Landlords and tenants are being encouraged to utilise the dispute resolution services of the Rent Assessment Board (RAB) within the Ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change.
“The purpose of the RAB is to serve as an unbiased party in settling disputes between tenants and landlords as guided by the Rent Restriction Act. I want to encourage landlords and tenants who are having a dispute to contact the Rent Assessment Board. We are a quasi-judicial body and that means the Board has both judicial hearings (twice per month) and mediation sessions for landlords and tenants in dispute,” Director in the Rent Service Unit, Shenese Williams-Headlam, told JIS News.
Read moreIn an effort to create a more equitable, less costly, and more efficient means for manufactured/mobile home community landlords and tenants to resolve disputes arising from the rights and duties articulated in the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act (“MHLTA” RCW 59.20), the Washington State Legislature enacted RCW 59.30 back in 2007. It is presently administered by the Washington State Attorney General’s Manufactured Housing Dispute Resolution Program (“MHDRP”).
Read moreAre disputes between landlords and tenants arbitrable under Indian law? If yes, are all types of disputes arbitrable? Can arbitration clauses in lease agreements be enforced? After significant confusion and long-standing disputes around the arbitrability of tenancy matters, it may now be possible to answer some of these questions. In two judgments passed within a month, Suresh Shah v. Hipad Technology India Private Limited1 (“Suresh Shah”) and Vidya Drolia & Ors. v. Durga Trading Corporation2 (“Vidya Drolia II”), the Supreme Court has settled the dust on whether landlord-tenancy disputes under the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (“TP Act”) are arbitrable under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Arbitration Act”).
Read moreEviction filings in Massachusetts have been climbing since a statewide moratorium expired in October. And while Governor Charlie Baker has allocated an extra $171 million to tenant and landlord relief programs, eviction cases are expected to climb even faster in the new year, after a federal moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control expires on December 31.
Read moreEVERETT — Unpaid rent, not-so neighborly behavior and other unresolved grievances can make the landlord-tenant relationship unpleasant during the pandemic.
With a statewide eviction moratorium prohibiting legal action, a pilot program authorized by the state Supreme Court aims to settle the issues hampering landlords and tenants without court intervention.
Read moreDiane Buchanan lives with her daughter and her grandson in an apartment in Philadelphia. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, she recently told a committee of the Philadelphia City Council, her daughter lost her job as a hairdresser, leaving Buchanan to carry more of the burden of rent and bills. Schools closed, and her grandson started learning from home. The refrigerator stopped working, and the landlord “slow-walked” the repairs for months, she said. She started thinking she might get evicted over the dispute with the landlord. She thought she might be able to move in with her son, but he had a one-bedroom apartment — a dangerous situation during a pandemic. She also might be able to move to California and live with her brother, but she didn’t want to rely on him and lose her independence. Then she got a text message from a housing counselor, saying she was scheduled for a pre-eviction mediation with her landlord.
Read moreMost landlords, tenants and indeed agents want tenancy disputes to be resolved quickly in order to avoid the need for court.
In the TDS Insured Scheme, before submitting a ‘dispute’, it is important that the member firstly ensures that the ‘dispute’ is eligible for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). In some cases, there may not be a dispute at all; notification of proposed deductions to a tenant does not automatically give rise to a dispute. There must be a clear proposal of deductions set out and a clear rejection from the tenant. It is worth noting here, that any deadline given to a tenant when setting out a deduction proposal, while persuasive, is not compulsory. Once a member is satisfied that there is a dispute they must then:
Read moreThe Supreme Court has clarified that, unless it is specifically determined by a court of law that a landlord-tenant dispute cannot be referred to arbitration, an arbitration clause in an agreement shall be valid and fully enforceable.
Read moreHousing Initiatives of Princeton, a local nonprofit that helps low-income working families and individuals in and around Princeton avoid homelessness by providing them with transitional housing and temporary rental assistance, will manage a new round of rental assistance for people who need financial support to pay rent as the pandemic continues.
Read moreLandlords are lobbying the government to introduce a new conciliation service to help resolve eviction disputes before they reach court.
The National Residential Landlords’ Association would like ministers to introduce a publicly-funded scheme similar to the employment dispute resolution service ACAS, as part of the Renters’ Reform Bill.
The aim would be to reduce the costs and stress involved in formal court proceedings.
Read moreNew Mexico courts are expanding a free Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) service to money due disputes in landlord-tenant cases, adding features such as text capabilities to make it more convenient for parties and mediators to use, and requiring plaintiff participation. Starting Dec. 14, a new version of ODR will be available for resolving debt and money due lawsuits and landlord-tenant disputes, such as when a residential or commercial property owner seeks to recover unpaid rent. Cases seeking evictions will continue to be handled in court, not through ODR.
Read moreA Philadelphia mandate requiring landlords to mediate conflicts with renters before filing for eviction is on track to be extended through March 2021.
City Council’s Committee on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and The Homeless on Wednesday voted to extend the mediation-based eviction diversion program, supporting the continuation of a program designed to prevent displacement while keeping landlords whole.
The legislation originally sunset the program at the end of 2020. The bill will now advance to the full council for a final vote on Dec.10.
Read moreThe Rental Board, now called the Tribunal administrative du logement (TAL), turned 40 years old this October. The TAL, first created to arbitrate the imbalance in power between tenants and landlords, continues to fail in its duties to protect tenants and the rental housing market. The historical dysfunction of Quebec’s housing tribunal only becomes more concerning as tenants face an unprecedented crisis, brought on by a global pandemic, a lack of social housing, and out-of-control rents in the private market.
Read moreScotland’s largest landlord membership organisation has urged landlords and tenants to work together to sustain tenancies at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure tenants access all available support to pay their rent.
Read moreThe end of 2020 is looming as the end of forgiveness for tenants who owe back rent to landlords, and court officials are pushing mediation to avoid a litigation logjam.
Spokane is one of six counties statewide that are part of a pilot program intended to get tenants and landlords to start talking about possible solutions to unpaid rent during eviction moratorium expiring Dec. 31. Two firms in Spokane County have received federal assistance funds to promote mediation for the estimated hundreds of renters who might otherwise be taken to court due to unpaid rent.
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