Tenant and Landlord Reach Agreement, Stay Granted for 12 Months

OUTCOME: Allowed

© CROWN COPYRIGHT

FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL PROPERTY CHAMBER (RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY) and IN THE COUNTY COURT AT MANCHESTER, sitting at 10 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] Case reference : LON/00AH/LSC/2019/0360 & 0361 County court claim numberS : D56YJ459 E55YJ693 HMCTS code (paper, video, audio) : V: CVPREMOTE Property : [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] Applicant/Claimant : [redacted] : ADH Legal Ms [COUNSEL], counsel Respondent/ Defendant : [redacted] : Mr [COUNSEL], direct access counsel Type of application : Transfer from County Court – Service & Administration Charges, Interest and Costs Tribunal members : Judge Nicol Mr C P Gowman [NAME] of decision : 14th December 2020

DECISION

(1) By consent, the cases are stayed until 14th December 2021. (2) The parties may apply to end the stay or to withdraw but, if they do not do so by 14th December 2021, the cases will be struck out.

2 Reasons 1. The Applicant/Claimant is the freeholder and the Respondent/ Defendant is the lessee of one of the two flats at [ADDRESS]. The Applicant issued two claims in the county court: • D56YJ459 April 2017 £6,865.33 • E55YJ693 April 2018 £5,990.69 2. On the second claim, default judgment was obtained but then set aside and the claim transferred to the Tribunal by District Judge Obodai on 11th January 2019.

3. By order made on 22nd August 2019 Deputy District Judge Falder similarly set aside a default judgment on the first claim, joined the two claims together and sent them both to the Tribunal.

4. The Tribunal issued directions for both cases on 8th October 2019. Amongst other matters, the Tribunal directed that all issues would be decided together so that the Tribunal judge would sit as a county court judge to decide matters within the exclusive jurisdiction of the court.

5. The hearing was initially listed for 17th January 2020 but was adjourned to 13th May 2020 due to problems with compliance with the directions. It then had to be further adjourned due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A hearing was eventually held on 16th November 2020 but that too had to be adjourned, to 14th December 2020. The hearing was attended by: • Ms [COUNSEL], counsel for the Applicant; • Mr [COUNSEL], counsel for the Respondent; and • Mr [COUNSEL].

6. The parties have been able to reach a measure of agreement, albeit at the last minute, and, at the hearing, jointly sought a stay of 12 months to allow the agreement to be finalised and implemented. Both the Tribunal and the court consented to this, save that the parties must inform the Tribunal within the period of 12 months what is happening with the cases and, if they do not, they will be struck out.

Name: Judge Nicol Date: 14th December 2020