The Residential Tenancies Act 1994 was amended as from 1st August 2003 to regulate the listing of tenants on databases. There are no contested applications. The Tribunal, in deciding to order that a tenant be removed from a database, could consider:-

• If listing was made over two years ago and no subsequent problems have arisen, there is a strong likelihood that the listing would be removed;
• If the tenant has paid all monies that were owing, an order of the Tribunal, for removal would generally be successful;
• Whether the listing resulted from an order of a Tribunal - where the listing has been made for a minor breach or simply because of a disagreement between the tenant and the agent and no order of the Tribunal exists, the listing, in all probability, would be removed.

CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION BY LESSOR AGAINST TENANT WHO VACATES FIXED TERM LEASE
This is covered in Section 250 (3) of the Residential Tenancy Act 1994, which provides that a tenant who vacated a fixed term lease before the expiry date may compensate the lessor for rent required to be paid to the lease end. Advertising expenses and other expenses incurred by the lessor for reletting the premises can also be claimed. The latter would include the reletting fee if the premises were re-let prior to about 8 weeks before the end of the tenancy term. Where the tenant wishes to terminate a fixed term lease early, the tenant should make an application to the Tribunal prior to making final arrangements to vacate.

ENFORCEMENT
The enforcement procedure is no different from the procedure required under the general law for the recovery of any debt, with the exception that the Tribunal can cause the party which owes the money to be examined as to his or her financial affairs. There are three separate ways, which may be followed by the successful party.

• Oral Examination by Tribunal. The respondent must have a known residential or work address in Queensland. Should the respondent fail to appear, the Tribunal will issue an arrest warrant to the Bailiff to bring the respondent before the Tribunal. The examination is conducted by the Registrar of the Tribunal and there is no need to attend. The applicant will be provided with a copy of the examination and also an agreement by the respondent to pay the monies by instalment if applicable.
• Registration of Order of Tribunal as Civil Judgement. This may be done after the examination by the Tribunal or in lieu of the examination. The applicant must obtain a certified copy of the Tribunal's order and register that order in a Magistrates Court Registry. If a prior examination has been completed in the Tribunal, the applicant may use this material to attach monies owing to the respondent or have the Bailiff seize and sell any property to the respondent.
• Enforcement Interstate. The Tribunal cannot take enforcement action against a respondent who resides interstate. The applicant must register the order of the Tribunal in the Magistrates Court. The applicant then must obtain a certified copy of the judgement entry from the Magistrates Court. The judgement must then be registered in the nearest local or Magistrates court to where the respondent resides and then enforced according to that State's law. Fees are payable for each step. Because the Tribunal makes an order, it does no automatically follow that the successful party will be paid, as the respondent may have no attachable income, no goods to sell or may be declared bankrupt.

Accordingly, the Lessor Protection Policy that Peter Campbell Realty offers via MGA Insurance is even more important than before. I expect that the watering down of "the bad tenant database" will cause a corresponding rise in recurring defaulting tenants. The most important issue is that a bad tenant cannot be put onto the database until the tenancy is terminated, i.e. the tenant does not pay rent for the last 6-8 weeks, runs out the bond and can only be listed "after the event".

Your positive reaction. Take Landlord Insurance , and/or a Rental Guarantee that assures you of monthly rental cash flow for four (4) years irrespective of the sub-tenant conduct.

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