Fabian Barbaro and Belinda Barbaro v Neil Hayter-Burgess and Katie Hayter-Burgess [2014] NSWCATCD 188

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Fabian Barbaro and Belinda Barbaro v Neil Hayter-Burgess and Katie Hayter-Burgess [2014] NSWCATCD 188 Hearing dates: 23 April 2014, 9 July 2014 Decision date: 03 October 2014 Before: J Lennard, General Member Decision: That the application is dismissed. Catchwords: Unlawful payment prior to residential tenancy agreement Legislation Cited: Residential Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Fabian Barbaro and Belinda Barbaro (applicants) Neil Hayter-Burgess and Katie Hayter-Burgess (respondents) File Number(s): RT 14/12710 Publication restriction: Unrestricted

REASOSN FOR decision

APPLICATION 1The application was made on 5 March 2014 for payment of an amount of $5,000.00 by the landlords to the tenants. The application asserted that $5,000.00 had been paid by the tenants as a premium in contravention of section 23 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 [the Act]. Section 23 sets out the payments which may be required by the landlord from the tenant prior to entering into a tenancy agreement. The Tribunal notes that in their oral and written submissions the applicants referred also to s 32 which deals with payments which may be required by the landlord from the tenant for continuing or renewing a tenancy agreement. The facts of this matter concern payments made prior to the entering into of a residential tenancy agreement. 2The application also dealt with other matters between the parties. These were considered and dealt with in relation to the landlords' application in RT 14/16861 where orders were made on 23 April 2014 terminating the tenancy, ordering the tenants to pay arrears of rent and water usage in the amount of $9,421.80.