Page 102 - Solving Housing Disputes

4.9 As it stands, while there may not necessarily be a principled reason for the division
of disputes, there are several structural and pragmatic reasons why disputes
remain split between the County Court and FTT (PC). Firstly, legal aid remains
available for some matters before the courts, including certain possession,
disrepair, harassment, homelessness and illegal eviction claims. Legal aid is not,
however, available under the tribunal system on the basis that tribunals are more
inquisitorial, less formal and intended to be more accessible than courts,
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ostensibly removing the need for a lawyer. While tribunals are more
inquisitorial and less formal, in practice landlords and freeholders are more likely
to have access to advice and representation throughout the FTT (PC) process than
tenants. Secondly, unlike the courts, the FTT operates under a costs-free regime.
It has been argued that it would be inappropriate if, for instance, a landlord was
to lose an illegal eviction case, only to benefit from a system which does not
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impose costs. Thirdly, the County Court system is resourced to deal with a high
number of possession claims, whereas the FTT (PC) currently is not. Fourthly,
removing cases from the courts would have a detrimental effect on the current
policy in which the fee income of the civil courts is used to subsidise the family
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and criminal courts. Finally, a wide array of remedies and enforcement powers
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only reside in the courts.

4.10 The idea of a single body for all housing disputes is addressed above in Chapter
2. However, waiting for the establishment of a sole jurisdiction for hearing all
disputes and problems should not prevent greater rationalisation and coherence
in where disputes are heard. While cross-ticketing is a partial panacea, there are
likely to be logical reasons why certain types of housing dispute might be fit to
transfer from County Court to FTT, or vice versa. The cross-ticketing pilot has

291 However, it would be available in circumstances where a judge held a hearing in the tribunal where
they exercised power as both County Court and FTT (PC) judge where legal aid was available for the
County Court element of the dispute.

292 See Peaker, ‘On a Housing Court and (not) making things simpler’ (March 2018), Nearly Legal:
Housing Law News and Comment available at: https://nearlylegal.co.uk/2018/03/on-a-housing-court-
and-not-making-things-simpler/

293 Briggs LJ note 160 above para 5.124.

294 The Property Chamber Bar submission to the Civil Justice Council, see Civil Justice Council, note
262 above para 19.

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