The exercise of judicial discretion in rent arrears cases - Sheffield ...

None of them would dismiss the application, even those who were concerned about the
landlord’s contractual entitlement to the rent.
When the responses by the district judges to the four scenarios are summarised, as in Table
11 below, the variation in outcomes is apparent. It must be borne in mind, of course, that
these were not real cases and many of the judges interviewed came to extremely tentative
conclusions about the likely decision they would make. Indeed, one judge declined to opt for
any outcome to scenario 7, because:
“What would guide me most significantly here, most powerfully, is my assessment of
the tenant. And…I don’t know, I honestly don’t know I’m afraid, without that.” (DJ N)
Table 11: Application outcomes suggested by district judges to the warrant scenarios
Scenario Granted Dismissed Adjourned
7: Single female tenant 17 4 4
7a: Female tenant with children
7b: Tenant offers lump sum
16 0 4
payment 13 2 4
8: Elderly woman tenant; son
refuses to contribute to rent despite 14 0 12
non-dependent deduction from HB
99
Number of
district
judges
suggesting
each
outcome*
*Note: not all DJs gave a clear answer to each scenario and there is accordingly not the same total
number of answers to each.
Within these variations, the noticeably consistent element is that very few of the judges
interviewed would refuse the applications to suspend, in any of the scenarios. The
interviews revealed some of the techniques which judges used to avoid this outcome. Many
district judges said that their suspensions or adjournments would include a review date, to
give the tenant “an opportunity for establishing herself as a regular payer”. One district
judge explained this approach as a way of ensuring that, at the next hearing, all the
information would be available to resolve the matter:
“I think these 28 day adjournments are a good idea. Because it won’t go away, this
problem: it’s either going to be confronted and sorted within that period, or it isn’t.”
(DJ S)
Whatever their decision on the scenarios, nearly all of the district judges interviewed said
they would take the opportunity to address the tenant directly at the hearing. Their
descriptions of this practice varied from an avuncular ‘little talk’ to a ‘stern lecture’. For those
who would agree to a further suspension or an adjournment, this would often include
informing the tenant that this was her ‘last chance’:
“I would give her one of my little talks, saying, ‘I’m making a note of this, and…and
you’ve really got to get your act together, because it will be inevitable, I think, that...if
you default again, you won’t get another suspension.’ I’d give her one last chance.”
(DJ I)