare my documents, am I able to print?". After yelling at her and telling her that that was against all protocol they then told her that they would make an exception in this case!! We couldn't believe it. Then, while their assistant was printing her documents the QCAT staff turned to us, held up our paperwork and said, "Do you expect us to read all this?". By now my blood was beginning to boil and my fiance said calmly, "no, we just prepared as much as possible to ensure that we could cover all of our bases". To which they snorted. Literally. When the landlord came back to the room with her printing she had a quote from a locksmith because apparently we broke the keys in the door and she had to change them. There was no evidence of a broken key or broken lock and we had the video (which they didn't accept) showing us entering the house and leaving all the keys in the kitchen drawer, we even had photos of the front door and keys - THEY RULED IN HER FAVOUR She also had a picture of a rolled up yoga matt in the dark with what looked like screwdriver stab marks in it and that she claimed were curtains - THEY RULED IN HER FAVOUR. This went on, as they summarily dismissed all of our evidence (didn't even look at it) and awarded in her favour with ZERO evidence and the fact that she changed all of her complaints on the day, which we also had evidence of. In the end, they awarded in her favour the full bond, meaning that despite the fact the RTA had served her with two breaches, she had not prepared any evidence prior and that she had changed her complaints from what she had originally WRITTEN DOWN, they still gave her our money! I wanted to appeal, however found out that we would have to pay another $300, file all of the paperwork, evidence, etc. just to be heard by these incompetent pieces of work all over again. QCAT reflect a failed system which sides with landlords over tenants in the majority of cases, even when tenants are well prepared and in the right. It's ironic that they were set up to combat the unfair system that had been proven to side overwhelmingly with landlords. Nothing has changed. If they abided by their own rules, the case would have been thrown out when the landlord presented no evidence. Go to a real court with real judges who if you want the right to a fair hearing. Avoid these amateurs!

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  kelly Buckman

  :: 23 November 2017 16:30:01

  My experience today with the QCAT court process was one of complete professionalism. The legal representative who heard and mediated the case was articulate and concise, he knew the tenancy act and applied it fairly and accurately. I felt heard and my views were taken fully into account. This was a case where the managing agent pressured by the owner, who was selling the property, decided to take from the bond of $3400 over $2000 in unjust and unwarranted claims of cleaning and gardening, hugely inflating cleaning and gardening charges. For a property that was left in A1 condition. Justice did prevail and this clever legal representative saw right through their actions and failure to follow the act.