Section 117 — Residential Tenancies Act 1986: Appeal to District Court

117 Appeal to District Court (1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, any party to any proceedings before the Tribunal who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Tribunal in the proceedings may appeal to a District Court against that decision. (2) No appeal shall lie— (a) Against an interim order made under section 79 of this Act; or (b) Against an order, or the failure to make an order, for the payment of money where the amount that would be in dispute on appeal is less than $1,000; or (c) Against a work order, or the failure to make a work order, where the value of the work that would be in dispute on appeal is less than $1,000. (3) A District Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine an appeal under this section notwithstanding any limits imposed on such courts in their ordinary civil jurisdiction by sections 29 to 34 of the District Courts Act 1947 . (4) The provisions of section 85 of this Act, with any necessary modifications, shall apply in respect of the hearing and determination by a District Court of an appeal brought under this section. (5) An appeal under this section shall be brought by the filing of a notice of appeal, in the prescribed form, in the District Court nearest to the place at which the Tribunal sat in the proceedings to which the appeal relates. (6) Every such notice of appeal shall be filed within 10 working days after the date of the decision to which the appeal relates. (7) As soon as practicable after a notice of appeal has been filed under this section, the Registrar of the Court shall cause a copy of the notice to be lodged with the Tribunal's records relating to the proceedings to which the appeal relates, and, on receipt of that copy, the Registrar of the Tribunal shall send the Tribunal's file on the matter to the Court. (8) The Registrar of the Court shall fix the time and place for the hearing of the appeal and shall notify the appellant. (9) A copy of every notice of appeal together with a notice of the time and place for hearing the appeal shall be served by the Registrar on the other party to the proceedings before the Tribunal, and that party may appear and be heard. (10) The filing of a notice of appeal under this section shall not operate as a stay of proceedings, unless the Tribunal or a District Court Judge, on application, so determines. (11) Where the appeal relates to an order terminating the tenancy made on the ground of non-payment of rent, a stay of proceedings shall not be granted unless the application for stay is supported by a receipt or other written evidence tending to show that the rent was not in fact in arrear at the date of the hearing before the Tribunal. Subsection (2)(b) was substituted, and subsection (2)(c) was inserted, as from 1 May 1996, by section 45 Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 7).