INSIGHT
The What’s and Why’s of becoming a Property Tribunal Judge By DRT Judge David Whitney
I
am a salaried Deputy Regional Judge of the First tier Tribunal Property Chamber (Residential Property). A snappy title! Part of my role is to engage with people to try and improve the diversity and inclusivity of the judiciary but in particular for my Tribunal. I suspect many of you will have little or no knowledge of my Tribunal or the other First tier Tribunals and frankly why should you? For me, this is something that the judiciary needs to take responsibility for, making the legal profession and the wider public aware of our existence and what we do. Remarkably more people will be involved in a Tribunal case in any one year than in a case involving the civil and criminal courts combined. We rely on legal professionals to apply and become Judges, fee paid and salaried. The Residential Property Tribunal has a broad jurisdiction, all of which is set out in statute. The Tribunal incorporated Rent Assessment Committees and Leasehold Valuation Tribunals and was established in its current guise in 2013. As a tribunal, we have powers to determine market and fair rents, the reasonableness of service charges for flats, the price paid for a lease extension, appeals from local authority decisions to impose improvement notices, prohibition orders and financial penalties, power to impose rent repayment orders and the power to make banning orders in respect of landlords. I should also add we have wide powers to determine disputes arising from mobile home parks. The tribunal receives about 11,000 applications a year. The work requires a good understanding of the actual legislation under which we operate and the principles applicable for each part. Much of this is technical and if you had said to me upon graduation that I would be poring over leases (and enjoying it!) I would have run a mile. We also have our own procedure rules, which the civil litigators amongst you will be pleased to know are far shorter than the CPR. I think many solicitors are unaware of the opportunities which exist to become involved in the Tribunal’s judiciary and the positive impact this can have on their professional careers. I know when I first walked through the doors of what was then Pearsons Solicitors at Fountain House New Malden to start my career I had almost zero knowledge of tribunals. I had heard of Employment Tribunals but had little idea of what was involved. I practised up until my appointment as a litigator with a particular specialism in property litigation. I regularly appeared as an 28 | SURREYLAWYER
advocate in the County Court. As a property litigator, I dealt with the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal making applications in respect of enfranchisement claims and service charge disputes. I would appear before the Tribunal in residential leasehold disputes and gradually this became the bulk of my day-to-day practice. In 2010, I saw an advert in the Law Society Gazette to become a fee paid Chair of the Residential Property Tribunal of which the LVT was part. Thinking this was something I fancied, I applied, more in hope than expectation! It was at a time when I was keen to see how I could develop further my career. I completed the application form, a test paper, took part in a role play and interview and then found myself appointed. By the time I was first appointed I had been working as a lawyer for 16 years. I felt I needed a fresh challenge to give new impetus to my career. Over the next decade I relished the work and applied and was appointed as a salaried judge in 2021. In many respects I perhaps fit many of the stereotypes of the English judiciary being white, middle aged and middle class. I am however the first member of my family to ever go to university. Most tribunals sit as a panel with a legally qualified judge and other members. In Property, we have chartered surveyors, architects, environmental health officers and drainage experts as well as lay members, all with considerable expertise in the cases we sit on. Our jurisdiction is ever expanding and currently I also sit from time to time as a District Judge of the County Court to deal with certain property cases. An appointment opens up the world of making judicial decisions and for me positively affected the way I conducted my practice. For the first time I understood why judges got cross about poorly prepared bundles! I determine cases and apply my knowledge from practice. I am responsible for chairing the panel and explaining the legal principles. I will case manage any hearing and then draft a written reasoned decision setting out our findings and reasons. That practical experience I gained in the 27 years prior to my appointment is vital in exercising
