6 Sept 2010
Because the court accepted the defendant's evidence that no rent was owed, the warrant of distress was wrongly issued and therefore must be discharged; the monies paid into court must be returned to the defendant and the plaintiff must pay the defendant's costs, summarily assessed.
15 Nov 2006
Because the Plaintiff had assigned the premises to a buyer before execution of the warrant and the assignee had not lent its name or otherwise permitted the original landlord to pursue arrears, the Plaintiff lacked any enforceable right to distrain or to execute the warrant; accordingly the warrant was wrongful and must be discharged. Given there was no real prospect of the Plaintiff defending the claim and the Defendant abandoned any costs claim against the dissolved Plaintiff, the court was justified in determining the matter on an ex parte basis and ordering payment out of the Court Sum to…
27 Jun 2000
The payment of $68,915.72 was implicitly appropriated to the current debts, including the rent for 1 March, because the amount matched the demands; absent clear communication to the contrary the court inferred the defendant intended the cheque to discharge the current arrears, so the landlord could not validly appropriate that payment to older debts and the distress warrant for the March rent must be discharged.